Best PlacesHampden, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hampden, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hampden ranks 3,906th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hampden
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Hampden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hampden ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
Where Hampden ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 25% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hampden
A household needs to earn about $104,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hampden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $106,500, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Hampden's effective rate of 1.63%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hampden
Hampden runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hampden.
Who works in Hampden, and how
Work in Hampden centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hampden
Hampden has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hampden and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hampden, month by month
Hampden sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 28° | 18° |
| April | 62° | 48° | 35° |
| July | 88° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 68° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Hampden
Bradley International sits about 16 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.3 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hampden
Schools across Hampden average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mountain ViewB · 49% proficient
- Soule RoadB · 48% proficient
- Green Meadows ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Birchland ParkB · 47% proficient
- Kiley AcademyF · 9% proficient
Top high schools
- Minnechaug Regional HighA · 69% proficient
- Somers High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- East Longmeadow HighB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hampden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hampden measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Hampden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hampden
Is Hampden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hampden ranks 3,906th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, health care access, and few empty homes, and lowest on childcare costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hampden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $356,236. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $106,500 median income, cost of living beats 79% of towns.
Is Hampden safe?
Yes, Hampden is safer than 98% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $128 per resident a year.
Compare Hampden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hampden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hampden represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Hampden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hampden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hampden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hampden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hampden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hampden detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.