Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The best of Bernardston’s subject grades are an A− for safety and health and an A for the outdoors; the weakest is a D for walkability. On walkability, just 13 of Massachusetts’ 325 towns do worse. 27% of the land in Bernardston is conserved, above both Massachusetts’ towns (19%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). Satan's Kingdom Wildlife Management Area, at 1,522 acres with 7.1 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Bernardston has 2 places on the National Register. Bernardston has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Bernardston beats most towns.
Bernardston Congregational Unitarian Church
Census counts: 691 in 1790, 2,102 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1739 and 6 maps from 1890 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 Bernardston is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Bernardston, 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 Bernardston.
Bernardston’s property crime rate is 2.8 per 1,000 residents, near the Massachusetts town median (4.9) and below the median of U.S. towns (9.9). The violent crime rate in Bernardston is 0.7 per 1,000 residents.
| Bernardston | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.8 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.7 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its public schools are run by the Pioneer Valley school district. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernardston ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 201 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
The typical Bernardston home is worth about $376,000, up 0.7% in a year, 43% below the Massachusetts typical home. Bernardston’s median rent is $1,283 a month.
| Bernardston | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,283 a month | $1,683 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 78% | 79% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
40 miles of trail in 9 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Satan's Kingdom Wildlife Management Area | 7.1 mi | 1,522 |
| 2. Charity Farm | 1 mi | 84 |
| 3. Satan's Kingdom Wildlife Conservation Easement | 0.9 mi | 75 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Bernardston beats the Massachusetts average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 6. 26% of Bernardston adults have obesity.
| Bernardston | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 28% | 35% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 32% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 83% | 82% | 79% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 24% | 23% |
| What stands out | Bernardston | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.8% | 5.2% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 8.3% | 11.1% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 11.6% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Bernardston for work: only 4% work in town. Jobs based in Bernardston fell to 376 in 2023, 58 fewer than in 2013. 5.2% of residents live below the poverty line in Bernardston.
| Bernardston | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $82,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 4% | 9.8% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 5.2% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Bernardston has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 14° and about 37 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 54% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Bernardston since 2011.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bernardston. Close and well known come first.
26 mi MountainMount Monadnock
27 mi LakeQuabbin Reservoir
31 mi MountainMount Greylock
33 mi MuseumClark Art Institute
26 mi Ski areaMount Snow119 runs · 1,648 ft vertical
22 mi MuseumEmily Dickinson MuseumMount Monadnock: Jonwmcinenrey, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Quabbin Reservoir: engineerchange, CC BY 2.0 · Mount Greylock: Jstergis, CC BY 3.0 · Clark Art Institute: Daderot, Public domain · Mount Snow: William J Sisti from Morristown, NJ, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Emily Dickinson Museum: Daderot, Public domain
2 within 15 miles of the center of Bernardston
About 4 of every 100 Bernardston residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
Where Bernardston’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
2 places in Bernardston on the National Register of Historic Places.
4 notable people were born in Bernardston.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Bernardston () is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 2,102 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Bernardston.
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bernardston | — | — | C− | A− | C− | A− |
| Leyden | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Greenfield | #274 | D | C− | C− | D− | B |
| Gill | — | — | C− | B+ | D | A− |
Bernardston and Gill have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Leyden isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Bernardston with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes. That is 5 years of the area's median household income ($74,907 across the Greenfield, MA area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
4 notable people were born here, including Adam Harrington and Samuel Clesson Allen.
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