Best PlacesWorcester, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Worcester metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Terageorge, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Worcester ranks 49th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 54 minutes away. Its strengths are low crime and tree cover. The cost shows up in childcare costs, long commutes, and internet speeds.
The best neighborhoods in the Worcester metro
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.
The best areas in Worcester
The towns and districts of the Worcester metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Shrewsbury, Westborough & Northborough
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and schools score higher.
Milford, Uxbridge & Whitinsville
Incomes run higher and tree cover is thicker.
Leominster, Clinton & Lunenburg
Fewer homes sit empty.
Spencer, Rutland & North Brookfield
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
Auburn, Webster & Oxford
Prices have run up less.
Fitchburg
Biking is better.
Gardner, Athol & Winchendon
Homes cost less, though streets are more car-dependent.
Southbridge Town, Dudley & Charlton
Transit reaches fewer jobs.
Downtown Worcester
Fewer residents vote and crime runs higher.
Worcester shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 8% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Worcester's strengths and weaknesses
Worcester ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Low crime is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Tree cover and heat safety follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Long commutes and internet speeds also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Worcester ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of metro areas
- Household income$107,234 median, better than 92% of metro areas
Where Worcester ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,648 a month, better than only 3% of metro areas
- Short commute29.2 minutes each way, better than only 7% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 20% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Worcester
A household needs to earn about $123,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Worcester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $107,234, 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 Worcester's effective rate of 1.24%, 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 Worcester
Worcester'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 Worcester.
Who works in Worcester, and how
Work in Worcester centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Worcester
Worcester has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 80% of metro areas. The coast is about 54 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Worcester and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Worcester growing, and who is moving in?
Worcester has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Boston, MA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Worcester go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Worcester, month by month
Worcester sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 28° | 19° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Worcester
The nearest airport, Worcester Regional, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Edward Lawrence Logan International, about 41 miles away.
The best schools in and around Worcester
Schools across Worcester average a C+, better than 50% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Albert S. Woodward Memorial SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Hildreth Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Spring Street SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hopkinton Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- P Brent TrottierA+ · 68% proficient
- Sarah W Gibbons MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Westborough HighA+ · 88% proficient
- Hopkinton HighA+ · 87% proficient
- Algonquin Regional HighA+ · 86% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Worcester school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Worcester 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 Worcester against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Worcester suits
Families
Schools land around the 50th percentile and crime safety beats 98%.
Common questions about living in Worcester
Is Worcester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Worcester ranks 49th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low crime, tree cover, and heat safety, 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 Worcester expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $442,756. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $107,234 median income, cost of living beats 64% of metro areas.
Is Worcester safe?
Yes, Worcester is safer than 98% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $185 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Worcester?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 37 with lows near 19. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 31% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Worcester?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Shrewsbury, Westborough & Northborough, Milford, Uxbridge & Whitinsville, and Leominster, Clinton & Lunenburg. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Worcester good for families?
Schools beat 50% of metro areas, crime safety beats 98%, and childcare runs $1,648 a month.
Is Worcester good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 64% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 8% of metro areas. About 16% of workers already work from home.
Compare Worcester with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Worcester. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Worcester 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.
Worcester detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Worcester: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Worcester: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Worcester: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Worcester: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Worcester 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.