Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Upton's standout: it has 94 miles of trail. Overall it grades A, 82nd of 282 graded towns in Massachusetts. Crime is low: it reports less per resident than 93% of U.S. towns and it is healthier than 92% of U.S. towns. Upton’s trail density is 4.3 miles per square mile, above both Massachusetts’ towns (1.8) and U.S. towns (0.4). Upton State Forest, at 1,584 acres with 27.4 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Upton's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 85% of U.S. towns.
Where Upton beats most towns.
Census counts: 833 in 1790, 8,000 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1747 and 8 maps from 1886 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 Upton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Upton. Close and well known come first.
Big draw18 mi Stadium & arenaGillette Stadium
Big draw15 mi LakeLake Chaubunagungamaug
Big draw28 mi Stadium & arenaFenway Park
Big draw28 mi MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum
23 mi LakeWalden Pond
40 mi MuseumUSS MassachusettsGillette Stadium: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lake Chaubunagungamaug: Bree from Worcester, MA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Fenway Park: Gatorfan252525, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Sean Dungan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Walden Pond: Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0 · USS Massachusetts: USN, Public domain
Who provides power, water and the rest in Upton, 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 Upton.
Upton reports less crime than Grafton or any other graded neighbor and has less no health insurance than most of Massachusetts.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Upton State Forest | 27.4 mi | 1,584 |
| 2. Warren Brook Watershed | 4.5 mi | 325 |
| 3. Peppercorn Hill | 4.5 mi | 299 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its three schools are below. The largest public high school is Blackstone Valley, with 1,243 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memorial SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–4 | Grades PK–4 | 493 | B+ |
| Blackstone ValleyLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,243 | A |
| Nipmuc Regional HighTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 534 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
Its A tops all 7 graded towns on its borders; Grafton (A) comes closest. Violent crime is rare: 4 reported in 2025, 0.5 per 1,000 residents.
Upton’s property crime rate is 2.1 per 1,000 residents, near the Massachusetts town median (4.9) and below the median of U.S. towns (9.9). The violent crime rate in Upton is 0.5 per 1,000 residents.
| Upton | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.1 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.5 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Its widest gap with Massachusetts is no health insurance: 2.8% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 5.2% statewide. Against the 2,416 U.S. towns with household incomes like Upton’s, it is healthier than 59%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
19% of adults binge drink in Upton. Upton beats the Massachusetts average on 14 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 0. 13% of adults say their health is fair or poor in Upton.
| Upton | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 17% | 16% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 19% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 9.5% | 11% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 19% | 25% |
| What stands out | Upton | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 2.8% | 5.2% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.2% | 12.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most working residents leave Upton for work: only 7% work in town. Upton’s median household income is $156,000. Jobs based in Upton grew to 1,214 in 2023, 221 more than in 2013.
| Upton | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $156,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 35 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Work from home | 23% | 18% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 3.2% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Adults 18 to 34 are 13% of residents (24% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 44% of residents (39% statewide). 53% of Upton adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more.
| Upton | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 53% | 47% | 29% |
| Median age | 46.4 years | 43.4 years | 40.5 years |
| Under 18 | 23% | 20% | 22% |
| Aged 65 or older | 21% | 19% | 18% |
52% women, 48% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±3.4 points. Across Massachusetts, 51.1% of residents are women.
| Upton | MA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 8.3% | 10.2% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 14.9% | 9.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 4.6% | 9.8% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 7.9% | 14% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.7% | 13% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.2% | 12.3% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 15.6% | 13.6% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 14.2% | 10.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.5% | 7.4% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2% | 8.6% | 10.4% |
| High school | 16.1% | 22.6% | 26% |
| Some college | 16.4% | 14.1% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12% | 7.5% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 33.4% | 25.5% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 20% | 21.8% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
Upton has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 83°, January nights drop to 17° and about 48 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 58% of U.S. communities. Since 1978, 2 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Upton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The typical Upton home is worth about $710,000, up 1.4% in a year, 8% above the Massachusetts typical home.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
9 within 15 miles of the center of Upton
About 2 of every 100 Upton residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
20.7% of the town is conserved land, across 11 parks and preserves.
2 places in Upton on the National Register of Historic Places.
7 notable people were born in Upton.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Upton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It was first settled in 1728. The population was given as exactly 8,000 at the 2020 census. It contains the census-designated place of the same name.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
7 towns share a border with Upton.
Hopkinton next door grades higher for schools (A+ to Upton’s B) and lower for cost of living (D to C).
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upton | #82 | A | C | A | B | A |
| Milford | #245 | C− | D | B− | D | B |
| Hopkinton | #12 | A+ | D | A | A+ | A+ |
| Northbridge | #188 | B− | C | A− | C | B+ |
| Grafton | #62 | A | C− | A | B+ | A |
| Mendon | #149 | B | D− | A− | B | A |
| Hopedale | #113 | B+ | D | A− | B− | A |
| Westborough | #83 | A− | D− | B | A | A+ |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Upton grades A overall, better than 85% of U.S. towns and #82 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades A for health, A for safety and B for schools.
That is 7.4 years of the area's median household income ($95,939 across the Worcester, MA 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.
7 notable people were born here, including Preston Cloud and Rachel Bloznalis.
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