Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Bellingham grades B− overall, 183rd among Massachusetts's 282 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It is healthier than 88% of U.S. towns and the median household earns $125K. Its lowest everyday mark is in cost of living: homes are expensive, about $540K for a typical one and 4.7 times the Boston metro’s $116K median household income. Bellingham’s average trip to work is 36 minutes, against 30 minutes in Massachusetts’ towns and 25 minutes across U.S. towns. The biggest park or preserve is Peters River Park, at 111 acres.
Where Bellingham beats most towns.
Census counts: 735 in 1790, a low of 735 in 1790, 16,945 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1906 and 8 maps from 1887 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Massachusetts), ordered by how far Bellingham is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bellingham. Close and well known come first.
Big draw11 mi Stadium & arenaGillette Stadium
Big draw27 mi Stadium & arenaFenway Park
Big draw19 mi LakeLake Chaubunagungamaug
Big draw26 mi MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum
30 mi MuseumUSS Massachusetts
34 mi Ancient siteHMS EndeavourGillette Stadium: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fenway Park: Gatorfan252525, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lake Chaubunagungamaug: Bree from Worcester, MA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Sean Dungan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · USS Massachusetts: USN, Public domain · HMS Endeavour: Samuel Atkins (c.1760-1810), Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bellingham, 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 Bellingham.
Bellingham is safe by national standards but not by Massachusetts’s and is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in Massachusetts; it also has commutes longer than most of Massachusetts.
Within Massachusetts it is healthier than 52% of the 279 graded towns: Massachusetts sets a high bar. Its widest gap with Massachusetts is tooth loss: 6.8% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 11.9% statewide.
26% of adults have obesity in Bellingham. Bellingham beats the Massachusetts average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 18% of adults binge drink in Bellingham.
| Bellingham | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 28% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 17% | 16% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 19% | 25% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 35% |
| What stands out | Bellingham | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.8% | 11.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 4% | 5.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Bellingham school district. Two of its 5 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Bellingham High School, with 740 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bellingham Memorial SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 4–7 | Grades 4–7 | 586 | C+ |
| Bellingham High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 8–12 | Grades 8–12 | 740 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 84% of U.S. communities. Since 1991, 15 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Bellingham.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The average commute for its 9,221 working residents takes 36.1 minutes, against 29.1 across Massachusetts.
Most working residents leave Bellingham for work: only 9% work in town. Jobs based in Bellingham grew to 6,333 in 2023, 1,091 more than in 2013. The top destinations are Boston (12%), Franklin Town (6%) and Milford (5%).
| Bellingham | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $125,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 18% | 18% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 5.7% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Bellingham has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 18° and about 48 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median rent in Bellingham is $1,836 a month. The typical Bellingham home is worth about $541,000, up 2.2% in a year, 18% below the Massachusetts typical home.
| Bellingham | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,836 a month | $1,682 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 79% | 79% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
15 miles of trail in 7 parks and preserves. Bellingham’s trail density is 0.8 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Peters River Park | — | 111 |
| 2. R.Belanger Drive | — | 39 |
| 3. Charles River Land | — | 29 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
No broad age group is more than 4 points off the Massachusetts average. 15% of Bellingham residents are 65 or older. Bellingham has grown 6.4% since 2020, to 18,032 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Bellingham | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 19% | 18% |
| Median age | 38.2 years | 43.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 40% | 47% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 22% | 20% | 22% |
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.2 points. Across Massachusetts, 51.1% of residents are women. Median age: women 38.8, men 36.7.
| Bellingham | MA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.2% | 10.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 8.9% | 9.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 9.5% | 9.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.7% | 14% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 15.6% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 11.1% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 14.9% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9% | 10.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.9% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 5.3% | 8.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 27.7% | 22.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.6% | 14.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.2% | 7.5% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26.1% | 25.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14.1% | 21.8% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
At 19.5 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 72% of Massachusetts’s graded towns. Reported crimes rose from 218 to 242 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
2 within 15 miles of the center of Bellingham
About 3 of every 100 Bellingham residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
Where Bellingham’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
5 notable people were born in Bellingham.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Bellingham () is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 16,945 at the 2020 census. The town sits on the southwestern fringe of Metropolitan Boston, along the rapidly growing "outer belt" that is Interstate 495. It is formally a part of the Boston–Cambridge–Quincy metropolitan statistical area, as well as the Providence metropolitan area. For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Bellingham, please see the article Bellingham (CDP), Massachusetts.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with Bellingham.
Mendon next door grades higher for schools (B to Bellingham’s C) and lower for cost of living (D− to C).
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bellingham | #183 | B− | C | B− | C | A |
| Mendon | #149 | B | D− | A− | B | A |
| Hopedale | #113 | B+ | D | A− | B− | A |
| Blackstone | #153 | B | C | A | C+ | A− |
| Franklin Town | #34 | A+ | C− | A | A− | A |
| Medway | #23 | A+ | C | A | A− | A+ |
| Milford | #245 | C− | D | B− | D | B |
| Wrentham | #104 | A− | C+ | C+ | B+ | A |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Bellingham grades B− overall, better than 55% of U.S. towns and #183 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades A for health, B− for safety and C for schools.
Massachusetts has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Bellingham 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.
5 notable people were born here, including John Milton Thayer and Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu.
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