Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetMA-WEST-BROOKFIELD-MA · West Brookfield, MA 1,518 pop · income 35th 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 West Brookfield
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest West Brookfield on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Arnaudville · lowest
26,500
Arnaudville · lowest
26,500 median HH income
24.9% of the leader · rank #1
Westville · near
59,732
Westville · near
59,732 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #2
Chino Valley · near
59,733
Chino Valley · near
59,733 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #3
West Brookfie… · this city
59,734
West Brookfie… · this city
59,734 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #4
Virgil · near
59,735
Virgil · near
59,735 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #5
Crugers · near
59,737
Crugers · near
59,737 median HH income
56.2% of the leader · rank #6
Rowley · highest
106,250
Rowley · highest
106,250 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 West 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: 1,518.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
West Brookfield - the verdict
Nationally, West Brookfield sits in the 35th 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.
35th
percentile, household income
62nd
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: West Brookfield, MA
1,518 people live in West Brookfield, Massachusetts - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in West Brookfield report a median income of $59,734 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 16.5%. Typical homes in West Brookfield are valued around $282,900, and the median resident age is 58.7 years. About 25.8% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 42.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
West Brookfield reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 331.3 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). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,261 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $330 across Massachusetts, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 West 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 schools and households to work and mobility to comparison shortlist to reported crime to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For West Brookfield, 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, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for West Brookfield?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 25.8% 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 West 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 85.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for West Brookfield?
Within Massachusetts, the closest population matches are Lee (1,522 residents, $70,306 income); Onset (1,561 residents); Groton (1,571 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Medicine Lodge, KS (1,518 residents); Arnaudville, LA (1,518 residents); Dunsmuir, CA (1,519 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 can the FBI record say about safety in West 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 331.3 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.
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 West Brookfield?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.5%, 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
$59,734
Home value
$282,900
Value / income
4.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Below median income · poverty 16.5% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
105.8 (US=100)
High cost · BEA RPP 2024, Massachusetts average
F
City profile score · West Brookfield, MA
37/100
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.
Violent crime C+
127 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C-
25.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$59,734
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.5%
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.
West Brookfield profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Violent crime: 64/100 (C+) · 127 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 51/100 (C-) · 25.8%
Household income: 34/100 (F) · $59,734
Poverty rate: 20/100 (F) · 16.5%
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where West Brookfield sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
West 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 - West Brookfield highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
West Brookfield, MA (this city): home $282,900, crime 331/100k
Medicine Lodge, KS : home $80,200, crime 1,066/100k
Dunsmuir, CA : home $262,800, crime 1,171/100k
Lee, MA : home $265,900, crime 1,183/100k
Groton, MA : home $736,800, crime 235/100k
Chatham, MA : home $1,550,000, crime 687/100k
Orleans, MA : home $542,500, crime 995/100k
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 West Brookfield compare to other US cities?
Where West Brookfield sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income35% higher than other cities
Home value62% 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.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Massachusetts alone, West Brookfield ranks #18 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 West 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 West Brookfield near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, West Brookfield ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares West Brookfield only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#208 of 233
11th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#214 of 240
11th percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#11 of 247
95th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#208 of 247
16th 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
35th percentile nationally for median household income · 92nd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
West Brookfield's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
West 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 West Brookfield's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$282,90038th percentilemore affordable than 38% 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
West Brookfield's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,438 of 15,516
More affordable than 20% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,472 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.7×, West Brookfield sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,438 of 15,516 and #9,472 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
$59,734West Brookfield, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context West 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 West Brookfield, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)25.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)42.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,518
Median Income
$59,734
Median Home Value
$282,900
Median Age
58.7
Poverty Rate
16.5%
Labor force participation
42.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
25.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
331.3
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
127.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
203.9
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
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
85.3%
Carpool
6.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
3.8%
Other
4.9%
Based on 504 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 West 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 West 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 West Brookfield sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How West 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.