Best PlacesNorthampton, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Northampton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Northampton ranks 4,973rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Northampton
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.
Northampton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Northampton ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
Where Northampton ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Northampton
A household needs to earn about $139,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Northampton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,822, 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 Northampton's effective rate of 1.29%, 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 Northampton
Northampton runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Northampton.
Who works in Northampton, and how
Work in Northampton centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 22%
Life in Northampton
Northampton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Northampton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Northampton, month by month
Northampton sees roughly 63 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 Northampton
Bradley International sits about 27 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 Northampton
Schools across Northampton average a B, better than 70% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hadley ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Jackson StreetB+ · 52% proficient
- Westhampton Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- John F Kennedy Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Northampton HighA · 70% proficient
- Easthampton HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Hampshire Regional HighB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Northampton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Northampton 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 Northampton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Northampton
Is Northampton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Northampton ranks 4,973rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and an educated workforce, and lowest on noise 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 Northampton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $496,887. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $81,822 median income, cost of living beats 32% of towns.
Is Northampton safe?
Yes, Northampton is safer than 66% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $262 per resident a year.
Compare Northampton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Northampton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Northampton 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.
Northampton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Northampton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Northampton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Northampton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Northampton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Northampton 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.