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Town comparison · Massachusetts

Provincetown vs Wellfleet

Cape & Islands · Cape & Islands
Provincetown leads 3–2 on headline livability metrics

Across the six headline livability metrics (schools, safety, walkability, biking, affordability, and commute), Provincetown edges Wellfleet 3 to 2 with 1 tie. Median homes in Wellfleet run roughly $387k cheaper than in Provincetown, about 29% less. Wellfleet is about 32 minutes closer to Boston by car at peak.

The two towns at a glance

Provincetown

Cape & Islands · pop. 3,664
End of the Cape: dunes, ferry to Boston, and the densest arts community in New England.
64
Default fit score
equal weights, 0–100
Full Provincetown profile →

Wellfleet

Cape & Islands · pop. 2,994
Wellfleet is where the artists and the oysters live. The gallery scene and the harbor give it more personality per square foot than anywhere else on the Outer Cape, and its oysters are internationally known.
53
Default fit score
equal weights, 0–100
Full Wellfleet profile →

Head-to-head: every metric

Provincetown Wellfleet
Headline
Livability index 79 56
Economics
Median home $1.32M $933k
Household income $137k $118k
Price ÷ income 9.6× 7.9×
Tax burden 62 44
Schools & Safety
Schools 70 72
Safety 84 92
Getting around
Commute to Boston 130 min 98 min
Walkability 78 30
Transit 28 8
Biking 76 30
Lifestyle
Dining 84 52
Nightlife 92 22
Arts & culture 88 50
Green space 92 70
Community
Diversity 70 20
Climate 78 62
5-yr trend 72 56

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

Stuck between Provincetown and Wellfleet?

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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.