Best PlacesPaxton, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Paxton, 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.
Paxton ranks 1,047th 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 Paxton
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.
Paxton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Paxton ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$147,735 median, better than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
Where Paxton ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,648 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% 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 Paxton
A household needs to earn about $139,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paxton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $147,735, 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 Paxton's effective rate of 1.47%, 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 Paxton
Paxton's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Paxton.
Who works in Paxton, and how
Work in Paxton centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Paxton
Paxton has more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Paxton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Paxton, month by month
Paxton sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 19° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Paxton
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Paxton
Schools across Paxton average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Davis Hill ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- West TatnuckB · 48% proficient
- Paxton CenterB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Leicester MiddleC+ · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Wachusett Regional HighA · 79% proficient
- Leicester HighB+ · 53% proficient
- David Prouty HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paxton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paxton 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 Paxton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Paxton
Is Paxton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paxton ranks 1,047th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, heat safety, and high incomes, 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 Paxton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $488,782. The overall cost of living runs about 13% above the national average. Set against a $147,735 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Paxton safe?
Yes, Paxton is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $106 per resident a year.
Compare Paxton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paxton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paxton 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.
Paxton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paxton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paxton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paxton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paxton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paxton 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.