Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Barre is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C+ overall, ranked 230th of 282 in Massachusetts, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is incomes: the median household earns $108K. Its lowest everyday mark is in schools: its public schools trail 72% of Massachusetts towns on state tests and graduation. A typical home there costs about $409K, 4.3 years of the Worcester metro’s $96K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 95% of U.S. towns, with 2 places on the National Register. 41% of the land in Barre is conserved, above both the Massachusetts town median (19%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). On cost of living, just 23 of Massachusetts’ 324 towns do better. The biggest place to walk is Ware River Watershed, 5,427 acres with 12.6 miles of trail.
Where Barre beats most towns.
Barre Common District
Census counts: 1,613 in 1790, a low of 1,613 in 1790, 5,530 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1883 and 7 maps from 1887 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Massachusetts), ordered by how far Barre is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Barre. Close and well known come first.
Big draw29 mi LakeLake Chaubunagungamaug
10 mi LakeQuabbin Reservoir
32 mi National Historic SiteSpringfield Armory National Historic Site14K visitors a year
39 mi LakeWalden Pond
31 mi MountainMount Monadnock
37 mi Theme parkSix Flags New EnglandLake Chaubunagungamaug: Bree from Worcester, MA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Quabbin Reservoir: engineerchange, CC BY 2.0 · Springfield Armory National Historic Site: National Park Service, Public domain · Walden Pond: Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mount Monadnock: Jonwmcinenrey, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Six Flags New England: Canadaolympic989, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Barre, 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 Barre.
Barre keeps more of its land conserved than most of Massachusetts, costs less than Hubbardston or any other town next door and is safe by national standards but not by Massachusetts’s.
Its 11,593 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 95% of Massachusetts towns.
24 miles of trail in 20 parks and preserves. At 0.6 miles per square mile, Barre’s trail density is below Massachusetts’ towns (1.8) and close to U.S. towns (0.4).
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ware River Watershed | 12.6 mi | 5,427 |
| 2. Cooks Canyon | 1.7 mi | 57 |
| 3. Prince River Wildlife Management Area | 0.9 mi | 610 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Quabbin school district. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Quabbin Regional High School, with 545 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quabbin Regional Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 510 | C+ |
| Quabbin Regional High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 545 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
Its typical home is the least expensive on its borders; Hubbardston is next at $479K.
The typical Barre home is worth about $409,000, up 3% in a year, 38% below the Massachusetts typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The average commute for its 2,672 working residents takes 36.2 minutes, against 29.1 across Massachusetts.
Most working residents leave Barre for work: only 11% work in town. Barre’s average trip to work is 36 minutes. Jobs based in Barre grew to 1,220 in 2023, 189 more than in 2013.
| Barre | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 36 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 11% | 18% | 11% |
| Median household income | $108,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 8.2% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Barre has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. The July high in Barre is 81°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 63% of U.S. communities. Since 2005, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Barre.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
All 3 graded neighbors score healthier than its B−, from Hubbardston (B+) to Rutland (A). Against the 7,505 U.S. towns with household incomes like Barre’s, it is less healthy than 83%, so it trails even them.
28% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Barre. Barre beats the Massachusetts average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 11. 34% of adults have obesity in Barre.
| Barre | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 24% | 23% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 12% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 11% | 14% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| What stands out | Barre | MA |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 17.4% | 11.9% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.1% | 5.9% |
| More smokers | 15.4% | 11.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
At 19.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 72% of Massachusetts’s graded towns. Each of the 3 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Oakham (A−) to Hubbardston (A).
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
2 within 15 miles of the center of Barre
About 5 of every 100 Barre residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
40.8% of the town is conserved land, across 20 parks and preserves.
2 places in Barre on the National Register of Historic Places.
10 notable people were born in Barre.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Barre ( BARR-ee) is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,530 at the 2020 census. It contains the census-designated place of the same name.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Barre.
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barre | #230 | C+ | C+ | B− | C | B− |
| Hubbardston | #117 | B+ | B | A | C | B+ |
| Oakham | — | — | B− | A− | C | A− |
| Rutland | #77 | A | C+ | A | B+ | A |
Oakham has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Compare Barre with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Barre grades C+ overall, better than 37% of U.S. towns and #230 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades B− for health, B− for safety and C for schools.
Massachusetts has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Barre sits nearer the middle.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
10 notable people were born here, including Timothy Jenkins and Daniel Ruggles.
