Most Americans have never been to small town Massachusetts. However, as the Bay Stater who live there know, small town Massachusetts is an awesome place to call home.
But is it all roses? Definitely not. Just like any other state, Massachusetts has its trouble spots. This article aims to determine, using Saturday Night Science, the absolute worst small towns to live in the Bay State. Don’t freak out, we will use data to show which places have high crime, poverty, and unemployment.
After analyzing more than 99 of Massachusetts’s smallest cities, we came up with this list as the 10 worst small towns in Massachusetts where you’d never want to live:
12.1% unemployment · $58,560 median income
9.2% unemployment · $64,563 median income
13.2% unemployment · $48,115 median income
21.1% unemployment · $51,917 median income
8.8% unemployment · $40,365 median income
4.6% unemployment · $76,536 median income
5.3% unemployment · $189,250 median income
5.1% unemployment · $68,333 median income
6.2% unemployment · $64,818 median income
9.6% unemployment · $77,442 median income
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Massachusetts’s statewide median.
Massachusetts statewide median: $656,690
Massachusetts statewide median: $103,960
Massachusetts statewide median: 5.2%
On the map
Where Massachusetts’s worst small towns are
Saturday Night Science
Methodology: How do you decide if a small place in Massachusetts is lousy or not?
To rank the worst small towns to live in Massachusetts, we had to determine what criteria people like or dislike about a place. Assuming that people like low crime, solid education, things to do, and a stable economy isn’t a stretch.
We then analyzed the criteria using Saturday Night Science, the thinking you’d use at a bar. It seems like even your crazy Uncle would agree that a town with high crime is worse than a town with low crime; all else the same.
Using FBI crime data and the Census’s 2020-2024 American Community Survey, this is the criteria we used:
- Population Density (The lower, the worse)
- Highest Unemployment Rates
- Low housing costs (meaning there’s no demand)
- Adjusted Median Income (Median income adjusted for the cost of living)
- Education (Number of high school dropouts)
- High Crime
We looked at cities with populations between 1,000 and 5,000 people, of which there were many – 99 to be exact.
We get the crime numbers from the FBI, which gets them from the cities. Dropout numbers are based on the adult population, not just the current graduation rates of teenagers.
We base all our research on facts, which is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2026, which is our eleventh time ranking the worst small places to live in Massachusetts.
The full plate
Worst Small Towns In Massachusetts
Click any column to sort. Search by town name.
| Rank | Town | Population | Unemployment Rate | Home Value | Median Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Wareham | 2,257 | 12.1% | $269,639 | $58,560 |
| 2 | Monson Center | 1,613 | 9.2% | $337,867 | $64,563 |
| 3 | Orange | 3,737 | 13.2% | $317,977 | $48,115 |
| 4 | Baldwinville | 2,528 | 21.1% | $360,147 | $51,917 |
| 5 | Warren | 1,426 | 8.8% | $354,629 | $40,365 |
| 6 | Shelburne Falls | 1,845 | 4.6% | $367,424 | $76,536 |
| 7 | Devens | 1,723 | 5.3% | $552,207 | $189,250 |
| 8 | Northfield | 1,070 | 5.1% | $363,955 | $68,333 |
| 9 | Smith Mills | 4,612 | 6.2% | $491,145 | $64,818 |
| 10 | North Eastham | 2,085 | 9.6% | $805,296 | $77,442 |
| 11 | Dennis Port | 3,691 | 9.6% | $612,062 | $70,094 |
| 12 | North Brookfield | 2,659 | 4.7% | $383,281 | $77,740 |
| 13 | West Brookfield | 1,563 | 7.8% | $408,273 | $76,625 |
| 14 | North Plymouth | 4,337 | 16.1% | $577,715 | $80,745 |
| 15 | Millers Falls | 1,054 | 2.9% | $311,554 | $68,750 |
| 16 | Turners Falls | 4,124 | 5.0% | $323,490 | $54,772 |
| 17 | Wilbraham | 3,679 | 4.8% | $474,096 | $92,188 |
| 18 | Holland | 1,301 | 2.8% | $370,176 | $86,615 |
| 19 | Winchendon | 4,331 | 4.0% | $398,630 | $55,809 |
| 20 | Belchertown | 2,355 | 1.9% | $468,712 | $77,428 |
| 21 | West Falmouth | 1,325 | 10.2% | $961,728 | $77,292 |
| 22 | Acushnet Center | 2,810 | 7.9% | $442,661 | $71,864 |
| 23 | Great Barrington | 2,331 | 3.3% | $587,628 | $64,506 |
| 24 | Pepperell | 1,971 | 5.9% | $599,747 | $76,726 |
| 25 | Ayer | 3,098 | 4.1% | $561,720 | $74,878 |
| 26 | South Deerfield | 1,882 | 3.7% | $449,500 | $103,056 |
| 27 | Weweantic | 1,452 | 11.1% | $491,612 | $62,481 |
| 28 | Chatham | 1,600 | 7.7% | $1,290,306 | $83,750 |
| 29 | Groton | 1,232 | 7.2% | $776,501 | $135,714 |
| 30 | Bourne | 1,806 | 17.1% | $652,434 | $97,847 |
| 31 | Lenox | 1,866 | 0.0% | $588,719 | $61,335 |
| 32 | Falmouth | 3,954 | 2.7% | $836,606 | $68,227 |
| 33 | East Pepperell | 1,949 | 5.1% | $502,828 | $96,198 |
| 34 | Harwich Port | 2,238 | 9.5% | $1,056,860 | $70,761 |
| 35 | Teaticket | 1,759 | 1.6% | $625,965 | $84,837 |
| 36 | Northwest Harwich | 3,932 | 7.4% | $777,023 | $107,730 |
| 37 | Buzzards Bay | 2,909 | 2.8% | $530,983 | $94,388 |
| 38 | Norton Center | 2,663 | 2.3% | $634,960 | $119,949 |
| 38 | East Brookfield | 1,445 | 2.4% | $426,075 | $69,837 |
| 40 | Granby | 1,152 | 2.4% | $397,140 | $135,750 |
| 41 | South Ashburnham | 1,500 | 0.0% | $432,614 | $126,071 |
| 42 | Ocean Grove | 3,453 | 7.0% | $423,151 | $118,696 |
| 43 | Hanson | 1,927 | 9.1% | $605,148 | $119,211 |
| 44 | Monument Beach | 3,277 | 8.5% | $654,120 | $77,167 |
| 45 | Raynham Center | 4,841 | 3.5% | $639,867 | $132,382 |
| 46 | Rockport | 4,704 | 8.8% | $858,672 | $86,250 |
| 46 | Pocasset | 2,247 | 4.8% | $829,362 | $84,583 |
| 48 | Lee | 1,511 | 4.0% | $412,951 | $70,724 |
| 49 | West Chatham | 1,258 | 3.9% | $864,060 | $1,000 |
| 50 | Fiskdale | 2,311 | 5.9% | $478,177 | $112,400 |
| 51 | Onset | 1,380 | 12.2% | $477,009 | $137,997 |
| 52 | West Dennis | 2,556 | 0.7% | $753,307 | $95,758 |
| 53 | Hatfield | 1,449 | 0.0% | $487,235 | $110,972 |
| 54 | East Dennis | 3,062 | 3.4% | $810,787 | $103,654 |
| 54 | Rutland | 2,019 | 8.4% | $528,115 | $95,724 |
| 56 | Wareham Center | 3,635 | 0.8% | $497,337 | $91,936 |
| 58 | Hopedale | 4,360 | 2.3% | $531,391 | $107,909 |
| 58 | North Lakeville | 3,624 | 1.7% | $634,727 | $106,713 |
| 58 | Dennis | 2,424 | 3.2% | $663,221 | $109,882 |
| 60 | Mattapoisett Center | 2,669 | 3.1% | $761,602 | $105,500 |
| 61 | Hanscom AFB | 2,110 | 0.7% | $0 | $104,688 |
| 62 | Orleans | 1,480 | 0.0% | $1,060,721 | $78,359 |
| 62 | Lunenburg | 2,057 | 1.3% | $543,071 | $109,662 |
| 64 | Forestdale | 3,801 | 3.1% | $643,604 | $108,158 |
| 65 | Westborough | 4,699 | 2.5% | $735,837 | $106,200 |
| 66 | Upton | 3,234 | 6.0% | $704,547 | $110,900 |
| 67 | South Dennis | 3,135 | 3.8% | $579,117 | $88,411 |
| 68 | Littleton Common | 3,289 | 7.6% | $652,134 | $135,074 |
| 69 | Boxford | 2,284 | 3.4% | $1,063,822 | $188,482 |
| 70 | North Pembroke | 3,393 | 1.3% | $626,198 | $194,309 |
| 71 | Millis-Clicquot | 4,437 | 3.0% | $637,414 | $146,853 |
| 72 | East Sandwich | 3,864 | 2.7% | $838,067 | $115,000 |
| 73 | Brewster | 1,994 | 8.8% | $778,117 | $113,214 |
| 74 | Harwich Center | 1,774 | 2.4% | $743,961 | $85,057 |
| 75 | Shirley | 1,146 | 6.0% | $552,970 | $108,494 |
| 75 | Essex | 1,688 | 2.2% | $894,195 | $161,250 |
| 77 | North Seekonk | 2,974 | 6.6% | $510,188 | $114,712 |
| 78 | Marion Center | 1,335 | 0.0% | $827,844 | $150,700 |
| 79 | Sturbridge | 2,443 | 0.0% | $507,734 | $131,568 |
| 80 | South Lancaster | 2,177 | 8.9% | $492,313 | $109,173 |
| 81 | Provincetown | 3,452 | 6.7% | $1,060,322 | $158,125 |
| 82 | White Island Shores | 1,620 | 1.3% | $476,542 | $106,667 |
| 83 | North Falmouth | 2,838 | 6.4% | $835,671 | $121,509 |
| 84 | Housatonic | 1,113 | 0.0% | $510,539 | $1,000 |
| 85 | Ipswich | 4,924 | 0.6% | $842,373 | $104,102 |
| 86 | East Douglas | 2,987 | 1.9% | $507,735 | $138,309 |
| 87 | Sandwich | 2,890 | 2.9% | $681,450 | $117,321 |
| 88 | Ocean Bluff-Brant Rock | 4,540 | 4.1% | $647,227 | $119,310 |
| 89 | Dover | 2,308 | 12.2% | $1,760,580 | $250,001 |
| 90 | Sagamore | 4,072 | 3.2% | $672,579 | $108,315 |
| 91 | Cordaville | 2,989 | 4.8% | $894,786 | $165,375 |
| 92 | Rowley | 1,708 | 0.0% | $794,857 | $109,622 |
| 93 | Marshfield Hills | 1,978 | 0.0% | $995,024 | $216,250 |
| 94 | Nahant | 3,325 | 5.9% | $952,662 | $112,762 |
| 95 | South Duxbury | 3,252 | 4.0% | $1,147,251 | $212,734 |
| 96 | Topsfield | 2,624 | 1.6% | $964,376 | $191,146 |
| 97 | Vineyard Haven | 2,469 | 1.2% | $990,001 | $77,665 |
| 98 | Duxbury | 1,994 | 3.4% | $1,095,537 | $126,694 |
| 99 | Hopkinton | 3,426 | 3.8% | $961,411 | $201,094 |
Source: FBI crime data + U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024 via Saturday Night Science. 99 Massachusetts towns between 1,000 and 5,000 residents.
Summary
There You Have It – The Worst Small Towns In Massachusetts
If you’re analyzing teeny places in the Bay State with the worst economic situations, where there’s high crime and there’s not a lot to do, this is an accurate list.
The worst small towns in Massachusetts are West Wareham, Monson Center, Orange, Baldwinville, Warren, Shelburne Falls, Devens, Northfield, Smith Mills, and North Eastham. Not sold on Massachusetts? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
Questions and answers
Worst Small Towns In Massachusetts FAQs
What is the worst small town in Massachusetts?
West Wareham is the worst small town in Massachusetts for 2026, according to the data. The median household income there is $58,560 and unemployment sits at 12.1%.
What are the worst small towns in Massachusetts?
The worst small towns in Massachusetts are West Wareham, Monson Center, Orange, Baldwinville, Warren, Shelburne Falls, Devens, Northfield, Smith Mills, and North Eastham. We ranked all 99 Massachusetts towns with between 1,000 and 5,000 residents.
Why does West Wareham rank as the worst small town?
West Wareham posts the worst combined score on the measures we track: unemployment at 12.1%, a median income of $58,560, and a median home value of $269,639. Low housing demand and dropout rates factor in too.
Which small town in Massachusetts came out best?
Hopkinton lands at the bottom of the worst-towns ranking, which makes it the best of the 99 small towns we scored. Our separate best small towns in Massachusetts ranking covers the happier end in detail.
How serious is this ranking?
The data is real — density, unemployment, housing demand, income, dropouts, and crime — but the framing is infotainment. If you love your small town, the numbers will not change that; they just say times are tougher in these 99 places.
