Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Ashburnham grades B overall, 154th of 282 graded towns in Massachusetts. It has 33 miles of trail and 32% conserved land. It reports less crime per resident than 75% of U.S. towns. What holds it back is price: the typical home is worth about $458K, 4.8 years of the Worcester metro’s $96K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 93% of U.S. towns, with 3 places on the National Register. 32% of the land in Ashburnham is conserved, against 19% in Massachusetts’ towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. The biggest place to walk is Ashburnham State Forest, 3,374 acres with 5.2 miles of trail. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 72% of U.S. towns.
Where Ashburnham beats most towns.
Census counts: 951 in 1790, 6,315 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1818 and 8 maps from 1887 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Massachusetts), ordered by how far Ashburnham is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Ashburnham, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Ashburnham.
Ashburnham keeps more of its land conserved than most of Massachusetts, is safe by national standards but not by Massachusetts’s and is healthy by national standards but behind most towns in Massachusetts.
Its 8,214 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 82% of Massachusetts towns.
33 miles of trail in 32 parks and preserves. Ashburnham’s trail density is 0.8 miles per square mile, where Massachusetts’ towns sit at 1.8 and U.S. towns at 0.4.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ashburnham State Forest | 5.2 mi | 3,374 |
| 2. Beals - Wyman Lot Conservation Restriction | 2.6 mi | 562 |
| 3. Mount Watatic Reservation | 1.8 mi | 42 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Ashburnham-Westminster school district. One of its 2 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overlook Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 576 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
At 10 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 57% of Massachusetts’s graded towns.
Ashburnham’s property crime rate is 4.1 per 1,000 residents.
| Ashburnham | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.1 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.2 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Most working residents leave Ashburnham for work: only 9% work in town. The average trip to work in Ashburnham is 32 minutes. Jobs based in Ashburnham grew to 924 in 2023, 77 more than in 2013.
| Ashburnham | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $119,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 6.8% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Within Massachusetts it is less healthy than 75% of the 279 graded towns: Massachusetts sets a high bar. Against the 5,908 U.S. towns with household incomes like Ashburnham’s, it is less healthy than 57%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
Ashburnham beats the Massachusetts average on 3 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 27% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Ashburnham.
| Ashburnham | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 24% | 23% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 28% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 82% | 79% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 19% | 25% |
| What stands out | Ashburnham | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.7% | 5.2% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 9% | 11.9% |
| More adults with obesity | 32.7% | 27.7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 77% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Ashburnham since 2010.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
96% of Ashburnham households own their home. The typical Ashburnham home is worth about $458,000, up 2.3% in a year, 30% below the Massachusetts typical home.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Ashburnham has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 80°, January nights drop to 14° and about 75 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Adults 18 to 34 are 19% of residents (24% statewide). Ashburnham has grown 3.8% since 2020, to 6,554 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 44% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 47% across Massachusetts.
| Ashburnham | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 44% | 47% | 29% |
| Median age | 40.7 years | 43.4 years | 40.5 years |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.6 points. Across Massachusetts, 51.1% of residents are women.
| Ashburnham | MA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 6.7% | 10.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 15.9% | 9.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10.5% | 9.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8.4% | 14% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 10.8% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.5% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 19.2% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 11.7% | 10.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.4% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 4.9% | 8.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 17.3% | 22.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.1% | 14.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 15.7% | 7.5% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 29.4% | 25.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.7% | 21.8% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Ashburnham. Close and well known come first.
18 mi MountainMount Monadnock
33 mi LakeWalden Pond
28 mi LakeQuabbin Reservoir
39 mi Ancient siteAmerica's Stonehenge
27 mi Stadium & arenaDCU Center
36 mi Theme parkCanobie Lake ParkMount Monadnock: Jonwmcinenrey, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Walden Pond: Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Quabbin Reservoir: engineerchange, CC BY 2.0 · America's Stonehenge: User:Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0 · DCU Center: Terageorge, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Canobie Lake Park: Alex1961, CC BY-SA 2.0
3 within 15 miles of the center of Ashburnham
About 6 of every 100 Ashburnham residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
Where Ashburnham’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
3 places in Ashburnham on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Ashburnham.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Ashburnham () is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 6,315. It is home to Cushing Academy, a private preparatory boarding school. Ashburnham contains the census-designated place of South Ashburnham.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Ashburnham.
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashburnham | #154 | B | C− | A− | B | B+ |
| Westminster | #166 | B | D | B | B | A− |
| Gardner | #250 | C− | C+ | B− | C− | C |
| Ashby | #60 | A | B− | A− | B | A |
| South Ashburnham | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Fitchburg | #264 | D | C | C | C− | C+ |
| Winchendon | #256 | C− | C | B− | D | C+ |
South Ashburnham isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Ashburnham with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
For most people who can afford it, yes. Ashburnham grades B overall, better than 64% of U.S. towns and #154 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades B+ for health, A− for safety and B for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
7 notable people were born here, including Louisa Morton Greene and Albert C. Burrage.
