Best PlacesWakefield, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wakefield, 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.
Wakefield ranks 286th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Wakefield
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.
Wakefield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wakefield ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of cities
- Household income$145,362 median, better than 90% of cities
Where Wakefield ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 4% of cities
- Short commute33.3 minutes each way, better than only 10% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 18% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 19% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Wakefield
A household needs to earn about $195,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wakefield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $145,362, 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 Wakefield's effective rate of 1.06%, 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 Wakefield
Wakefield'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 Wakefield.
Who works in Wakefield, and how
Work in Wakefield centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Wakefield
Wakefield has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of cities and more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. The coast is about 14 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wakefield and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wakefield, month by month
Wakefield sees roughly 74 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 Wakefield
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 10 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 Wakefield
Schools across Wakefield average a B+, better than 77% of cities.
Top elementary schools
Top middle schools
- Melrose MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Galvin Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Melrose HighA · 69% proficient
- Wakefield Memorial HighA− · 67% proficient
- Northeast Metro Regional VocationalD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wakefield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wakefield 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 Wakefield against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Wakefield suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of cities and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Wakefield
Is Wakefield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wakefield ranks 286th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low crime, health care access, and tree cover, and lowest on childcare costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wakefield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $721,494. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $145,362 median income, cost of living beats 72% of cities.
Is Wakefield safe?
Yes, Wakefield is safer than 96% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $163 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wakefield?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 21. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 34% of cities.
Is Wakefield good for families?
Schools beat 77% of cities, crime safety beats 96%, and childcare runs $1,897 a month.
Compare Wakefield with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wakefield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wakefield 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.
Wakefield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wakefield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wakefield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wakefield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wakefield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wakefield 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.