Best PlacesTownsend Harbor, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Townsend Harbor, 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.
Townsend Harbor ranks 1,758th 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 Townsend Harbor
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.
Townsend Harbor's strengths and weaknesses
Where Townsend Harbor ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$135,356 median, better than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
Where Townsend Harbor ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- Short commute34.1 minutes each way, better than only 16% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Townsend Harbor
A household needs to earn about $149,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Townsend Harbor home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $135,356; 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 Townsend Harbor'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 Townsend Harbor
Townsend Harbor runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Townsend Harbor.
Who works in Townsend Harbor, and how
Work in Townsend Harbor centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Townsend Harbor
Townsend Harbor has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Townsend Harbor and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Townsend Harbor, month by month
Townsend Harbor sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 49° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Townsend Harbor
The nearest airport, Manchester Boston Regional, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 38 miles away.
The best schools in and around Townsend Harbor
Schools across Townsend Harbor average a B+, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Florence Roche SchoolA · 64% proficient
- Spaulding MemorialB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Groton Dunstable Regional MiddleA · 63% proficient
- Lunenburg Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Hawthorne BrookB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- North Middlesex RegionalA · 68% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Townsend Harbor school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Townsend Harbor 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 Townsend Harbor against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Townsend Harbor
Is Townsend Harbor a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Townsend Harbor ranks 1,758th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, heat safety, and high incomes, 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 Townsend Harbor expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $530,347. The overall cost of living runs about 18% above the national average. Set against a $135,356 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Townsend Harbor safe?
Yes, Townsend Harbor is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $96 per resident a year.
Compare Townsend Harbor with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Townsend Harbor. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Townsend Harbor 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.
Townsend Harbor detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Townsend Harbor: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Townsend Harbor: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Townsend Harbor: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Townsend Harbor: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Townsend Harbor 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.