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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-STURBRIDGE-MA · Sturbridge, MA 2,277 pop · income 90th 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 Sturbridge
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sturbridge on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
White Castle · lowest
19,314
White Castle · lowest
19,314 median HH income
7.7% of the leader · rank #1
Cary · near
129,399
Cary · near
129,399 median HH income
51.8% of the leader · rank #2
Lee Vining · near
129,407
Lee Vining · near
129,407 median HH income
51.8% of the leader · rank #3
Shelter Island · near
129,410
Shelter Island · near
129,410 median HH income
51.8% of the leader · rank #4
Sturbridge · this city
129,413
Sturbridge · this city
129,413 median HH income
51.8% of the leader · rank #5
Prairie Heigh… · near
129,438
Prairie Heigh… · near
129,438 median HH income
51.8% of the leader · rank #6
Dover · highest
250,001
Dover · highest
250,001 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 Sturbridge 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: 2,277.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Sturbridge - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Sturbridge places in the 90th percentile for household income and the 61st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
90th
percentile, household income
78th
percentile, home value
98th
percentile, median rent
61st
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: Sturbridge, MA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 2,277 residents in Sturbridge, a small town within Massachusetts. The typical household in Sturbridge brings in $129,413 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.4%. Home values in Sturbridge run a median of $404,700, and the median resident age is 49.6 years. About 55.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 64.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Sturbridge reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1065.6 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). The average commute for Sturbridge workers runs 28.0 minutes, with 71.9% driving alone and 12.0% working from home. 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 Sturbridge'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to housing and income to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Sturbridge, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, annual population history, 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 Sturbridge?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 71.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 28.0 minutes.
What does the education layer cover for Sturbridge?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 55.0% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sturbridge?
Within Massachusetts, the closest population matches are Cedar Crest (2,289 residents, $175,313 income); Belchertown (2,299 residents, $68,393 income); Boxford (2,325 residents, $238,375 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are McDonald, PA (2,277 residents); Arnold, CA (2,276 residents); White Castle, LA (2,278 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Sturbridge?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.4%, 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.
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 Sturbridge?
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 1065.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 53% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
848.5
Violent rate
217.1
Total reported rate
1065.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Top-decile income · poverty 0.4% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
105.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Massachusetts average
B-
City profile score · Sturbridge, MA
68/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income A+
$129,413
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A
55.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime D
217 /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.
Sturbridge profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 97/100 (A+) · 0.4%
Household income: 90/100 (A+) · $129,413
Bachelor's+ share: 88/100 (A) · 55.0%
Violent crime: 45/100 (D) · 217 /100k
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where Sturbridge sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Sturbridge'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 - Sturbridge highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Sturbridge, MA (this city): home $404,700, crime 1,066/100k
White Castle, LA : home $102,000, crime 4,225/100k
Plainview, TN : home $151,200, crime 768/100k
Belchertown, MA : home $331,500, crime 730/100k
Boxford, MA : home $977,400, crime 145/100k
Dover, MA : home $1,230,600, crime 655/100k
Lunenburg, MA : home $439,600, crime 1,141/100k
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 Sturbridge compare to other US cities?
Here's how Sturbridge stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income90% higher than other cities
Home value78% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% pricier than other cities
Safety61% 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: Sturbridge ranks #88 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 Sturbridge 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 Sturbridge near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sturbridge ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sturbridge only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#47 of 233
80th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#169 of 240
30th percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#206 of 247
17th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#76 of 247
69th 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
90th percentile nationally for median household income · 61st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Sturbridge's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Sturbridge'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 Sturbridge's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$404,70022nd percentilemore affordable than 22% 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
Sturbridge's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#7,325 of 15,516
More affordable than 53% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#6,094 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.1×, Sturbridge sits in the moderate band:
national rank #7,325 of 15,516 and #6,094 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
$129,413Sturbridge, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sturbridge, 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 Sturbridge, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)55.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,277
Median Income
$129,413
Median Home Value
$404,700
Median Age
49.6
Poverty Rate
0.4%
Labor force participation
64.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
55.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1065.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
217.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
848.5
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
Average Commute Time
28.0 minutes
Drive Alone
71.9%
Carpool
16.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
12.0%
Based on 1,233 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 Sturbridge. 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 Sturbridge 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 Sturbridge sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sturbridge 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.