Best PlacesSouth Essex, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around South Essex, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
South Essex ranks 2,267th 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 South Essex
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.
South Essex's strengths and weaknesses
Where South Essex ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$143,963 median, better than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
Where South Essex ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in South Essex
A household needs to earn about $267,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South Essex home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $143,963, 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 South Essex's effective rate of 1.34%, 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 South Essex
South Essex runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for South Essex.
Who works in South Essex, and how
Work in South Essex centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in South Essex
The coast is about 11 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across South Essex, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in South Essex, month by month
South Essex 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 South Essex
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 23 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 South Essex
Schools across South Essex average an A−, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Essex ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Miles River MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
- Manchester Essex Regional Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Ralph B O'maley MiddleC · 33% proficient
Top high schools
- Hamilton-wenham Regional HighA+ · 80% proficient
- Manchester Essex Regional High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Gloucester HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every South Essex school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
South Essex 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 South Essex against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in South Essex
Is South Essex a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South Essex ranks 2,267th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and high incomes, 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 South Essex expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $952,700. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $143,963 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is South Essex safe?
Yes, South Essex is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $200 per resident a year.
Compare South Essex with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South Essex. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South Essex 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.
South Essex detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for South Essex: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in South Essex: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of South Essex: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in South Essex: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
South Essex 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.