Nantucket, Massachusetts

Area Profile

10,017 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Nantucket, in Nantucket County.

59out of 100
Area Score
Top 50% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 11 sources
OpportunityTop 1% of 4,199 cities measured89
Schools2,134th of 4,162 cities measured49
GrowthTop 6% of 4,224 cities measured78
Housing affordability4,159th of 4,218 cities measured24
Climate2,531st of 4,225 cities measured68
Physical resilience3,227th of 4,226 cities measured30
Access4,049th of 4,226 cities measured53
Economic stabilityTop 10% of 4,226 cities measured76
The quick read

Nantucket ranks in the top 1% of cities measured for employment opportunity, with unemployment at 3.0% and median household income of $148,017. The unemployment rate is published for Nantucket County, MA, which contains Nantucket, rather than for Nantucket alone.

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. The permit count and 1 other measure here are published for Nantucket County, MA, which contains Nantucket, rather than for Nantucket alone.

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
10,017
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$148,017
Top 5% nationally
Density
1,720/sq mi
5.8 sq mi of land
Median age
42.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Massachusetts
Micro area
Nearest major airport
PVD
76 mi · Rhode Island TF Green Intl
Median home value
$1,465,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment across Nantucket County, MA, which contains Nantucket, is 3.0%, lower than in 93% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment across Nantucket County, MA, which contains Nantucket, grew 0.4% over the past year, to 11,668 employed residents.

53% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 90% of measured US cities.

Median household income of $148,017 is higher than in 95% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsNantucket County, MA’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$132,25295th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftNantucket County, MA’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$156,71899th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$19,0082024 ACS 5-Year$148,017Top 5%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$10,4182024 ACS 5-Year$79,413Top 4%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year2.8%Top 14%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±2.4 min2024 ACS 5-Year16.5 minTop 8%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year52.8%Top 10%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±7%2024 ACS 5-Year69.1%26th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentNantucket County, MA’s figureJuly 202611,668Bottom 5%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)Nantucket County, MA’s figureJuly 2026+5.6%Top 4%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)Nantucket County, MA’s figureJuly 2026+0.4%Top 28%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceNantucket County, MA’s figureJuly 202612,0305th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year84.2%Top 27%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year0.7%81st percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)Nantucket County, MA’s figureJuly 2026+0.1%Bottom 39%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateNantucket County, MA’s figureJuly 20263.0%Top 7%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±5%2024 ACS 5-Year13.9%73rd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Median household income, successive ACS releases

2021202220232024148k108k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $148,017 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.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Nantucket County, MA, which contains this city.

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 34% in Massachusetts
Reading proficiency
51.3%
Bottom 40% 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 $3,877 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.26% of the median home value.

The typical renter household here spends 33% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $2,228 a month.

A median home at $1,465,300 costs 8.7 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $167,637, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
32.8%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
8.7×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Median gross rent
$2,228
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$1,465,300
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Nantucket’s median household income of $148,017, 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%80th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Massachusetts’s figure2026 Q2+49.4%76th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the non-metropolitan parts of Massachusetts’s figure2026 Q2+103.4%69th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±22024 ACS 5-Year8.7Bottom 1%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±4%2024 ACS 5-Year80.8%60th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3252024 ACS 5-Year6,80591st percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$4042024 ACS 5-Year$2,228Bottom 5%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$264,7312024 ACS 5-Year$1,465,30099th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$6022024 ACS 5-Year$3,87782nd percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$34,7042024 ACS 5-Year$167,637Top 4%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.06%2024 ACS 5-Year0.26%1st percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±9%2024 ACS 5-Year32.8%Bottom 28%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±2852024 ACS 5-Year3,00499th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year44.1%97th percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year4.4%35th percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±3082024 ACS 5-Year3,30599th percentileof 32,3302024 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

78/ 100
Top 6% of 4,224 published city profiles

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.

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. The multifamily share is published for Nantucket County, MA, which contains Nantucket, rather than for Nantucket alone.

Federal tax returns show Nantucket County, which contains Nantucket, 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 cities. The permit rate is published for Nantucket County, MA, which contains Nantucket, rather than for Nantucket alone.

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

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. This is the figure for Nantucket County, MA. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

The Census Bureau's Building Permits Survey lists only jurisdictions that issue their own permits, and Nantucket, MA is not one. This is the figure for Nantucket County, MA, which contains this city.

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, 2.2 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). 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.

Violent crime
183
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,119
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Nantucket's police department reported 183 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,119.

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.

Reported by Nantucket Police Department for a population of 14,742, across all twelve months of 2025. That department covers a noticeably different population from the 10,017 in this place itself, so it polices an area wider or narrower than the boundary used elsewhere on this page. Offenses are published by police department rather than by town, so this department was matched to this city by name within the state. Reported crime counts what was reported to and recorded by police.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Nantucket’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. 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 the county around Nantucket (Nantucket County) rather than Nantucket itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and 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.

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 76 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±15%2024 ACS 5-Year94.8%Top 26%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle76 miBottom 4%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle2Bottom 8%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year2.2%Top 20%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Rhode Island TF Green IntlPVD76 mi8,700 ft
General Edward Lawrence Logan IntlBOS89 mi10,083 ft
Manchester Boston RgnlMHT134 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
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
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
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
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.

ZIP codes in Nantucket

1 ZIP area

Every ZIP area in Nantucket with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Nantucket closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
0255414,212$140,938$1,595,700—