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Town comparison · Massachusetts

Bellingham vs Milford

MetroWest · Central MA
Milford leads 4–1 on headline livability metrics

Across the six headline livability metrics (schools, safety, walkability, biking, affordability, and commute), Milford edges Bellingham 4 to 1 with 1 tie. Median home prices are close, within $20k of each other.

The two towns at a glance

Bellingham

MetroWest · pop. 16,945
Bellingham is the value play between Franklin and Milford: good highway access, lower home prices than its neighbors, and a school district that is improving but still rates C+ on Niche. Route 126 commercial activity keeps local retail alive.
51
Default fit score
equal weights, 0–100
Full Bellingham profile →

Milford

Central MA · pop. 30,640
Milford punches above its income level for food and culture, with a dense downtown driven in part by a significant Brazilian immigrant community that has built a genuine restaurant and commerce scene. Walk Score of 42 is unusually high for a town of this size in the 495 belt.
54
Default fit score
equal weights, 0–100
Full Milford profile →

Head-to-head: every metric

Bellingham Milford
Headline
Livability index 49 56
Economics
Median home $542k $563k
Household income $121k $93k
Price ÷ income 4.5× 6.1×
Tax burden 65 64
Schools & Safety
Schools 65 72
Safety 75 72
Getting around
Commute to Boston 52 min 52 min
Walkability 28 42
Transit 8 10
Biking 30 40
Lifestyle
Dining 45 62
Nightlife 30 38
Arts & culture 22 35
Green space 30 28
Community
Diversity 28 55
Climate 70 70
5-yr trend 60 65

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 Bellingham vs Milford in the interactive atlas to tune schools, walkability, affordability, commute, and seven more dimensions, and watch the verdict change.

Stuck between Bellingham and Milford?

I'm Gary Fikes, a licensed real estate agent at MP Signature Realty and the curator of this site. I've walked both towns. Tell me what matters most and I'll give you a straight answer within 1 business day. No auto-dialer, no spam, no resale.

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.