The 10 Most Boring Places In Massachusetts For 2023


The most boring places in Massachusetts are Gardner and Gloucester for 2023 based on Saturday Night Science.

There’s no denying it: there are plenty of places in Massachusetts that are downright beautiful and full of excitement.

Unfortunately, not all towns and cities in Bay State are so lucky.

Just like in all U.S. States, there are definitely some boring places within Massachusetts’s’ borders. You know the places where everyone has an AARP card and the most exciting thing they do all day is post a picture of their grandchild on Facebook.

Like Gardner, for instance. In our latest analysis, we found that this city was the most boring city in all of Oklahoma according to Saturday Night Science. But don’t feel bad if you’re a resident of Gardner. There are plenty of other boring, lackluster places in Massachusetts as well.

Here they are. Try not to jump out of your seat with excitement.

Don’t freak out, in fact, believe it not, a boring city is actually one a lot of people would like to call home.

Before you get all upset if your city’s name is on the list, rest assured that we didn’t use personal opinion when it comes to what classifies a city or town as “boring” or “exciting”. We crunched actual numbers to figure out which towns are statistically more boring.

Showing this data to you is the kind of thing that a real estate agent knows, but would never share.

For more Massachusetts reading, check out:


Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table


The 10 Most Boring Places In Massachusetts For 2023

Gardner, MA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

5
/10
Population: 21,090
Average Age: 45.0
% Married: 31.0%
More on Gardner: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Gloucester, MA

Source: Wikipedia User Paul Keleher from Mass, US | CC BY 2.0
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10
Population: 29,830
Average Age: 51.0
% Married: 32.0%
More on Gloucester: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Newburyport, MA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

9.5
/10
Population: 18,356
Average Age: 46.5
% Married: 30.0%
More on Newburyport: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Pittsfield, MA

Source: Wikipedia User Protophobic | CC BY-SA 4.0
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10
Population: 43,730
Average Age: 43.4
% Married: 27.0%
More on Pittsfield: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Peabody, MA

Source: Wikipedia User John Phelan | CC BY 3.0
Overall SnackAbility

9
/10
Population: 54,204
Average Age: 46.9
% Married: 32.0%
More on Peabody: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Taunton, MA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10
Population: 59,436
Average Age: 40.2
% Married: 27.0%
More on Taunton: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Leominster, MA

Source: Public domain
Overall SnackAbility

8
/10
Population: 43,620
Average Age: 43.0
% Married: 24.0%
More on Leominster: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Melrose, MA

Source: Wikipedia User | CC-BY-SA-3.0
Overall SnackAbility

10
/10
Population: 29,477
Average Age: 43.1
% Married: 26.0%
More on Melrose: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Attleboro, MA

Source: Wikipedia User Daniel Case | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

8.5
/10
Population: 46,384
Average Age: 39.8
% Married: 23.0%
More on Attleboro: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

North Adams, MA

Source: Wikipedia User Beyond My Ken | GFDL
Overall SnackAbility

6
/10
Population: 12,937
Average Age: 44.5
% Married: 26.0%
More on North Adams: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Real Estate

Methodology: How we determined the boring cities in the Bay State

You would present the following case to your friends if you were argueing with them at a bar about the most boring place to live in Massachusetts. And that’s why we call it Saturday Night Science.

Because our data speaks more truth than feelings.

To figure out how boring a place is, we factored in things we generally think make people exciting, and then we figure out which cities have the least number of those exciting people.

We used the U.S. American Community Census data to gather the information presented here. HSome of the things people tend to think of as making a city’s population boring include:

  • % of Population Over 25 (higher is more boring)
  • % of Married Household (higher is more boring)
  • Average Age (higher is more boring)
  • % of Households With Kids (higher is more boring)
  • Population density (lower is more boring)

Then, our algorithm generates a ranking for each place in these categories. After crunching the numbers, all of the cities ranked from most boring to most exciting.

For this ranking, we used every Massachusetts city with at least 12,000 residents. This keeps us from prejudicing our rankings by including very small pockets of retired people.

Grab your rocker and hold on.

We updated this article for 2023, and it’s our tenth time ranking the most boring cities in Massachusetts.

There You Have It – Now That You’re Asleep

On a ranking like this, there are usually no winners, but since Massachusetts isn’t necessarily the most boring state in the United States, the cities on this ranking can at least take solace that there are, in fact, more boring cities in the country.

If you’re also curious enough, here are the most exciting places in Massachusetts, according to science:

  1. Cambridge
  2. Boston
  3. Somerville

For more Massachusetts reading, check out:

Detailed List Of The Most Boring Cities In Massachusetts For 2023

Rank City Population Average Age % Married % Kids
1 Gardner, MA 21,090 45.0 31.0% 26.9%
2 Gloucester, MA 29,830 51.0 32.0% 20.5%
3 Newburyport, MA 18,356 46.5 30.0% 27.9%
4 Pittsfield, MA 43,730 43.4 27.0% 24.4%
5 Peabody, MA 54,204 46.9 32.0% 24.9%
6 Taunton, MA 59,436 40.2 27.0% 32.2%
7 Leominster, MA 43,620 43.0 24.0% 26.5%
8 Melrose, MA 29,477 43.1 26.0% 29.7%
9 Attleboro, MA 46,384 39.8 23.0% 31.8%
10 North Adams, MA 12,937 44.5 26.0% 21.3%
11 Woburn, MA 40,992 39.2 28.0% 28.9%
12 Westfield, MA 40,794 39.2 29.0% 27.7%
13 Marlborough, MA 41,391 38.1 20.0% 29.8%
14 Haverhill, MA 67,273 37.9 26.0% 32.2%
15 Northampton, MA 28,245 42.5 15.0% 22.7%
16 Beverly, MA 42,414 40.3 28.0% 27.5%
17 Chicopee, MA 55,441 41.4 24.0% 25.1%
18 Fall River, MA 93,638 39.2 17.0% 28.8%
19 Newton, MA 88,453 41.7 16.0% 33.5%
20 Revere, MA 60,577 39.6 13.0% 29.9%
21 Fitchburg, MA 41,621 37.6 20.0% 28.2%
22 Quincy, MA 100,981 38.3 15.0% 22.2%
23 Salem, MA 44,541 38.0 20.0% 21.5%
24 Holyoke, MA 38,210 37.5 16.0% 28.3%
25 New Bedford, MA 100,620 36.8 18.0% 30.5%
26 Brockton, MA 104,713 36.4 13.0% 39.5%
27 Everett, MA 48,685 36.0 12.0% 36.0%
28 Medford, MA 61,748 35.4 17.0% 20.4%
29 Malden, MA 65,463 35.4 13.0% 29.6%
30 Lynn, MA 100,653 36.2 14.0% 37.4%
31 Lowell, MA 114,737 34.6 13.0% 32.3%
32 Springfield, MA 155,305 33.4 13.0% 33.1%
33 Waltham, MA 64,711 34.7 16.0% 18.3%
34 Chelsea, MA 39,890 34.5 5.0% 33.2%
35 Worcester, MA 204,191 34.3 13.0% 28.0%
36 Lawrence, MA 88,067 31.5 6.0% 41.4%
37 Somerville, MA 80,464 32.1 9.0% 14.8%
38 Boston, MA 665,945 32.9 9.0% 20.9%
39 Cambridge, MA 117,962 30.6 6.0% 17.1%
About Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

3 thoughts on “The 10 Most Boring Places In Massachusetts For 2023

  1. Lexington, Gloucester and Barnstable aren’t boring at all. Lexington has a great history and very nice houses. Gloucester has nice beaches and lighthouses. They also have Stage Fort Park and the Hammond Castle. Barnstable includes the village of Hyannis, which is a great tourist destination. It’s also on cape cod, and surrounded by water on two sides.

    1. I think it’s terrible that you’re stereotyping all old and married people as being boring.
      I’m married and I’m not boring at all and I know plenty of old people that I boring either or sickly.
      I think the people that did this survey and probably young single people who don’t have a clue about much in life.

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