Like all states, Massachusetts has certain places that are going on hard times. These Massachusetts places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Massachusetts.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 48 cities in Massachusetts with more than 12,000 people.
$53,605 median income · 27.0% poverty · #3 lowest income in Massachusetts
Located in
Hampden County, Massachusetts
Holyoke, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Massachusetts thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 37,813 people averages the 3rd lowest median household income in Massachusetts and the highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$52,656 median income · 25.8% poverty · #2 lowest income in Massachusetts
Located in
Hampden County, Massachusetts
The second poorest city in Massachusetts is Springfield.
The city ranks as having the 2nd highest incidence of poverty and 2nd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 2nd highest in the Bay State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$47,500 median income · 18.6% poverty · #1 lowest income in Massachusetts
Located in
Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Placing as the third poorest city, North Adams’s median income ranks as the lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 18.6% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Bay State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$56,981 median income · 20.6% poverty · #5 lowest income in Massachusetts
Located in
Bristol County, Massachusetts
New Bedford ranks as the fourth poorest place in Massachusetts.
The town ranks as having the 5th lowest median household income and the 4th highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$56,673 median income · 19.6% poverty · #4 lowest income in Massachusetts
Located in
Bristol County, Massachusetts
The fifth poorest city in Massachusetts is Fall River.
The city ranks as having the 4th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 6th highest in Massachusetts.
Still not the best news for Fall River.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$60,433 median income · 17.6% poverty · #6 lowest income in Massachusetts
Located in
Essex County, Massachusetts
Lawrence ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Bay State.
It ranks as having the 8th highest incidence of poverty and the 4th highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$70,102 median income · 19.6% poverty · #11 lowest income in Massachusetts
Located in
Worcester County, Massachusetts
Worcester places as the seventh poorest city in Massachusetts.
The city of over 207,055 ranks as having the 5th highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$62,615 median income · 17.3% poverty · #7 lowest income in Massachusetts
Located in
Hampden County, Massachusetts
Chicopee ranks as the eighth poorest city in Massachusetts.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$72,179 median income · 20.7% poverty · #13 lowest income in Massachusetts
Located in
Suffolk County, Massachusetts
Chelsea couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Massachusetts; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 13th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Chelsea ranks as having the 3rd most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Massachusetts.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$66,287 median income · 15.3% poverty · #8 lowest income in Massachusetts
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Massachusetts is Southbridge Town.
The city of 17,928 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Bay State.
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.
Massachusetts statewide median: $103,960
Massachusetts statewide median: 10.0%
Massachusetts statewide median: 5.2%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in Massachusetts
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in Massachusetts for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 48 places with more than 12,000 people in Massachusetts, we ranked each place from 1 to 48 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, Holyoke, crowned the “Poorest Place In Massachusetts For 2026”. The median Massachusetts home is 61 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in Massachusetts
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Holyoke | 2.00 | 37,813 | $53,605 | 27.0% | 7.7% |
| 2 | Springfield | 2.00 | 154,749 | $52,656 | 25.8% | 8.7% |
| 3 | North Adams | 4.00 | 12,606 | $47,500 | 18.6% | 5.0% |
| 4 | New Bedford | 4.50 | 100,998 | $56,981 | 20.6% | 8.3% |
| 5 | Fall River | 5.00 | 94,082 | $56,673 | 19.6% | 6.5% |
| 6 | Lawrence | 7.00 | 88,736 | $60,433 | 17.6% | 8.5% |
| 7 | Worcester | 8.00 | 207,055 | $70,102 | 19.6% | 6.5% |
| 8 | Chicopee | 8.00 | 55,295 | $62,615 | 17.3% | 6.3% |
| 9 | Chelsea | 8.00 | 39,908 | $72,179 | 20.7% | 9.2% |
| 10 | Southbridge Town | 10.50 | 17,928 | $66,287 | 15.3% | 7.2% |
| 11 | Pittsfield | 13.00 | 43,457 | $70,582 | 14.9% | 7.0% |
| 12 | Gardner | 13.00 | 21,148 | $67,518 | 13.7% | 7.0% |
| 13 | Fitchburg | 13.00 | 41,798 | $73,040 | 15.6% | 6.7% |
| 14 | Lowell | 13.50 | 118,368 | $78,658 | 16.9% | 5.7% |
| 15 | Lynn | 15.50 | 101,709 | $75,043 | 13.8% | 5.0% |
| 16 | West Springfield Town | 16.50 | 28,772 | $69,371 | 11.9% | 6.0% |
| 17 | Brockton | 18.50 | 105,386 | $80,115 | 13.5% | 8.6% |
| 18 | Taunton | 19.00 | 60,433 | $79,283 | 13.0% | 5.8% |
| 19 | Northampton | 19.50 | 30,962 | $80,288 | 13.4% | 5.5% |
| 20 | Everett | 19.50 | 50,045 | $85,218 | 14.7% | 5.5% |
| 21 | Boston | 21.50 | 666,442 | $97,344 | 16.6% | 6.1% |
| 22 | Salem | 22.50 | 44,795 | $85,153 | 12.1% | 5.1% |
| 23 | Revere | 25.00 | 60,012 | $86,969 | 11.5% | 7.0% |
| 24 | Palmer Town | 26.00 | 12,381 | $78,480 | 8.3% | 2.9% |
| 25 | Gloucester | 26.50 | 30,075 | $83,883 | 9.6% | 6.5% |
| 26 | Haverhill | 27.00 | 67,698 | $88,326 | 11.3% | 5.7% |
| 27 | Westfield | 27.00 | 40,378 | $87,753 | 10.7% | 3.0% |
| 28 | Leominster | 27.50 | 43,909 | $83,816 | 9.2% | 6.2% |
| 29 | Marlborough | 29.50 | 41,647 | $91,968 | 9.6% | 5.5% |
| 30 | Malden | 30.00 | 65,906 | $100,606 | 11.4% | 5.4% |
| 31 | Quincy | 30.50 | 102,114 | $98,882 | 10.6% | 6.9% |
| 32 | Cambridge | 32.00 | 118,796 | $130,748 | 12.8% | 3.4% |
| 33 | Agawam Town | 34.00 | 28,539 | $85,421 | 6.7% | 4.0% |
| 34 | Attleboro | 34.50 | 46,762 | $98,954 | 8.6% | 4.7% |
| 35 | Beverly | 35.00 | 42,665 | $106,044 | 9.4% | 4.4% |
| 36 | Peabody | 35.00 | 54,695 | $96,657 | 7.7% | 4.9% |
| 37 | Barnstable Town | 35.50 | 49,568 | $91,982 | 7.4% | 3.1% |
| 38 | Waltham | 36.00 | 64,902 | $120,216 | 9.4% | 3.7% |
| 39 | Somerville | 36.50 | 81,036 | $132,572 | 9.8% | 3.0% |
| 40 | Weymouth Town | 37.00 | 58,505 | $102,714 | 7.7% | 4.9% |
| 41 | Woburn | 37.50 | 41,939 | $111,185 | 7.9% | 7.9% |
| 42 | Winthrop Town | 40.50 | 18,759 | $116,167 | 7.2% | 5.9% |
| 43 | Medford | 41.00 | 59,354 | $129,540 | 7.6% | 4.3% |
| 44 | Braintree Town | 42.50 | 38,899 | $122,214 | 5.9% | 4.0% |
| 45 | Franklin Town | 46.00 | 33,154 | $145,773 | 5.9% | 5.2% |
| 46 | Newburyport | 46.00 | 18,652 | $139,625 | 5.0% | 5.1% |
| 47 | Melrose | 46.50 | 29,650 | $133,953 | 3.8% | 3.7% |
| 48 | Newton | 47.50 | 89,044 | $190,304 | 4.5% | 3.8% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 48 cities with more than 12,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in Massachusetts for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Massachusetts, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Massachusetts.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on Massachusetts? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
