Best PlacesTurners Falls, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Turners Falls, 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.
Turners Falls ranks 23,389th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Turners Falls
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.
Turners Falls' strengths and weaknesses
Where Turners Falls ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute20.1 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
Where Turners Falls ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 67 pleasant days a year, better than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Turners Falls
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Turners Falls home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $59,712, 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 Turners Falls' effective rate of 1.35%, 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 Turners Falls
Turners Falls runs older than the country, 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 Turners Falls.
Who works in Turners Falls, and how
Work in Turners Falls centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Turners Falls
Turners Falls has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Turners Falls and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Turners Falls, month by month
Turners Falls sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 17° |
| April | 61° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 87° | 73° | 60° |
| October | 66° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Turners Falls
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Turners Falls
Schools across Turners Falls average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gill ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Sheffield Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
- Federal Street SchoolD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Greenfield MiddleD · 22% proficient
- Great Falls MiddleD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Turners Fall HighB− · 45% proficient
- Pioneer Valley RegionalC+ · 37% proficient
- Greenfield HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Turners Falls school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Turners Falls 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 Turners Falls against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Turners Falls
Is Turners Falls a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Turners Falls ranks 23,389th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and transit, 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 Turners Falls expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $262,587. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $59,712 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Turners Falls safe?
Yes, Turners Falls is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
Compare Turners Falls with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Turners Falls. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Turners Falls 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.
Turners Falls detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Turners Falls: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Turners Falls: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Turners Falls: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Turners Falls: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Turners Falls 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.