Best PlacesSandy Beach, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sandy Beach, 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.
Sandy Beach ranks 3,502nd 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 Sandy Beach
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.
Sandy Beach's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sandy Beach ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
Where Sandy Beach ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,648 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% 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 Sandy Beach
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sandy Beach home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $105,595, 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 Sandy Beach's effective rate of 1.39%, 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 Sandy Beach
Sandy Beach's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Sandy Beach.
Who works in Sandy Beach, and how
Work in Sandy Beach centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Sandy Beach
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sandy Beach.
What the weather is like in Sandy Beach, month by month
Sandy Beach 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 Sandy Beach
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 47 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sandy Beach
Schools across Sandy Beach average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Paxton CenterB · 46% proficient
Top middle schools
- Central Tree MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Wachusett Regional HighA · 79% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sandy Beach school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sandy Beach 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 Sandy Beach against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sandy Beach
Is Sandy Beach a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sandy Beach ranks 3,502nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, heat safety, and an educated workforce, 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 Sandy Beach expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $430,406. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $105,595 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Sandy Beach safe?
Yes, Sandy Beach is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $112 per resident a year.
Compare Sandy Beach with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sandy Beach. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sandy Beach 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.
Sandy Beach detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sandy Beach: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sandy Beach: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sandy Beach: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sandy Beach: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sandy Beach 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.