Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,705, settled in 1735.
Shutesbury’s best subject grades are an A+ for safety and the outdoors and an A for health; its weakest is a D for cost of living. 70% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Shutesbury, above both the Massachusetts town median (47%) and the median of U.S. towns (29%). On safety, just 3 of Massachusetts’ 300 towns do better. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. 59% of the land in Shutesbury is conserved, where Massachusetts’ towns sit at 19% and U.S. towns at 4.3%. Quabbin Reservoir Reservation, at 5,445 acres with 18 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Only 23 of Massachusetts’ 325 towns score lower on history. Shutesbury has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Shutesbury beats most towns.
Census counts: 674 in 1790, a low of 191 in 1940, 1,717 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1795 and 7 maps from 1887 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 Shutesbury is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Shutesbury. Close and well known come first.
9 mi LakeQuabbin Reservoir
25 mi National Historic SiteSpringfield Armory National Historic Site14K visitors a year
32 mi MountainMount Monadnock
31 mi Theme parkSix Flags New England
8 mi MuseumEmily Dickinson Museum
11 mi MuseumEric Carle Museum of Picture Book ArtQuabbin 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 · Emily Dickinson Museum: Daderot, Public domain · Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Shutesbury, 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 Shutesbury.
72 miles of trail in 14 parks and preserves. The trail density in Shutesbury is 2.7 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Quabbin Reservoir Reservation | 18 mi | 5,445 |
| 2. Walter Cowls Jones Working Forest | 9.2 mi | 1,942 |
| 3. Amherst Water Supply Land | 7.7 mi | 283 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Shutesbury school district. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shutesbury ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 125 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
Of the 278 Massachusetts towns we compare, none has a lower property crime rate than Shutesbury. Shutesbury’s violent crime rate is 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Shutesbury | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Shutesbury beats the Massachusetts average on 9 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 24% of adults have obesity in Shutesbury.
| Shutesbury | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 28% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 19% | 25% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.8% | 11% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 16% | 17% |
| What stands out | Shutesbury | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6.6% | 11.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 3.3% | 5.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.5% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Jobs based in Shutesbury grew to 145 in 2023, 20 more than in 2013. 2.3% of Shutesbury working residents work locally. The top destinations are Amherst Town (14%), Northampton (8%) and Springfield (5%).
| Shutesbury | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 33 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $123,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 3.3% | 6% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 2.3% | 9.8% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The typical Shutesbury home is worth about $442,000, up 3.2% in a year, 33% below the Massachusetts typical home.
| Shutesbury | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 91% | 79% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,721 a month | $1,683 a month | $1,185 a month |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Shutesbury has cold, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 81°, January nights drop to 14° and about 46 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 64% of U.S. communities. Since 1996, 3 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Shutesbury.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
5 within 15 miles of the center of Shutesbury
About 6 of every 100 Shutesbury residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
59.2% of the town is conserved land, across 14 parks and preserves.
4 notable people were born in Shutesbury.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Shutesbury is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,717 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Shutesbury.
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shutesbury | — | — | D | A+ | B+ | A |
| New Salem | — | — | D | — | C− | A |
| Pelham | — | — | C− | A+ | B+ | A |
| Amherst Town | – | A− | D− | A− | B | A |
Shutesbury, New Salem and Pelham 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. Compare Shutesbury with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes. That is 5.9 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 D.
4 notable people were born here, including Herbert Baxter Adams and Paul Dillingham.
