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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-NORTHFIELD-MA · Northfield, MA 908 pop · income 56th 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 Northfield
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Northfield on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Franklin · lowest
51,121
Franklin · lowest
51,121 median HH income
24.8% of the leader · rank #1
College Park · near
74,867
College Park · near
74,867 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #2
St. Augustine… · near
74,873
St. Augustine… · near
74,873 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #3
Northfield · this city
74,875
Northfield · this city
74,875 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #4
Benson · near
74,886
Benson · near
74,886 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #5
Orlinda · near
74,886
Orlinda · near
74,886 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #6
New Seabury · highest
206,000
New Seabury · highest
206,000 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 Northfield 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: 908.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Northfield - the verdict
Northfield ranks in the 56th percentile for household income and the 91st percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
56th
percentile, household income
61st
percentile, home value
98th
percentile, median rent
91st
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: Northfield, MA
908 people live in Northfield, Massachusetts - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Northfield brings in $74,875 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 3.3%. Northfield's housing stock carries a median value of $279,300, and the median resident age is 49.6 years. About 44.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 63.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Northfield reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 349.3 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: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Massachusetts at 105.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). 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). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 78.8 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Northfield'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 reported crime to comparison shortlist 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 Northfield, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Northfield?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.3%, 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. 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Northfield?
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 349.3 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 85% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Northfield?
Within Massachusetts, the closest population matches are Brookfield (940 residents, $66,774 income); Huntington (853 residents, $52,344 income); New Seabury (824 residents, $206,000 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Desha, AR (908 residents); Troy, ID (908 residents); Tabor, IA (908 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 Northfield?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 44.0% 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.
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 Northfield?
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 60.4%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
24.8%
Drive alone
60.4%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 533 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.
Bachelor's+ share B+
44.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime B+
70 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate B+
3.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C-
$74,875
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
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.
Northfield profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 79/100 (B+) · 44.0%
Violent crime: 78/100 (B+) · 70 /100k
Poverty rate: 76/100 (B+) · 3.3%
Household income: 54/100 (C-) · $74,875
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where Northfield sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Northfield'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 - Northfield highlighted among 23 peers.Read the chart values
Northfield, MA (this city): home $279,300, crime 349/100k
Crocker, MO : home $100,300, crime 219/100k
Brookfield, MA : home $325,700, crime 313/100k
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 Northfield compare to other US cities?
Northfield measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income56% higher than other cities
Home value61% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% pricier than other cities
Safety91% 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: Northfield ranks #21 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 Northfield 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 Northfield near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Northfield ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Northfield only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#178 of 233
24th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#218 of 240
9th percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#130 of 247
44th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#132 of 247
46th 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
56th percentile nationally for median household income · 91st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Northfield's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Northfield'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 Northfield's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$279,30039th percentilemore affordable than 39% 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
Northfield's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,826 of 15,516
More affordable than 37% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,797 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.7×, Northfield sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,826 of 15,516 and #7,797 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
$74,875Northfield, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Northfield, 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 Northfield, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)44.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
908
Median Income
$74,875
Median Home Value
$279,300
Median Age
49.6
Poverty Rate
3.3%
Labor force participation
63.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
44.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
349.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
69.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
279.4
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
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
60.4%
Carpool
12.8%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.1%
Work from Home
24.8%
Based on 533 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 Northfield. 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 Northfield 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 Northfield sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Northfield 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.