Best PlacesMethuen, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Methuen, 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.
Methuen ranks 420th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Methuen
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.
Methuen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Methuen ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$193,151 median, better than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
Where Methuen ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Methuen
A household needs to earn about $268,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Methuen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $193,151, 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 Methuen's effective rate of 1.51%, 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 Methuen
Methuen runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Methuen.
Who works in Methuen, and how
Work in Methuen centers on manufacturing and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Methuen
The coast is about 27 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Methuen, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Methuen, month by month
Methuen sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 37° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Methuen
The nearest airport, Manchester Boston Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 25 miles away.
The best schools in and around Methuen
Schools across Methuen average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- High Plain ElementaryA+ · 76% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wood Hill Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
Top high schools
- Andover HighA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Methuen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Methuen 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 Methuen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Methuen
Is Methuen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Methuen ranks 420th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, cell coverage, and population health, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Methuen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $934,400. The overall cost of living runs about 27% above the national average. Set against a $193,151 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Methuen safe?
Yes, Methuen is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $210 per resident a year.
Compare Methuen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Methuen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Methuen 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.
Methuen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Methuen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Methuen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Methuen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Methuen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Methuen 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.