Best PlacesPeru, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Peru, 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.
Peru ranks 17,584th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Peru
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.
Peru's strengths and weaknesses
Where Peru ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
Where Peru ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Peru
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Peru home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $89,996, 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 Peru's effective rate of 1.18%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Peru
Peru runs older 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 Peru.
Who works in Peru, and how
Work in Peru centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Peru
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Peru.
What the weather is like in Peru, month by month
Peru sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Peru
Bradley International sits about 39 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 Peru
Schools across Peru average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- R. H. ConwellB+ · 52% proficient
- Calf Pen Meadow SchoolB · 45% proficient
- KittredgeC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harborside Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Nessacus Regional Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Wahconah Regional HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Jonathan Law High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Peru school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Peru 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 Peru against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Peru
Is Peru a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Peru ranks 17,584th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, heat safety, and tree cover, 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 Peru expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $267,962. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $89,996 median income, cost of living beats 56% of towns.
Is Peru safe?
Peru is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $293 per resident a year.
Compare Peru with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Peru. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Peru 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.
Peru detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Peru: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Peru: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Peru: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Peru: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Peru 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.