Best PlacesWilliamsburg, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Williamsburg, 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.
Williamsburg ranks 9,164th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Williamsburg
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.
Williamsburg's strengths and weaknesses
Where Williamsburg ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
Where Williamsburg ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 23% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Williamsburg
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Williamsburg home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $97,271, 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 Williamsburg'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 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 Williamsburg
Williamsburg 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 Williamsburg.
Who works in Williamsburg, and how
Work in Williamsburg centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Williamsburg
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Williamsburg.
What the weather is like in Williamsburg, month by month
Williamsburg sees roughly 61 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 | 63° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 88° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Williamsburg
Bradley International sits about 32 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.3 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Williamsburg
Schools across Williamsburg average a B−, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hadley ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Anne T. Dunphy SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Conway GrammarB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- John F Kennedy Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Northampton HighA · 70% proficient
- Frontier RegionalB+ · 53% proficient
- Hampshire Regional HighB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Williamsburg school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Williamsburg 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 Williamsburg against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Williamsburg
Is Williamsburg a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Williamsburg ranks 9,164th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and tree cover, and lowest on childcare costs and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Williamsburg expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $400,092. The overall cost of living runs about 12% above the national average. Set against a $97,271 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is Williamsburg safe?
Yes, Williamsburg is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $184 per resident a year.
Compare Williamsburg with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Williamsburg. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Williamsburg 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.
Williamsburg detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Williamsburg: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Williamsburg: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Williamsburg: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Williamsburg: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Williamsburg 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.