Best PlacesWare, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ware, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ware ranks 28,249th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ware
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.
Ware's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ware ranks high
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 88% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of towns
Where Ware ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,389 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ware
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ware home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $72,430; 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 Ware's effective rate of 1.35%, 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 Ware
Ware's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Ware.
Who works in Ware, and how
Work in Ware centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Ware
Ware has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ware and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ware, month by month
Ware sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 28° | 18° |
| April | 62° | 48° | 35° |
| July | 88° | 74° | 61° |
| October | 68° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Ware
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bradley International, about 31 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ware
Schools across Ware average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hardwick ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Swift River ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Stanley M Koziol Elementary SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Jabish Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Quabbin Regional Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Ware Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Quabbin Regional High SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Belchertown HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Ware Junior/senior High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ware school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ware 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 Ware against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ware
Is Ware a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ware ranks 28,249th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, big-city access, and biking, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ware expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $281,287. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $72,430 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Ware safe?
Yes, Ware is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $254 per resident a year.
Compare Ware with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ware. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ware 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.
Ware detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ware: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ware: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ware: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ware: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ware 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.