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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-HOPEDALE-MA · Hopedale, MA 4,126 pop · income 84th 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 Hopedale
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hopedale on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
South Highpoi… · lowest
54,364
South Highpoi… · lowest
54,364 median HH income
41.2% of the leader · rank #1
Edgewater · near
111,000
Edgewater · near
111,000 median HH income
84.1% of the leader · rank #2
Hopedale · this city
111,016
Hopedale · this city
111,016 median HH income
84.1% of the leader · rank #3
Interlaken · near
111,021
Interlaken · near
111,021 median HH income
84.1% of the leader · rank #4
Ocean Ridge · near
111,023
Ocean Ridge · near
111,023 median HH income
84.1% of the leader · rank #5
Neptune Beach · near
111,025
Neptune Beach · near
111,025 median HH income
84.1% of the leader · rank #6
Sagamore · highest
132,000
Sagamore · highest
132,000 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 Hopedale 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: 4,126.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hopedale - the verdict
Nationally, Hopedale sits in the 84th percentile for household income and the 92nd percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
84th
percentile, household income
77th
percentile, home value
98th
percentile, median rent
92nd
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: Hopedale, MA
4,126 people live in Hopedale, Massachusetts - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Hopedale households earn a median of $111,016 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.9%. Typical homes in Hopedale are valued around $399,100, and the median resident age is 40.4 years. About 43.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 67.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Hopedale reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 309.0 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Massachusetts carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Massachusetts scores 105.8 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,261 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Massachusetts's average monthly utility costs around $330 (state average). 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 Hopedale'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 comparison shortlist to reported crime to housing and income to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hopedale, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Hopedale?
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.
Within Massachusetts, the closest population matches are Northwest Harwich (4,205 residents, $89,063 income); Westborough (4,234 residents, $100,037 income); Wilbraham (4,247 residents, $88,409 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Brittany Farms-The Highlands, PA (4,127 residents); Brookfield, MO (4,128 residents); Grafton, ND (4,128 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Hopedale?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 309.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 86% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
How far does income reach against housing in Hopedale?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 43.4% 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Hopedale?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 82.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Drive alone
82.9%
Work from home
11.7%
Public transit
0.6%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,056 workers age 16+.
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.
Household income A-
$111,016
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime A-
65 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share B+
43.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B
3.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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.
Hopedale profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 82/100 (A-) · $111,016
Violent crime: 80/100 (A-) · 65 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 78/100 (B+) · 43.4%
Poverty rate: 72/100 (B) · 3.9%
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where Hopedale sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hopedale'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 - Hopedale highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Hopedale, MA (this city): home $399,100, crime 309/100k
Brookfield, MO : home $86,500, crime 788/100k
Grafton, ND : home $153,800, crime 646/100k
Westborough, MA : home $540,600, crime 1,027/100k
Wilbraham, MA : home $361,600, crime 1,439/100k
Falmouth, MA : home $745,900, crime 1,125/100k
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 Hopedale compare to other US cities?
Where Hopedale sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income84% higher than other cities
Home value77% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% pricier than other cities
Safety92% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just Massachusetts and the picture shifts: Hopedale ranks #13 of 149 Massachusetts cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Hopedale 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 Hopedale near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hopedale ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hopedale only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#83 of 233
64th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#172 of 240
28th percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#115 of 247
53rd percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#135 of 247
45th 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
84th percentile nationally for median household income · 92nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hopedale's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hopedale'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 Hopedale's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$399,10023rd percentilemore affordable than 23% 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
Hopedale's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,342 of 15,516
More affordable than 40% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,495 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.6×, Hopedale sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,342 of 15,516 and #7,495 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
$111,016Hopedale, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hopedale, 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 Hopedale, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)43.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)67.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
4,126
Median Income
$111,016
Median Home Value
$399,100
Median Age
40.4
Poverty Rate
3.9%
Labor force participation
67.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
43.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
309.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
65.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
243.9
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
3
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
82.9%
Carpool
2.4%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
2.4%
Work from Home
11.7%
Based on 2,056 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 Hopedale. 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 Hopedale 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 Hopedale sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hopedale 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.