Braintree Town, Massachusetts

Area Profile

38,899 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Braintree Town, in Norfolk County.

73out of 100
Area Score
Top 11% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 21% of 3,904 published cities71
SchoolsTop 17% of 2,668 published cities78
Growth1503rd of 2,973 published cities50
Housing affordability2727th of 4,223 published cities71
Climate3171st of 4,223 published cities62
Physical resilienceTop 9% of 4,182 published cities92
AccessTop 15% of 4,226 published cities98
Economic stabilityTop 16% of 4,226 published cities75
The quick read

Braintree Town ranks in the top 21% of published city profiles for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.7% and median household income of $122,214.

Residential permitting has slowed: 55 units authorized over the past twelve months, 28% below the prior year.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published city profiles, placing Braintree Town in the top 9% for physical resilience.

At a glance

Population
38,899
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$122,214
Top 10% nationally
Density
2,827/sq mi
13.8 sq mi of land
Median age
41.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Norfolk County
Massachusetts
Metro area
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
Nearest major airport
BOS
11 mi · General Edward Lawrence Logan Intl
Median home value
$656,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.7% is lower than 74% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.5% over the past year, to 21,866 employed residents.

48% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 87% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 90% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$10,045$122,214Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,537$57,790Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate5.9%Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute35.7 minTop 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher47.5%Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment21,866Bottom 28%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.2%Top 32%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.5%Bottom 35%June 2026
Labor force22,708Bottom 28%June 2026
Labor force participation69.8%Top 19%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$89,620Top 10%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$66,620Top 10%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.6%Bottom 15%June 2026
Unemployment rate3.7%Bottom 26%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/065.72.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.7% in June 2026. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024125k115k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $122,214 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides72,420$40,910
General and Operations Managers70,950$133,800
Registered Nurses64,240$106,180
Retail Salespersons64,150$36,850
Fast Food and Counter Workers60,130$36,290
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners43,160$46,550

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

46% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 61% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 13.0 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
13.0
across all schools here
Math proficiency
45.5%
Top 24% in Massachusetts
Reading proficiency
61.2%
Top 22% in Massachusetts
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Braintree HighBraintree1,69415.7
East Middle SchoolBraintree99913.142%57%
South Middle SchoolBraintree63511.847%57%
LibertyBraintree36713.643%71%
HollisBraintree36512.247%66%
HighlandsBraintree35012.549%70%
Archie T MorrisonBraintree32710.950%65%
Mary E Flaherty SchoolBraintree29010.755%65%
Donald RossBraintree1829.134%40%

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Massachusetts’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $2,024 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.4 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
19.9%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.4×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$2,024
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$656,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.37Top 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate77.6%Top 46%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±43215,163Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$195$2,024Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$14,055$656,800Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income19.9%Top 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.8%Bottom 28%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
50/ 100
Ranks 1503 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has been broadly flat since 2020, at 39,134 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

75% of recently permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

At 1.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
55
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
1.4
Bottom 38% nationally
Year over year
−28%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
74.5%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202439k39k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020212022202320242025655.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+236%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 82°F and January a low of 19°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 53.3 inches, including 69.3 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 39, in the Good band, and no day in the year passed 100.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BLUE HILL, 5.7 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND5.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index54.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation53.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall69.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low19°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high82°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10002024 calendar year
Median air quality index39.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing45°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
39
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
54
90th percentile index
Days above 100
0
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

92 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and coastal flooding.

HurricaneElevated
EarthquakeModerate
Coastal floodingElevated
LandslideModerate
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: inland flooding, ice storm, heat wave, lightning, cold wave, tornado, strong wind, wildfire, winter weather, hail.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Norfolk County records 1.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 1.4 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 11.1 per 100,000 residents in Norfolk County.

Homicide
1.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
1.4
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
11.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
7.0
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Norfolk County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Braintree Town rather than Braintree Town itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 11 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
General Edward Lawrence Logan IntlBOS11 mi10,083 ft
Rhode Island TF Green IntlPVD40 mi8,700 ft
Manchester Boston RgnlMHT55 mi9,250 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Area Score
73
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Other cities in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
BostonSuffolk County666,44264vs Braintree Town
CambridgeMiddlesex County118,79670vs Braintree Town
LowellMiddlesex County118,36862vs Braintree Town
BrocktonPlymouth County105,38654vs Braintree Town
QuincyNorfolk County102,11470vs Braintree Town
LynnEssex County101,70955vs Braintree Town
NewtonMiddlesex County89,04475vs Braintree Town
LawrenceEssex County88,73647vs Braintree Town
SomervilleMiddlesex County81,03667vs Braintree Town
FraminghamMiddlesex County72,39966vs Braintree Town
HaverhillEssex County67,69858vs Braintree Town
MaldenMiddlesex County65,90665vs Braintree Town

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Braintree Town

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
0218438,899$122,21473