Best PlacesRowe, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rowe, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Rowe ranks 36,013th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rowe
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.
Rowe's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rowe ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
Where Rowe ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Short commute39.1 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rowe
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rowe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $66,914; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Rowe's effective rate of 1.26%, 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 Rowe
Rowe 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 Rowe.
Who works in Rowe, and how
Work in Rowe centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Rowe
Rowe has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Rowe and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rowe, month by month
Rowe sees roughly 64 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 Rowe
The nearest airport, Albany International, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rowe
Schools across Rowe average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rowe ElementaryC · 31% proficient
- Hawlemont RegionalD · 19% proficient
- Abbott MemorialD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Mohawk Trail Regional SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Drury HighD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rowe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rowe 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 Rowe against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rowe
Is Rowe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rowe ranks 36,013th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, clean air, and health care access, 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 Rowe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $266,701. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $66,914 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Rowe safe?
Yes, Rowe is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $199 per resident a year.
Compare Rowe with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rowe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rowe 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.
Rowe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rowe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rowe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rowe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rowe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rowe 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.