Are you looking for love in Massachusetts?
Or are you just hoping to hook up with a hot Bay Stater?
Either way, we’ve got you covered here.
If you live in Massachusetts, there’s a pretty good chance there are a lot of singles in your area. The Bay State has plenty of people over 18 who aren’t married or in a serious relationship.
That’s great news for people who are single and looking to mingle.
So, where are the best cities for singles in Massachusetts? We used Saturday Night Science to find out.
30.4 median age · 6.0% married households
Located in
Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and part of the Boston metropolitan area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
31.9 median age · 8.0% married households
Located in
Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of 2010, the United States Census lists the city with a total population of 75,754 people, making it the most densely populated municipality in New England. As of 2010, it was the 16th most densely populated incorporated municipality in the country. Somerville was established as a town in 1842, when it was separated from Charlestown. In 2006, the town was named the best-run city in Massachusetts by the Boston Globe. In 1972, in 2009, and again in 2015, the city received the All-America City Award.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
33.3 median age · 8.0% married households
Located in
Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Boston BOSS-tn) is the capital city and most populous municipality of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. It is also the seat of Suffolk County, although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999. The city proper covers 48 square miles with an estimated population of 673,184 in 2016, making it the largest city in the New England region of the northeastern United States. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area home to a census-estimated 4.8million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest such area in the country. As a combined statistical area, this wider commuting region is home to some 8.2million people, making it the sixth-largest in the United States.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
34.4 median age · 15.0% married households
Located in
Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning, spawning what became known as the Waltham-Lowell system of labor and production. The city is now a center for research and higher education, home to Brandeis University and Bentley University. The population was 60,636 at the census in 2010.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
34.4 median age · 5.0% married households
Located in
Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Chelsea is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, directly across the Mystic River from the city of Boston. As of 2013, Chelsea had an estimated population of 36,828. It is also the second most densely populated city in Massachusetts behind Somerville. With a total area of just 2.21 square miles, Chelsea is the smallest city in Massachusetts in terms of total area.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
35.8 median age · 11.0% married households
Located in
Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2010 United States Census, the population was at 59,450 people. In 2009, Malden was named the “Best Place to Raise Your Kids” in Massachusetts by Bloomberg Businessweek.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
33.9 median age · 13.0% married households
Located in
Worcester County, Massachusetts
Worcester pronunciation is a city and the county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, as of the 2010 Census the city’s population was 181,045, making it the second most populous city in New England after Boston. Worcester is located approximately 40 miles west of Boston, 50 miles east of Springfield and 40 miles north of Providence. Due to its location in Central Massachusetts, Worcester is known as the “Heart of the Commonwealth”, thus, a heart is the official symbol of the city. However, the heart symbol may also have its provenance in lore that the mass-produced Valentine’s Day card was invented in the city.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
35.6 median age · 12.0% married households
Located in
Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Lowell is a city in the U.S. Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Located in Middlesex County, Lowell was a county seat until Massachusetts disbanded county government in 1999. With an estimated population of 109,945 in 2014, it is the fourth-largest city in Massachusetts, and the second-largest in the Boston metropolitan statistical area. The city is also part of a smaller Massachusetts statistical area called Greater Lowell, as well as New England’s Merrimack Valley region.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
32.6 median age · 6.0% married households
Located in
Essex County, Massachusetts
Lawrence is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 76,377, which had risen to an estimated 78,197 as of 2014. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and North Andover to the southeast. Lawrence and Salem are the county seats of Essex County. Lawrence is part of the Merrimack Valley.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
38.6 median age · 15.0% married households
Located in
Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Quincy is the largest city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a major part of Metropolitan Boston and is Boston’s immediate southern suburb. Its population in 2014 was 93,397, making it the 8th-largest city in the state. Known as the “City of Presidents,” Quincy is the birthplace of two U.S. presidents – John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams – as well as John Hancock, a President of the Continental Congress and the first signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Massachusetts’s statewide median.
On the map
Where Massachusetts’s singles cluster
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you determine which city is best for singles in Massachusetts anyways?
To give you the places in Massachusetts which are best for singles to find one another, we used Saturday Night Science to look at a handful of metrics. Of course, we want to measure the type of people who live in each city and make some assumptions about what single people like.
So we researched the internet for a database that contains all that information.
We threw a lot of criteria at this one to get the best, most complete results possible. Using the 2020-2024 American Community Survey Census data produced for the state of Massachusetts, we looked at every single city in the state. We paid particular attention to:
- Population density
- % of population that’s male vs. female (closer to a 50-50 ratio is better)
- % of households with kids
- Median age
- Number of unmarried people in each city
We then gave each city a “Singles Score.”
The higher the score, the better the city is for singles to find one another. We also limited our results to cities with over 12,000 people. For Massachusetts, that meant a total of 39 cities.
We updated this article for 2026. This is our eleventh time ranking the best cities for singles in Massachusetts.
Read on to see why Cambridge is the talk of the town while Gardner is probably a bit on the bland side.
The full plate
Best Cities For Singles In Massachusetts
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Singles Score | Population | Median Age | % Married Households | % Households w/ Kids |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cambridge | 3.10 | 118,796 | 30.4 | 6.0% | 17.7% |
| 2 | Somerville | 5.30 | 81,036 | 31.9 | 8.0% | 14.1% |
| 3 | Boston | 8.90 | 666,442 | 33.3 | 8.0% | 19.8% |
| 4 | Waltham | 9.70 | 64,902 | 34.4 | 15.0% | 20.3% |
| 5 | Chelsea | 10.70 | 39,908 | 34.4 | 5.0% | 35.4% |
| 6 | Malden | 11.60 | 65,906 | 35.8 | 11.0% | 29.4% |
| 7 | Worcester | 12.10 | 207,055 | 33.9 | 13.0% | 29.1% |
| 8 | Lowell | 12.80 | 118,368 | 35.6 | 12.0% | 32.1% |
| 9 | Lawrence | 12.90 | 88,736 | 32.6 | 6.0% | 37.5% |
| 10 | Quincy | 13.20 | 102,114 | 38.6 | 15.0% | 21.0% |
| 11 | Revere | 14.70 | 60,012 | 39.2 | 13.0% | 28.5% |
| 12 | Lynn | 15.00 | 101,709 | 36.5 | 14.0% | 36.5% |
| 13 | Medford | 15.60 | 59,354 | 35.9 | 15.0% | 20.4% |
| 14 | Springfield | 17.80 | 154,749 | 33.7 | 12.0% | 33.5% |
| 15 | Everett | 18.60 | 50,045 | 35.2 | 12.0% | 36.3% |
| 16 | New Bedford | 19.00 | 100,998 | 37.0 | 17.0% | 30.9% |
| 17 | Salem | 20.80 | 44,795 | 39.3 | 17.0% | 20.5% |
| 18 | Fall River | 21.40 | 94,082 | 39.3 | 16.0% | 26.3% |
| 19 | Brockton | 21.80 | 105,386 | 36.7 | 14.0% | 38.9% |
| 20 | Pittsfield | 21.90 | 43,457 | 42.4 | 24.0% | 22.5% |
| 21 | Newton | 22.00 | 89,044 | 42.1 | 14.0% | 33.0% |
| 22 | Marlborough | 22.60 | 41,647 | 37.5 | 19.0% | 31.9% |
| 23 | Holyoke | 22.60 | 37,813 | 40.0 | 15.0% | 26.6% |
| 24 | Leominster | 22.70 | 43,909 | 43.3 | 26.0% | 25.5% |
| 25 | Melrose | 23.30 | 29,650 | 43.6 | 24.0% | 29.9% |
| 26 | Woburn | 23.70 | 41,939 | 39.3 | 28.0% | 26.6% |
| 27 | Beverly | 24.00 | 42,665 | 39.0 | 27.0% | 26.2% |
| 28 | Haverhill | 25.10 | 67,698 | 39.4 | 26.0% | 30.7% |
| 29 | Chicopee | 25.40 | 55,295 | 41.9 | 22.0% | 24.3% |
| 30 | Fitchburg | 25.60 | 41,798 | 36.3 | 17.0% | 30.3% |
| 31 | Northampton | 26.60 | 30,962 | 41.3 | 15.0% | 21.9% |
| 32 | Gloucester | 27.40 | 30,075 | 50.2 | 29.0% | 20.5% |
| 33 | North Adams | 27.80 | 12,606 | 44.1 | 23.0% | 18.3% |
| 34 | Peabody | 27.90 | 54,695 | 45.3 | 30.0% | 24.9% |
| 35 | Attleboro | 28.20 | 46,762 | 39.8 | 21.0% | 31.4% |
| 36 | Westfield | 28.50 | 40,378 | 39.9 | 30.0% | 25.8% |
| 37 | Taunton | 29.70 | 60,433 | 38.9 | 28.0% | 32.9% |
| 38 | Newburyport | 29.70 | 18,652 | 49.8 | 28.0% | 24.1% |
| 39 | Gardner | 30.30 | 21,148 | 43.7 | 28.0% | 28.4% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 39 cities with more than 12,000 residents.
Summary
Summary: The Best Cities For Singles In Massachusetts For 2026
If you’re looking for a breakdown of cities in Massachusetts ranked by criteria that most agree make a place a great spot for finding a single person (and potentially love), this is an accurate list.
The best cities for singles in Massachusetts are Cambridge, Somerville, Boston, Waltham, Chelsea, Malden, Worcester, Lowell, Lawrence, and Quincy.
