Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Orange earns a D, 273rd among Massachusetts's 282 graded towns, mostly because of schools and incomes. Its schools rank behind 93% of the state's. The median household income is $56K, and 22% of residents live below the poverty line. What it does well: it has 14 miles of trail and 33% conserved land. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 95% of U.S. towns, with 2 places on the National Register. 33% of the land in Orange is conserved, above both Massachusetts’ towns (19%) and U.S. towns (4.3%). On health, just 7 of Massachusetts’ 321 towns do worse. Its National Register listings include Orange Center Historic District and Orange Armory.
Where Orange beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Census counts: 784 in 1790, 7,569 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1905 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 Orange is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Orange, 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 Orange.
Orange keeps more of its land conserved than most of Massachusetts and is safe by national standards but not by Massachusetts’s; it also carries more natural-hazard risk than most of Massachusetts (mostly inland flooding).
Its public schools are run by the Ralph C Mahar school district. Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Ralph C Mahar Regional, with 509 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fisher Hill SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 494 | D |
| Ralph C Mahar RegionalLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 509 | C |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
Orange’s median rent is $775 a month, where Massachusetts’ towns sit at $1,683 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month. The typical Orange home is worth about $323,000, up 0.6% in a year, 51% below the Massachusetts typical home.
| Orange | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $775 a month | $1,683 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 70% | 79% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its 7,578 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 85% of Massachusetts towns.
14 miles of trail in 30 parks and preserves. The trail density in Orange is 0.4 miles per square mile. The biggest place to walk is Tully Mountain Wildlife Management Area, 883 acres with 2.3 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Tully Mountain Wildlife Management Area | 2.3 mi | 883 |
| 2. Tully Mountain Wildlife Conservation Easement | 1.9 mi | 589 |
| 3. Hosmer Woods / Webb Memorial Forest | 1.4 mi | 249 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Against the 7,681 U.S. towns with household incomes like Orange’s, it is less healthy than 55%, so its C− isn’t only a matter of income.
17% of Orange adults report frequent physical distress. Among 279 Massachusetts towns, just 9 have a higher share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Orange. 20% of Orange adults report frequent mental distress.
| Orange | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 12% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 16% | 17% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 24% | 23% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 15% | 19% |
| What stands out | Orange | MA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 10.9% | 5.9% |
| More smokers | 19.3% | 11.3% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 10.5% | 7% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Orange for work: only 12% work in town. Orange’s average trip to work is 33 minutes. Only 4 of the 283 Massachusetts towns we compare have a lower median household income than Orange.
| Orange | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $56,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 6.6% | 18% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 12% | 9.8% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 96% of Massachusetts towns, with expected losses of about $407 per resident a year; that rating is what its C− for hazard risk is built on.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Orange has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 14° and about 52 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 20.4 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 76% of Massachusetts’s graded towns.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Orange. Close and well known come first.
20 mi MountainMount Monadnock
17 mi LakeQuabbin Reservoir
37 mi National Historic SiteSpringfield Armory National Historic Site14K visitors a year
20 mi MuseumEmily Dickinson Museum
34 mi Stadium & arenaDCU Center
36 mi MuseumOld Sturbridge VillageMount Monadnock: Jonwmcinenrey, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Quabbin Reservoir: engineerchange, CC BY 2.0 · Springfield Armory National Historic Site: National Park Service, Public domain · Emily Dickinson Museum: Daderot, Public domain · DCU Center: Terageorge, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Old Sturbridge Village: Wgmleslie at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5
None within 15 miles of Orange; the nearest are
About 2 of every 100 Orange residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
Where Orange’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
6 notable people were born in Orange.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Orange is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 7,569 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Part of the town is included in the census-designated place of Orange.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Orange.
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange | #273 | D | C+ | B− | D | C− |
| Athol | #257 | D | B− | C+ | C− | C |
| Wendell | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Warwick | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Royalston | — | — | B− | A+ | C− | C+ |
| Erving | — | — | B | A− | D | A− |
| New Salem | — | — | D | — | C− | A |
Royalston, Erving and New Salem have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. New Salem reports no FBI crime data of its own. Wendell and Warwick aren’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Orange with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Orange grades D overall, better than 5% of U.S. towns and #273 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades C− for health, B− for safety and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
Massachusetts has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Orange 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+.
6 notable people were born here, including Denise Andrews and Robert N. Anthony.
