Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Hardwick grades C+ overall, 228th of 282 graded towns in Massachusetts, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. It has 15 miles of trail and 38% conserved land. It also does better than most on safety: crime is low: it reports less per resident than 74% of U.S. towns. 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 $420K, 4.4 years of the Worcester metro’s $96K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 100% of U.S. towns, with 3 places on the National Register. 38% of the land in Hardwick is conserved, above both the Massachusetts town median (19%) and the median of U.S. towns (4.3%). Only 22 of Massachusetts’ 324 towns score higher on cost of living. Quabbin Reservoir Reservation, at 5,674 acres with 5.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Hardwick beats most towns.
Census counts: 1,725 in 1790, 2,667 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1770 and 7 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 Hardwick is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Hardwick. Close and well known come first.
Big draw29 mi LakeLake Chaubunagungamaug
4 mi LakeQuabbin Reservoir
25 mi National Historic SiteSpringfield Armory National Historic Site14K visitors a year
36 mi MountainMount Monadnock
30 mi Theme parkSix Flags New England
18 mi MuseumOld Sturbridge VillageLake 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 · Mount Monadnock: Jonwmcinenrey, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Six Flags New England: Canadaolympic989, Public domain · Old Sturbridge Village: Wgmleslie at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5
Who provides power, water and the rest in Hardwick, 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 Hardwick.
Hardwick 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 9,936 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 92% of Massachusetts towns.
The trail network density for Hardwick comes to 0.4 miles per square mile. 15 parks and preserves cover 8,741 acres locally.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Quabbin Reservoir Reservation | 5.3 mi | 5,674 |
| 2. Muddy Brook Wildlife Management Area | 2.1 mi | 1,869 |
| 3. Muddy Brook Wildlife Conservation Easement | 0.4 mi | 575 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Two of its 3 schools are shown below, with the reason for each. Public schools: the Quabbin school district. Hardwick’s only public school teaches 169 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardwick ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 169 | B |
| Eagle Hill School PrivateLargest high schoolGrades 8–12 | Grades 8–12 | 217 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
The typical Hardwick home is worth about $420,000, up 2.7% in a year, 36% below the Massachusetts typical home. Its midpoint rent is $1,108 a month, against $1,683 a month in Massachusetts’ towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns. Also worth knowing: homes sold in Hardwick spent a median 25 days on the market.
| Hardwick | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,108 a month | $1,683 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 68% | 79% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Hardwick’s typical household income stands at $75,000. Commuting out is the norm locally: 8% of working residents work locally. Since 2013, Hardwick has added 107 jobs, to 488 in 2023. In Hardwick, nearly one in ten workers work remotely from home.
| Hardwick | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 8.7% | 18% | 11% |
| Median household income | $75,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 10.2 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 56% of Massachusetts’s graded towns.
In Hardwick, the level of property crime is 1.5 per 1,000 residents. Its violent crime rate comes in at 2.2 per 1,000 residents.
| Hardwick | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.5 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.2 per 1,000 residents | 1.4 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expect July afternoons of 82° and January nights of 15°, with about 43 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Hardwick’s FEMA hazard score is 35 of 100. Federal aid has come to Hardwick households in 7 declared disasters; the latest was in 2015. Of the losses FEMA expects locally, 49% come from inland flooding and 19% from hurricanes.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Within Massachusetts it is less healthy than 88% of the 279 graded towns: Massachusetts sets a high bar.
Hardwick: 15% of adults smoke cigarettes. 15% of adults in Hardwick report frequent physical distress; 37% have high blood pressure.
| Hardwick | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 24% | 23% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 12% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 32% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 82% | 82% | 79% |
| What stands out | Hardwick | MA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 8.2% | 5.9% |
| More adults with heart disease | 7.6% | 5.8% |
| More smokers | 14.5% | 11.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
None within 15 miles of Hardwick; the nearest are
About 6 of every 100 Hardwick residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
2,990 counted in 2010 and 2,667 in 2020; an estimated 2,736 in 2025.
The decline has turned around: up 2.7% since 2020, after a 10.8% drop in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
3 places in Hardwick on the National Register of Historic Places.
14 notable people were born in Hardwick.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Hardwick is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of the city of Worcester. It had a population of 2,667 at the 2020 census. It includes the villages of Hardwick, Gilbertville, Wheelwright and Old Furnace.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Hardwick.
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hardwick | #228 | C+ | C+ | B+ | C | B |
| New Braintree | — | — | C | A+ | C | B |
| Petersham | — | — | C | — | D | B+ |
| Ware | #267 | D | C+ | C | D | C+ |
New Braintree and Petersham have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. Petersham reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Hardwick with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Hardwick grades C+ overall, better than 38% of U.S. towns and #228 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades B for health, B+ for safety and C for schools.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
14 notable people were born here, including Tabitha Babbitt and Charles L. Robinson.
