Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Rutland is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades A overall, ranked 77th of 282 in Massachusetts, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is health: CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 85% of the country. It also does better than most on safety: crime is low: it reports less per resident than 85% of U.S. towns. A typical home there costs about $534K, 5.6 years of the Worcester metro’s $96K median household income. 45% of the land in Rutland is conserved, where Massachusetts’ towns sit at 19% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. On cost of living, just 21 of Massachusetts’ 324 towns do better. The biggest place to walk is Ware River Watershed, 6,391 acres with 18.1 miles of trail.
Where Rutland beats most towns.
Gen. Rufus Putnam House is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,072 in 1790, 9,049 in 2020. The archive holds 23 old photos and papers going back to 1832 and 8 maps from 1885 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 Rutland is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rutland. Close and well known come first.
Big draw25 mi LakeLake Chaubunagungamaug
17 mi LakeQuabbin Reservoir
32 mi LakeWalden Pond
37 mi National Historic SiteSpringfield Armory National Historic Site14K visitors a year
33 mi MountainMount Monadnock
12 mi Stadium & arenaDCU CenterLake Chaubunagungamaug: Bree from Worcester, MA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Quabbin Reservoir: engineerchange, CC BY 2.0 · Walden Pond: Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Springfield Armory National Historic Site: National Park Service, Public domain · Mount Monadnock: Jonwmcinenrey, CC BY-SA 4.0 · DCU Center: Terageorge, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Rutland, 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 Rutland.
Rutland pairs an A overall with homes cheaper than the Massachusetts norm, keeps more of its land conserved than most of Massachusetts and is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in Massachusetts.
Its 10,274 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 98% of Massachusetts towns.
30 miles of trail in 10 parks and preserves. Rutland’s trail density is 0.8 miles per square mile, against 1.8 in Massachusetts’ towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ware River Watershed | 18.1 mi | 6,391 |
| 2. Barre Falls Wildlife Management Area | 1.3 mi | 391 |
| 3. Barre Falls Flood Control Area | 1.3 mi | 151 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Wachusett school district. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glenwood Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades 3–5 | Grades 3–5 | 382 | B |
| Devereux School PrivateLargest high schoolGrades 5–12 | Grades 5–12 | 73 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
Within Massachusetts it is less healthy than 54% of the 279 graded towns: Massachusetts sets a high bar. Against the 3,065 U.S. towns with household incomes like Rutland’s, it is less healthy than 57%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
20% of adults binge drink in Rutland. Rutland beats the Massachusetts average on 10 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 27% of adults have been diagnosed with depression in Rutland.
| Rutland | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 17% | 16% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 24% | 23% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8.5% | 9.3% | 12% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 15% | 19% |
| What stands out | Rutland | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.5% | 5.2% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 8.7% | 12.4% |
| More binge drinkers | 19.9% | 17% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Violent crime is rare: 11 reported in 2025, 1.1 per 1,000 residents.
The property crime rate in Rutland is 2.3 per 1,000 residents.
| Rutland | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.3 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.1 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 88% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Rutland has 1,282 jobs for its 5,131 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 37 minutes, against 29.1 across Massachusetts.
2.1% of Rutland residents live below the poverty line. Since 2013, Rutland has added 300 jobs, to 1,282 in 2023. Rutland’s median household income is $146,000.
| Rutland | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 37 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $146,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 2.1% | 6% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 16% | 18% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Rutland has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 80°, January nights drop to 15° and about 73 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Adults 18 to 34 are 16% of residents (24% statewide); children under 18 are 26% of residents (19% statewide). Rutland has grown 8.1% since 2020, to 9,776 residents in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate. 42% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 47% across Massachusetts.
| Rutland | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 18 | 26% | 20% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 15% | 19% | 18% |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 42% | 47% | 29% |
| Median age | 41.4 years | 43.4 years | 40.5 years |
49% women, 51% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±4.8 points. Across Massachusetts, 51.1% of residents are women.
| Rutland | MA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10.6% | 10.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 15.8% | 9.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 7.8% | 9.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8.4% | 14% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.2% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 19.9% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11.6% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 9% | 10.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.7% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.4% | 8.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 24.5% | 22.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 21.4% | 14.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 9.7% | 7.5% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 26% | 25.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 16% | 21.8% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Rutland grades A overall with a typical home of about $534K, below the Massachusetts typical value; only 21 of the 109 Massachusetts towns graded A− or better can say that.
The typical Rutland home is worth about $534,000, up 2.3% in a year, 19% below the Massachusetts typical home.
| Rutland | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 89% | 79% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,078 a month | $1,683 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
9 within 15 miles of the center of Rutland
About 6 of every 100 Rutland residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
7,973 counted in 2010 and 9,049 in 2020; an estimated 9,776 in 2025.
Growth hasn’t slowed: 8.1% since 2020, after 13.5% in the decade before.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
3 notable people were born in Rutland.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Rutland is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 9,049 at the 2020 census. It contains the census-designated place of the same name. Rutland is the geographic center of Massachusetts; a tree, the Central Tree, located on Central Tree Road, marks the general spot.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Rutland.
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Rutland grades A overall, better than 86% of U.S. towns and #77 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades A for health, A for safety and B+ for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a C−.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.
3 notable people were born here, including William B. Ide and Caleb Sprague Henry.
