Are you sick of being a city slicker?
Do you long for life in suburban Massachusetts? Where you can drive your overly-large vehicle to the store for groceries, and schlep the kids around to practices and appointments without worrying about a parking space?
We do too.
Public transportation is…icky at times. When you have to call an Uber to get to urgent care on a Friday night, that gets old after a while.
So, the question is, if you wanted to move out to the suburbs of Boston, where would you go? And how would you decide on the ranking factors to help you pick which Massachusetts suburb was best?
No worries. We got it all figured out here.
These are the 10 best suburbs in the Bay State:
- Newton (Photos)
- Melrose (Photos)
- Woburn (Photos)
- Waltham (Photos)
- Cambridge (Photos)
- Beverly (Photos)
- Medford (Photos)
- Somerville (Photos)
- Gloucester (Photos)
- Peabody (Photos)
Newton is the place to be when it comes to being a soccer mom in suburban Massachusetts.
So if you’re thinking of packing up your mini van and making a move to a quiet place to live in Massachusetts, we’ve got you covered.
Keep on reading for a detailed methodology. Or, check out the best places to live in Massachusetts and the best places to raise a family in Massachusetts.
How do you determine which suburb is the best in Massachusetts anyways?
To give you the best suburbs in Massachusetts, we have 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’s a “best city” and what isn’t.
So we researched the internet for a database that contains all that information.
How we crunched the suburb numbers for the Bay State
We threw a lot of criteria at this one in order to get the best, most complete results possible. Using U.S. Census data produced for the state of Massachusetts, we looked at every town between 27,000 and 200,000 residents, and within 30 miles of a city that’s over 200,000 people (In other words, suburbs).
We paid particular attention to:
- Median Home Values
- Median Income
- Population Density (Higher is Better)
- Unemployment Rates
- Commute Time
- Education Levels
- Health Insurance Coverage
- Poverty Rates
We ranked each suburb in Massachusetts across a number of criteria from one to 22, with one being the best.
We then took the average rank across all criteria, with the town posting the lowest overall score being crowned the winner of the title “Best Suburb To Live In Massachusetts”.
The result is some of the safest, quiet, and awesome places to live in Massachusetts
Read on to see why Newton is the ‘burb with the most, while Brockton is probably not the best place to live in Massachusetts.
1. Newton
Population: 88,317
Median Income: $127,402
Median Home Price: $788,500
Newton is located 9 miles west of Boston.
2. Melrose
Population: 27,787
Median Income: $87,712
Median Home Price: $437,100
Melrose is located 8 miles north of Boston.
3. Woburn
Population: 39,220
Median Income: $83,872
Median Home Price: $374,300
Woburn is located 12 miles north of Boston.
4. Waltham
Population: 62,699
Median Income: $82,188
Median Home Price: $434,500
Waltham is located 11 miles west of Boston.
5. Cambridge
Population: 108,757
Median Income: $83,122
Median Home Price: $629,700
Cambridge is located 5 miles west of Boston.
6. Beverly
Population: 40,967
Median Income: $73,839
Median Home Price: $378,100
Beverly is located 17 miles north of Boston.
7. Medford
Population: 57,180
Median Income: $79,607
Median Home Price: $421,200
Medford is located 7 miles north of Boston.
8. Somerville
Population: 79,507
Median Income: $78,673
Median Home Price: $512,500
Somerville is located 5 miles west of Boston.
9. Gloucester
Population: 29,546
Median Income: $63,917
Median Home Price: $370,900
Gloucester is located 26 miles east of Boston.
10. Peabody
Population: 52,235
Median Income: $64,071
Median Home Price: $345,500
Peabody is located 14 miles north of Boston.
There You Have It – The Best Suburbs In Massachusetts
Here’s a look at the worst suburbs in Massachusetts according to the data:
- Brockton
- Chelsea
- Lynn
For more Massachusetts reading, check out:
- 10 Worst Places To Live In Massachusetts
- 10 Most Dangerous Cities In Massachusetts
- 10 Most Ghetto Cities In Massachusetts
Detailed List Of The Best Suburbs In Massachusetts
City | Rank |
---|---|
Newton | 1 |
Melrose | 2 |
Woburn | 3 |
Waltham | 4 |
Cambridge | 5 |
Beverly | 6 |
Medford | 7 |
Somerville | 8 |
Gloucester | 9 |
Peabody | 10 |
Marlborough | 11 |
Quincy | 12 |
Salem | 13 |
Malden | 14 |
Taunton | 15 |
Everett | 16 |
Revere | 17 |
Lowell | 18 |
Lawrence | 19 |
Lynn | 20 |
Chelsea | 21 |
Brockton | 22 |