Nantucket County, MA

County Profile

14,483 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Nantucket County, MA.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

59out of 100
Area Score
Top 48% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 12 sources
OpportunityTop 1% of 1,463 counties measured90
Schools713th of 1,377 counties measured49
GrowthTop 8% of 1,453 counties measured75
Housing affordability1,462nd of 1,462 counties measured24
Climate772nd of 1,463 counties measured68
Physical resilience1,227th of 1,463 counties measured30
Access1,292nd of 1,463 counties measured53
Economic stabilityTop 2% of 1,463 counties measured97
The quick read

Nantucket County ranks in the top 1% of counties measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.0% and median household income of $139,688.

In the public schools here, 45% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 10.2 students for every teacher.

257 housing units were authorized over the past twelve months, within 3% of the prior year — steady rather than turning.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
14,483
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$139,688
Top 1% nationally
Density
314/sq mi
46.2 sq mi of land
Median age
42.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Nantucket County
Massachusetts
Micro area
Nearest major airport
PVD
75 mi · Rhode Island TF Green Intl
Median home value
$1,593,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.0%, lower than in 90% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Unemployment has been falling for 5 consecutive months, most recently 3.0%.

Employment grew 0.4% over the past year, to 11,668 employed residents.

56% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 99% of measured US counties.

Median household income of $139,688 is higher than in 99% of measured US counties.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$132,25298th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$156,71899th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$16,7862024 ACS 5-Year$139,688Top 1%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$8,1002024 ACS 5-Year$77,014Top 1%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$122,575Top 1%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year3.0%Top 1%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±1.9 min2024 ACS 5-Year16.7 minTop 5%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year56.3%Top 1%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year67.9%10th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202611,668Bottom 14%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+5.6%Top 7%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026+0.4%Top 31%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202612,03013th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year84.8%Top 7%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year0.7%81st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.1%Bottom 33%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20263.0%Top 10%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year13.0%80th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/07162.5
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.0% in July 2026. It has been falling for the last 5 months, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. 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

2021202220232024140k117k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $139,688 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.

45% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 51% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 10.2 students for every full-time teacher across 4 public schools, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
10.2
across all schools here
Math proficiency
45.2%
Bottom 33% in Massachusetts
Reading proficiency
51.3%
Bottom 42% in Massachusetts
All 4 public schools on record, largest first.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Nantucket HighNantucket59611.057%62%
Nantucket ElementaryNantucket3999.3——
Nantucket Intermediate SchoolNantucket3669.937%45%
Cyrus PeirceNantucket35810.234%40%

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Massachusetts’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the non-metropolitan parts of Massachusetts is up 49% over five years, and up 5.2% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $3,974 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.25% of the median home value.

The typical renter household here spends 32% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $2,213 a month.

A median home at $1,593,800 costs 9.9 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $160,714, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
31.7%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
9.9×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Median gross rent
$2,213
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$1,593,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Nantucket County’s median household income of $139,688, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price change (1 year)the non-metropolitan parts of Massachusetts’s figure2026 Q2+5.2%76th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Massachusetts’s figure2026 Q2+49.4%67th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Massachusetts’s figure2026 Q2+103.4%68th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±22024 ACS 5-Year9.9Bottom 1%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year71.8%36th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±202024 ACS 5-Year12,59450th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$6282024 ACS 5-Year$2,213Bottom 1%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$149,0092024 ACS 5-Year$1,593,80099th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$5832024 ACS 5-Year$3,97493rd percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$20,9312024 ACS 5-Year$160,714Top 1%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.04%2024 ACS 5-Year0.25%1st percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±8%2024 ACS 5-Year31.7%Bottom 16%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±3492024 ACS 5-Year6,92596th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year55.0%99th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year3.3%3rd percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±3652024 ACS 5-Year7,34287th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures.

Development Momentum

75/ 100
Top 8% of 1,453 published county profiles
The most recent move in permitting was downward, in a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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 grown 3% since 2020, reaching 14,670 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before: 250 units authorized in 2025, 5% below the prior year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 257 units permitted over the past twelve months, only 10% are in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Nantucket County lost about 0.7% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $132,252, below the $156,718 of households that moved out.

At 17.7 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
257
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
17.7
Top 1% nationally
Year over year
+3%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
9.7%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

2020202120222023202415k14k
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. It has been rising for the last 2 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
−0.7%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
67%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$132,252
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$156,718
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Barnstable County, MA 54 people · 8.4% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Barnstable County, MA 85 people · 12% of departures
  2. Suffolk County, MA 42 people · 5.8% of departures
  3. Palm Beach County, FL 39 people · 5.3% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025262232
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was close to 2022 (+5%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 75°F and January a low of 27°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 40.9 inches.

20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station NANTUCKET MEM AP, 3.5 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND4.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals40.9"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals27°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals75°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals36°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

30 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, inland flooding and coastal flooding, with hurricane alone responsible for 74% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

HurricaneHigh
Coastal floodingHigh

Low or minimal exposure: earthquake, drought, inland flooding, wildfire, lightning, cold wave, tornado, hail, landslide, strong wind, winter weather, ice storm, heat wave, tsunami, volcanic activity, avalanche.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Nantucket County records 0.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Drug overdose deaths run at about 13.2 per 100,000 residents in Nantucket County.

Homicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
0.0
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
13.2
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Suicide
0.0
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Nantucket County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Cost of living
Price parities are published for metropolitan areas, and this place lies outside one.
Air quality
The EPA publishes an air-quality index only where a monitor sits. There is none in this county, and a modeled value would be a different kind of number from the measured ones everywhere else on this page.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. Cost of living is published where the Bureau of Economic Analysis measures it, though not for this place. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

2 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Rhode Island TF Green Intl at 75 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±9%2024 ACS 5-Year95.3%Top 2%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle75 miBottom 12%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 15%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year1.5%Top 1%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Rhode Island TF Green IntlPVD75 mi8,700 ft
General Edward Lawrence Logan IntlBOS87 mi10,083 ft
Manchester Boston RgnlMHT132 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
59
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

Cities in Nantucket County, MA