Town comparison · Massachusetts

Hopedale vs Mendon

Central MA · Central MA

Mendon leads 3–2 on headline livability metrics

Across the six headline livability metrics (schools, safety, walkability, biking, affordability, and commute), Mendon edges Hopedale 3 to 2 with 1 tie. Median homes in Hopedale run roughly $174k cheaper than in Mendon, about 24% less. Hopedale is about 6 minutes closer to Boston by car at peak.

The two towns at a glance

Hopedale

Central MA · pop. 6,017

Hopedale is a company town built by the Draper Corporation in the 19th century and it shows: carefully planned streets, a central parkway, and unusual architectural coherence for a Massachusetts mill town. Small, safe, and underrated.

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Full Hopedale profile →

Mendon

Central MA · pop. 6,228

Mendon sits at the edge of the Blackstone Valley with large conservation holdings, equestrian properties, and a school district shared with Upton that rates B+. The town is genuinely rural with the income profile of an affluent suburb.

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Full Mendon profile →

Head-to-head: every metric

	Hopedale	Mendon
Headline
Livability index	54 ✦	52
Economics
Median home	$538k	$712k ✦
Household income	$115k	$130k ✦
Price ÷ income	4.7×	5.5× ✦
Tax burden	63 ✦	62
Schools & Safety
Schools	80	80
Safety	85	88 ✦
Getting around
Commute to Boston	52 min	58 min ✦
Walkability	28 ✦	15
Transit	8	8
Biking	32 ✦	30
Lifestyle
Dining	38 ✦	30
Nightlife	22 ✦	20
Arts & culture	28 ✦	22
Green space	42	52 ✦
Community
Diversity	30 ✦	22
Climate	70	71 ✦
5-yr trend	62	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 Hopedale vs Mendon 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.