Best PlacesPlainfield, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Plainfield, 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.
Plainfield ranks 20,451st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Plainfield
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.
Plainfield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Plainfield ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
Where Plainfield ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Short commute38.8 minutes each way, better than only 7% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Plainfield
A household needs to earn about $88,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Plainfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $66,690, 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 Plainfield's effective rate of 1.22%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Plainfield
Plainfield runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Plainfield.
Who works in Plainfield, and how
Work in Plainfield centers on education and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Plainfield
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Plainfield.
What the weather is like in Plainfield, month by month
Plainfield sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 65° | 52° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Plainfield
Bradley International sits about 42 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 Plainfield
Schools across Plainfield average a C, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sanderson AcademyB− · 42% proficient
- Emma L Miller Elementary SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nessacus Regional Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Wahconah Regional HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Mohawk Trail Regional SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Hoosac Valley High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Plainfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Plainfield 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 Plainfield against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Plainfield
Is Plainfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Plainfield ranks 20,451st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and civic engagement, and lowest on childcare costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Plainfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $317,245. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $66,690 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Plainfield safe?
Yes, Plainfield is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $176 per resident a year.
Compare Plainfield with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Plainfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Plainfield 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.
Plainfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Plainfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Plainfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Plainfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Plainfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Plainfield 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.