Best PlacesMendon, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mendon, 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.
Mendon ranks 2,451st 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 Mendon
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.
Mendon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mendon ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$141,579 median, better than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of towns
Where Mendon ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,666 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% 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 Mendon
A household needs to earn about $170,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mendon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $141,579, 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 Mendon's effective rate of 1.22%, 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 Mendon
Mendon runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mendon.
Who works in Mendon, and how
Work in Mendon centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Mendon
Mendon has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Mendon and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mendon, month by month
Mendon sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 60° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Mendon
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 33 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mendon
Schools across Mendon average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- MemorialB+ · 50% proficient
- Henry P CloughB · 45% proficient
- Taft Early Learning CenterB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Whitin IntermediateB · 45% proficient
- Miscoe Hill SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Bellingham Memorial SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Nipmuc Regional HighA− · 65% proficient
- Hopedale Jr Sr HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Northbridge HighB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mendon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mendon 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 Mendon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mendon
Is Mendon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mendon ranks 2,451st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, high incomes, and health care access, 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 Mendon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $613,746. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $141,579 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Mendon safe?
Yes, Mendon is safer than 97% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $138 per resident a year.
Compare Mendon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mendon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mendon 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.
Mendon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mendon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mendon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mendon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mendon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mendon 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.