Town comparison · Massachusetts

Barnstable vs Sandwich

Cape & Islands · Cape & Islands

Barnstable leads 4–1 on headline livability metrics

Across the six headline livability metrics (schools, safety, walkability, biking, affordability, and commute), Barnstable edges Sandwich 4 to 1 with 1 tie. Median home prices are close, within $30k of each other. Sandwich is about 12 minutes closer to Boston by car at peak.

The two towns at a glance

Barnstable

Cape & Islands · pop. 49,831

Barnstable is really seven villages: Hyannis has the ferries and downtown energy, Osterville has the money, and Barnstable village has the courthouse and history. The Cape's county seat is also its most complete town.

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Full Barnstable profile →

Sandwich

Cape & Islands · pop. 20,507

The oldest town on the Cape has a legitimately beautiful historic village center, Heritage Museums & Gardens, and a herring run that predates the United States.

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Full Sandwich profile →

Head-to-head: every metric

	Barnstable	Sandwich
Headline
Livability index	54 ✦	51
Economics
Median home	$719k ✦	$689k
Household income	$92k	$119k ✦
Price ÷ income	7.8× ✦	5.8×
Tax burden	44	46 ✦
Schools & Safety
Schools	75	75
Safety	74	86 ✦
Getting around
Commute to Boston	70 min ✦	58 min
Walkability	35 ✦	24
Transit	18 ✦	10
Biking	30 ✦	28
Lifestyle
Dining	58 ✦	42
Nightlife	38 ✦	18
Arts & culture	45 ✦	30
Green space	42	48 ✦
Community
Diversity	38 ✦	22
Climate	62	63 ✦
5-yr trend	58	62 ✦

Clay = wins this metric. Direction matters: lower median home and shorter commute are better; everything else, higher is better.

Compare on your terms

These winners are based on a neutral, equal weighting of every metric. Your priorities are not neutral. Open Barnstable vs Sandwich in the interactive atlas to tune schools, walkability, affordability, commute, and seven more dimensions, and watch the verdict change.

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About this comparison

Bay State Atlas ranks 194 Massachusetts towns using public data (Census ACS, MA DESE schools, Walk Score, MA Department of Revenue tax data, and the FBI UCR safety index) normalized to 0–100. Every weight is editable. This page is a static, indexable snapshot. The live tool is faster and lets you customize what counts.