Best PlacesTaunton, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Taunton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Taunton ranks 1,307th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Taunton
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.
Taunton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Taunton ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 97% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 92% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 70% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 65% of cities
Where Taunton ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,514 a month, better than only 14% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 16% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Taunton
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Taunton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,700, 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 Taunton's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Taunton
Taunton'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 Taunton.
Who works in Taunton, and how
Work in Taunton 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 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Taunton
Taunton has more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. The coast is about 30 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Taunton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Taunton, month by month
Taunton sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 31° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 37° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Taunton
The nearest airport, Rhode Island Tf Green International, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 32 miles away.
The best schools in and around Taunton
Schools across Taunton average a C−, better than 20% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- L G Nourse ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Dighton ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Edmund Hatch BennettC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Berkley Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Raynham Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Dighton Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Dighton-rehoboth Regional High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Norton HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Bristol-plymouth Vocational TechnicalB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Taunton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Taunton 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 Taunton against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Taunton suits
Families
Schools land around the 20th percentile and crime safety beats 92%.
Common questions about living in Taunton
Is Taunton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Taunton ranks 1,307th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on tree cover, low crime, and clean air, and lowest on childcare costs and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Taunton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $410,522. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $81,700 median income, cost of living beats 29% of cities.
Is Taunton safe?
Yes, Taunton is safer than 92% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $190 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Taunton?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 20. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of cities.
Is Taunton good for families?
Schools beat 20% of cities, crime safety beats 92%, and childcare runs $1,514 a month.
Compare Taunton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Taunton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Taunton 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.
Taunton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Taunton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Taunton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Taunton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Taunton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Taunton 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.