Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Shirley's standout: it has 27 miles of trail and 28% conserved land. Overall it grades A−, 105th among Massachusetts's 282 graded towns. Residents are healthier than 88% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates and it reports less crime per resident than 78% of U.S. towns. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 97% of U.S. towns, with 3 places on the National Register. Shirley’s average trip to work is 40 minutes, above both the Massachusetts town median (30 minutes) and the median of U.S. towns (25 minutes). Only 19 of Massachusetts’ 324 towns score higher on cost of living. Squannacook River Wildlife Management Area, at 370 acres with 2.9 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
Where Shirley beats most towns.
Census counts: 677 in 1790, 7,431 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1889 and 7 maps from 1893 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 Shirley is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Shirley. Close and well known come first.
Big draw32 mi Stadium & arenaFenway Park
Big draw39 mi Stadium & arenaGillette Stadium
Big draw38 mi LakeLake Chaubunagungamaug
18 mi LakeWalden Pond
Big draw32 mi MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum
33 mi AttractionFreedom TrailFenway Park: Gatorfan252525, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gillette Stadium: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lake Chaubunagungamaug: Bree from Worcester, MA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Walden Pond: Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Sean Dungan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Freedom Trail: Ingfbruno, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Shirley, 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 Shirley.
Shirley pairs an A− overall with homes cheaper than the Massachusetts norm, trades workers with Boston and other neighbors and is safe by national standards but not by Massachusetts’s.
Within Massachusetts it is healthier than 53% of the 279 graded towns: Massachusetts sets a high bar. Against the 5,399 U.S. towns with household incomes like Shirley’s, it is healthier than 72%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
19% of Shirley adults binge drink. Shirley beats the Massachusetts average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 27% of Shirley adults have obesity.
| Shirley | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 16% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 28% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 12% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 32% | 35% |
| What stands out | Shirley | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 8.2% | 11.9% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 71.7% | 75.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Its public schools are run by the Ayer Shirley School District. One of its 2 schools is below, with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ayer Shirley Regional Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 410 | 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 1978, 9 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Shirley.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
27 miles of trail in 38 parks and preserves. Shirley’s trail density is 1.7 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Squannacook River Wildlife Management Area | 2.9 mi | 370 |
| 2. Farandnear | 2.5 mi | 88 |
| 3. Hunting Hills Wildlife Management Area | 2.4 mi | 135 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
At 9 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports less crime than 63% of Massachusetts’s graded towns.
The property crime rate in Shirley is 1.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Shirley | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.6 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.3 per 1,000 residents | 1.4 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Shirley has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 15° and about 53 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Shirley has about as many jobs (2,775) as working residents, but only 191 people both live and work here. The average commute takes 40.4 minutes, against 29.1 across Massachusetts.
Most working residents leave Shirley for work: only 6% work in town. Since 2013, Shirley has added 643 jobs, to 2,775 in 2023. The top destinations are Boston (9%), Ayer (5%) and Leominster (4%).
| Shirley | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $122,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 9.9% | 6% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 6.2% | 9.9% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Shirley grades A− overall with a typical home of about $552K, below the Massachusetts typical value; only 21 of the 109 Massachusetts towns graded A− or better can say that.
The typical Shirley home is worth about $552,000, up 2.2% in a year, 16% below the Massachusetts typical home.
| Shirley | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,481 a month | $1,683 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 77% | 79% | 73% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
3 within 15 miles of the center of Shirley
About 6 of every 100 Shirley residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
3 places in Shirley on the National Register of Historic Places.
9 notable people were born in Shirley.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Shirley is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately thirty miles west-northwest of Boston. The population was 7,431 at the 2020 census. It contains census-designated place of Shirley and part of Devens. The town has a well-preserved historic New England town center. It is home to the Massachusetts Correctional Institution – Shirley, a medium-security state prison. (The neighboring maximum-security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center lies just outside the town limits in the town of Lancaster.) The remains of a Shaker village have been preserved within the grounds of the prison.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Shirley.
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Shirley grades A− overall, better than 77% of U.S. towns and #105 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades A for health, A− for safety and C+ for schools.
That is 4.8 years of the area's median household income ($115,863 across the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro 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+.
9 notable people were born here, including Jerry White and Sarah Carter Edgarton Mayo.
