Best PlacesWorcester, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Worcester, 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.
Worcester ranks 112th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Worcester
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.
Worcester's strengths and weaknesses
Where Worcester ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$206,435 median, better than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
Where Worcester ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,297 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Worcester
A household needs to earn about $228,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Worcester home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $206,435; 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 Worcester's effective rate of 1.07%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Worcester
Worcester runs older than the country.
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 education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Worcester
Worcester has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Worcester and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Worcester, month by month
Worcester sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Worcester
Philadelphia International sits about 22 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 14.8 million passengers in 2025, with 179 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Worcester
Schools across Worcester average an A, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Charlestown El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Worcester El SchA+ · 79% proficient
Top middle schools
- Great Valley MsA · 64% proficient
- Skyview Upper El SchA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Great Valley HsA+ · 90% proficient
- Methacton HsA+ · 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 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Worcester
Is Worcester a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Worcester ranks 112th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, an educated workforce, and health care access, and lowest on childcare costs and state infrastructure. 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 $841,539. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $206,435 median income, cost of living beats 100% of towns.
Is Worcester safe?
Yes, Worcester is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $218 per resident a year.
Compare Worcester with other towns
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.
- 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.