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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-EAST-BROOKFIELD-MA · East Brookfield, MA 1,349 pop · income 50th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around East Brookfield
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest East Brookfield on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Benton · lowest
35,000
Benton · lowest
35,000 median HH income
25.9% of the leader · rank #1
East Brookfie… · this city
70,625
East Brookfie… · this city
70,625 median HH income
52.2% of the leader · rank #2
County Line · near
70,625
County Line · near
70,625 median HH income
52.2% of the leader · rank #3
Vona · near
70,625
Vona · near
70,625 median HH income
52.2% of the leader · rank #4
Menlo · near
70,625
Menlo · near
70,625 median HH income
52.2% of the leader · rank #5
Goose Lake · near
70,625
Goose Lake · near
70,625 median HH income
52.2% of the leader · rank #6
West Chatham · highest
135,199
West Chatham · highest
135,199 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for East Brookfield on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 1,349.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
East Brookfield - the verdict
Nationally, East Brookfield sits in the 50th percentile for household income and the 80th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
50th
percentile, household income
70th
percentile, home value
98th
percentile, median rent
80th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: East Brookfield, MA
1,349 people live in East Brookfield, Massachusetts - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. East Brookfield households earn a median of $70,625 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 2.7%. East Brookfield's housing stock carries a median value of $337,500, and the median resident age is 54.2 years. About 26.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 63.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
East Brookfield reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 626.1 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Massachusetts carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Massachusetts at 105.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,261 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Massachusetts run around $330, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 78.8 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of East Brookfield's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from housing and income to comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For East Brookfield, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in East Brookfield?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
Which cities make useful reference points for East Brookfield?
Within Massachusetts, the closest population matches are Oak Bluffs (1,357 residents, $59,082 income); Hatfield (1,361 residents, $109,625 income); West Chatham (1,337 residents, $135,199 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fort Dick, CA (1,349 residents); Pierceton, IN (1,349 residents); Sutton, NE (1,349 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What does the education layer cover for East Brookfield?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 26.6% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
What does the journey to work look like in East Brookfield?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 85.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in East Brookfield?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 626.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 73% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
268.3
Violent rate
357.8
Total reported rate
626.1
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate A-
2.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
26.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C-
$70,625
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
358 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Cost of living F
105.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
East Brookfield profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 81/100 (A-) · 2.7%
Bachelor's+ share: 52/100 (C-) · 26.6%
Household income: 50/100 (C-) · $70,625
Violent crime: 25/100 (F) · 358 /100k
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where East Brookfield sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
East Brookfield's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - East Brookfield highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
East Brookfield, MA (this city): home $337,500, crime 626/100k
Benton, TN : home $167,700, crime 704/100k
Dagsboro, DE : home $285,000, crime 1,613/100k
Oak Bluffs, MA : home $1,013,900, crime 1,769/100k
Hatfield, MA : home $460,300, crime 181/100k
Holland, MA : home $281,000, crime 383/100k
Shirley, MA : home $378,700, crime 379/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does East Brookfield compare to other US cities?
East Brookfield measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income50% higher than other cities
Home value70% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% pricier than other cities
Safety80% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Massachusetts alone, East Brookfield ranks #43 of 149 Massachusetts cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares East Brookfield against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Massachusetts only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Massachusetts-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places East Brookfield near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, East Brookfield ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares East Brookfield only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#188 of 233
19th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#195 of 240
19th percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#155 of 247
36th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#206 of 247
17th percentile in Massachusetts
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Massachusetts only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
50th percentile nationally for median household income · 80th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
East Brookfield's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
East Brookfield's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How East Brookfield's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$337,50030th percentilemore affordable than 30% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
East Brookfield's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,518 of 15,516
More affordable than 19% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,525 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.8×, East Brookfield sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,518 of 15,516 and #9,525 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$70,625East Brookfield, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context East Brookfield, MA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for East Brookfield, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)26.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,349
Median Income
$70,625
Median Home Value
$337,500
Median Age
54.2
Poverty Rate
2.7%
Labor force participation
63.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
26.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
626.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
357.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
268.3
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
85.7%
Carpool
2.7%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
7.4%
Work from Home
4.2%
Based on 743 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Massachusetts statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $330
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Massachusetts at $330 (electricity about $160 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are Massachusetts statewide averages, not a meter reading for East Brookfield. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Massachusetts's BEA cost-of-living index is 105.8 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around East Brookfield is $2,261/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Massachusetts statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 78.8 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Massachusetts statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county East Brookfield sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How East Brookfield compares to similar-size Massachusetts cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.