Best PlacesMarblehead, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Marblehead, 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.
Marblehead ranks 186th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Marblehead
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.
Marblehead's strengths and weaknesses
Where Marblehead ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$193,837 median, better than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
Where Marblehead ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
- Short commute32.9 minutes each way, better than only 20% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Marblehead
A household needs to earn about $261,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Marblehead home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $193,837, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Marblehead's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Marblehead
Marblehead runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Marblehead.
Who works in Marblehead, and how
Work in Marblehead centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 55%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Marblehead
Marblehead has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 1 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Marblehead and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Marblehead, month by month
Marblehead sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Marblehead
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 12 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 21.1 million passengers in 2025, with 199 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Marblehead
Schools across Marblehead average an A, better than 91% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- GloverB+ · 55% proficient
- JohnsonB · 47% proficient
- Saltonstall SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marblehead Veterans Middle SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Village SchoolA · 61% proficient
- Swampscott MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Marblehead HighA · 79% proficient
- Swampscott HighA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Marblehead school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Marblehead 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 Marblehead against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Marblehead suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 34% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Marblehead
Is Marblehead a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Marblehead ranks 186th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Marblehead expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,003,800. The overall cost of living runs about 41% above the national average. Set against a $193,837 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Marblehead safe?
Yes, Marblehead is safer than 84% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $206 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Marblehead?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 21. That works out to about 76 pleasant days a year, more than 39% of towns.
Is Marblehead good for families?
Schools beat 91% of towns, crime safety beats 84%, and childcare runs $1,897 a month.
Compare Marblehead with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Marblehead. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Marblehead 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.
Marblehead detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Marblehead: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Marblehead: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Marblehead: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Marblehead: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Marblehead 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.