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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-NEWBURYPORT-MA · Newburyport, MA 18,444 pop · income 93rd 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 Newburyport
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Newburyport on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Centralia · lowest
52,387
Centralia · lowest
52,387 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #1
Fremont Hills · near
144,250
Fremont Hills · near
144,250 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Innsbrook · near
144,250
Innsbrook · near
144,250 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Newburyport · this city
144,259
Newburyport · this city
144,259 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #4
Wyncote · near
144,281
Wyncote · near
144,281 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Sandy Hook · highest
144,335
Sandy Hook · highest
144,335 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Newburyport 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: 18,444.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Newburyport - the verdict
Newburyport ranks in the 93rd percentile for household income and the 88th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
93rd
percentile, household income
95th
percentile, home value
98th
percentile, median rent
88th
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: Newburyport, MA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 18,444 residents in Newburyport, a small town within Massachusetts. Households in Newburyport report a median income of $144,259 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.0%. Home values in Newburyport run a median of $792,400, and the median resident age is 47.3 years. Educational attainment runs 65.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 64.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 7 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 93% from five years earlier. Newburyport reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 442.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects 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. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 78.8 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Newburyport'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 work and mobility to reported crime to schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Newburyport, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Newburyport?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 63.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Newburyport?
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 442.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 81% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
What does the education layer cover for Newburyport?
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 65.9% 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 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Newburyport?
Within Massachusetts, the closest population matches are Somerset (18,246 residents, $111,720 income); Winthrop (18,807 residents, $106,357 income); Southbridge (17,806 residents, $59,397 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Newton, KS (18,443 residents); Fort Carson, CO (18,447 residents); Fairwood CDP (King County), WA (18,437 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Newburyport?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.0%, 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.
Household income
$144,259
Home value
$792,400
Value / income
5.5×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Newburyport growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +851 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +4.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 7 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+4.7%
2025 estimate
19,148
2020 estimate
18,297
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Top-decile income · poverty 4.0% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
105.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Massachusetts average
B
City profile score · Newburyport, MA
73/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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.
Bachelor's+ share A+
65.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A+
$144,259
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime A
47 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate B
4.0%
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.
Newburyport profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 95/100 (A+) · 65.9%
Household income: 94/100 (A+) · $144,259
Violent crime: 85/100 (A) · 47 /100k
Poverty rate: 72/100 (B) · 4.0%
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where Newburyport sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Newburyport'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 - Newburyport highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Newburyport, MA (this city): home $792,400, crime 442/100k
Newton, KS : home $151,800, crime 2,287/100k
Centralia, WA : home $267,600, crime 3,008/100k
Dover, NJ : home $347,100, crime 1,093/100k
Somerset, MA : home $389,400, crime 718/100k
Winthrop, MA : home $606,900, crime 681/100k
Southbridge, MA : home $267,000, crime 1,001/100k
Greenfield, MA : home $252,000, crime 2,698/100k
Amesbury, MA : home $475,400, crime 670/100k
Abington, MA : home $516,300, crime 1,593/100k
How does Newburyport compare to other US cities?
Here's how Newburyport stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income93% higher than other cities
Home value95% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% pricier than other cities
Safety88% 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, Newburyport ranks #30 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 Newburyport 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 Newburyport near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Newburyport ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Newburyport only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#32 of 233
86th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#34 of 240
86th percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#114 of 247
54th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#40 of 247
83rd 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
93rd percentile nationally for median household income · 88th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Newburyport's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Newburyport'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 Newburyport's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$792,4005th percentilemore affordable than 5% 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
Newburyport's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,568 of 15,516
More affordable than 13% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,811 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.5×, Newburyport sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,568 of 15,516 and #2,811 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$144,259Newburyport, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Newburyport, 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 Newburyport, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)65.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
18,444
Median Income
$144,259
Median Home Value
$792,400
Median Age
47.3
Poverty Rate
4.0%
Labor force participation
64.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
65.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
442.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
46.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
395.2
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
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Newburyport's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
18,297 residents
2021
18,294 residents
2022
18,725 residents
2023
18,869 residents
2024
19,180 residents
2025
19,148 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
7
housing units authorized
Single-Family
7
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
103
27
76
$19.4M
2020
47
32
15
$12.1M
2021
232
24
208
$37.3M
2022
11
6
5
$3.2M
2023
113
18
95
$32.5M
2024
7
7
0
$4.0M
Permit volume decreased 93% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
63.1%
Carpool
3.9%
Public Transit
3.0%
Walk
4.6%
Work from Home
23.6%
Other
1.8%
Based on 9,284 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 Newburyport. 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 Newburyport 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 Newburyport sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Newburyport 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 BPS 2024, 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.