Best PlacesWellfleet, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wellfleet, 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.
Wellfleet ranks 4,476th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wellfleet
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.
Wellfleet's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wellfleet ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
Where Wellfleet ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,514 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Short commute33.4 minutes each way, better than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wellfleet
A household needs to earn about $220,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wellfleet home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $117,255, 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 Wellfleet's effective rate of 0.61%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Wellfleet
Wellfleet 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 Wellfleet.
Who works in Wellfleet, and how
Work in Wellfleet centers on education and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Wellfleet
Wellfleet has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. The coast is about 2 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wellfleet and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wellfleet, month by month
Wellfleet sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 34° | 27° |
| April | 55° | 46° | 38° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 65° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Wellfleet
The nearest airport, Provincetown Municipal, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wellfleet
Schools across Wellfleet average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wellfleet ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Provincetown SchoolsC− · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nauset Regional MiddleB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Nauset Regional HighA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wellfleet school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wellfleet 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 Wellfleet against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wellfleet
Is Wellfleet a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wellfleet ranks 4,476th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and low crime, 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 Wellfleet expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $862,656. The overall cost of living runs about 29% above the national average. Set against a $117,255 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Wellfleet safe?
Yes, Wellfleet is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $146 per resident a year.
Compare Wellfleet with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wellfleet. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wellfleet 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.
Wellfleet detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wellfleet: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wellfleet: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wellfleet: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wellfleet: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wellfleet 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.