Bay State Atlas ← All 194 towns
Massachusetts Living Index

Belchertown

Pioneer Valley · pop. 15,400

Belchertown is the affordable family suburb east of Amherst, better schools than the Pioneer Valley cities, low crime, and Five Colleges proximity without Five Colleges rent.

Family SuburbRural Retreat
Livability Index
51
/ 100
Ranks #170 of 194 MA towns

The numbers

Median home
$472k
4.4× household income
Household income
$108k
ACS median
Commute to Boston
100 min
peak driving
Population
15,400
5-yr trend 60/100

How Belchertown scores

Schools
75
Safety
82
Walkability
20
Transit
12
Biking
22
Dining
32
Nightlife
18
Arts & Culture
40
Green Space
48
Diversity
22
Climate
72

The honest read

Best for
Families working in the Amherst or Springfield areas who want suburban safety and reasonable school quality.
The tradeoff
Car-only, no real center, and a 100-minute commute to Boston makes it a true Western Mass commitment.

Compare on your terms

These scores reflect a neutral weighting. Your priorities are not neutral. Open the full atlas to tune schools, walkability, affordability, commute, and seven more dimensions, and see where Belchertown lands for you.

Nearby towns

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