Most Expensive Places To Live In Massachusetts For 2020

The 10 Most Expensive Places To Live In Massachusetts For 2020

1. Cambridge

Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and part of the Boston metropolitan area.

The median income in Cambridge comes in at $95,404 and the median home value is $719,300 for 2020.

2. Boston

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.

The median income in Boston comes in at $65,883 and the median home value is $487,300 for 2020.

3. Somerville

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.

The median income in Somerville comes in at $91,168 and the median home value is $616,100 for 2020.

4. Revere

Revere is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, located approximately 5 miles from downtown Boston. It is named after the American Revolutionary War patriot Paul Revere. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city has a population of 51,755 inhabitants.

The median income in Revere comes in at $55,020 and the median home value is $354,700 for 2020.

5. Everett

Everett is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, 4 miles north of Boston. The population was 41,668 at the time of the 2010 United States Census.

The median income in Everett comes in at $60,482 and the median home value is $381,300 for 2020.

6. Malden

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.

The median income in Malden comes in at $64,178 and the median home value is $382,200 for 2020.

7. Chelsea

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.

The median income in Chelsea comes in at $53,280 and the median home value is $323,400 for 2020.

Winthrop is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 17,497 at the 2010 census. Winthrop is an ocean-side suburban community in Greater Boston situated at the north entrance to Boston Harbor, close to Logan International Airport. It is located on a peninsula, 1.6 square miles in area, connected to Revere by a narrow isthmus and to East Boston by a bridge over the harbor inlet to the Belle Isle Marsh Reservation. Settled in 1630, Winthrop is one of the oldest communities in the United States. It is also one of the smallest and most densely populated municipalities in Massachusetts. It is one of the four cities in Suffolk County. It is the southernmost part of the North Shore, with a 7-mile shoreline that provides views of the Atlantic Ocean to the east and of the Boston skyline to the west.

The median income in Winthrop Town comes in at $68,322 and the median home value is $408,900 for 2020.

9. Lawrence

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.

The median income in Lawrence comes in at $41,583 and the median home value is $255,800 for 2020.

10. Quincy

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.

The median income in Quincy comes in at $74,180 and the median home value is $410,400 for 2020.

How We Determined The Most Expensive Places To Live In The Bay State For 2020

The two most important things to think about when it comes to being able to afford if you can live comes down to:

1. How much do money do I make?
2. How much do I have spend to live there?

You need to understand your costs in the context of how much money you make.

For example, if the median household earns $100,000 and spends $40,000 on housing it's actually cheaper to live there than a place with a median income of $50,000 and housing costs of $21,000. You might spend more on housing, but you have more money overall to play with.

With that example in mind, we derived several statistics from the latest Census American Community Survey 2014-2018 around incomes and costs. They are:

• Median Home Price / Median Income (lower is better)
• Median Income / Median Rent (Higher is better)
• Median Home Price

We added simply median home price because high home prices generally correlate with higher expenses for all costs related to homes (heating, electricity, etc).

You can then compare these metrics in each of the places in Massachusetts to figure out which is the most expensive.

What you are left with is a "Cost of Living Index" by taking the average rank of each of these metrics for each city.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 53 places in Massachusetts that have more than 12,000 people.

The place with the highest cost of living in Massachusetts according to the data is Cambridge. You can download the data here.