Best PlacesSouthbridge Town, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Southbridge Town, 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.
Southbridge Town ranks 30,496th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Southbridge Town
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.
Southbridge Town's strengths and weaknesses
Where Southbridge Town ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Southbridge Town ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,648 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Southbridge Town
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Southbridge Town home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $70,605, 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 Southbridge Town's effective rate of 1.37%, 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 Southbridge Town
Southbridge Town's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Southbridge Town.
Who works in Southbridge Town, and how
Work in Southbridge Town centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Southbridge Town
Southbridge Town has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns and more parkland per resident than 86% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Southbridge Town and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Southbridge Town, month by month
Southbridge Town sees roughly 78 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 Southbridge Town
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 35 miles away.
The best schools in and around Southbridge Town
Schools across Southbridge Town average a D−, better than 2% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Union SchoolB · 45% proficient
- West StreetD− · 13% proficient
- Charlton StreetD− · 12% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southbridge Middle SchoolF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Southbridge AcademyD− · 15% proficient
- Southbridge High SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Southbridge Town school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Southbridge Town 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 Southbridge Town against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Southbridge Town
Is Southbridge Town a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Southbridge Town ranks 30,496th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and big-city access, and lowest on childcare costs and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Southbridge Town expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $298,367. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $70,605 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Southbridge Town safe?
Southbridge Town is safer than 52% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $292 per resident a year.
Compare Southbridge Town with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Southbridge Town. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Southbridge Town 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.
Southbridge Town detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Southbridge Town: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Southbridge Town: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Southbridge Town: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Southbridge Town: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Southbridge Town 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.