Best PlacesPeabody, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Peabody, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Peabody ranks 753rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Peabody
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.
Peabody's strengths and weaknesses
Where Peabody ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 92% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 87% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 86% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of cities
Where Peabody ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 4% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 22% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 23% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 34% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Peabody
A household needs to earn about $154,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Peabody home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,541, 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 Peabody's effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Peabody
Peabody runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Peabody.
Who works in Peabody, and how
Work in Peabody centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Peabody
Peabody has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of cities and more parkland per resident than 88% of cities. The coast is about 10 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Peabody and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Peabody, month by month
Peabody 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 Peabody
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 Peabody
Schools across Peabody average a B−, better than 47% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- John E. MccarthyB · 45% proficient
- RiversideB− · 43% proficient
- HighlandsB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lynnfield Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- J Henry Higgins MiddleC+ · 35% proficient
- Pickering MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Lynnfield HighA+ · 85% proficient
- Peabody Veterans Memorial HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Salem HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Peabody school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Peabody 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 Peabody against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Peabody suits
Families
Schools land around the 47th percentile and crime safety beats 87%.
Common questions about living in Peabody
Is Peabody a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Peabody ranks 753rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, low crime, and health care access, and lowest on childcare costs and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Peabody expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $589,750. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $106,541 median income, cost of living beats 43% of cities.
Is Peabody safe?
Yes, Peabody is safer than 87% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $198 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Peabody?
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 38% of cities.
Is Peabody good for families?
Schools beat 47% of cities, crime safety beats 87%, and childcare runs $1,897 a month.
Compare Peabody with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Peabody. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Peabody 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.
Peabody detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Peabody: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Peabody: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Peabody: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Peabody: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Peabody 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.