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Average Rent in Massachusetts
Rent in Massachusetts runs from a 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,659 a month in Worcester to $3,583 in Nantucket — a spread of 2.2× inside one state. The table below is the complete FY2027 HUD schedule for Massachusetts: every county (or county-equivalent) with its Fair Market Rent for each unit size, efficiency through four bedrooms. For context, the Census Bureau's American Community Survey measured Massachusetts's median gross rent — what renter households actually reported paying — at $1,848 a month in 2024.
FY2027 Fair Market Rents by county in Massachusetts
| County | HUD rent area | Efficiency | 1 BR | 2 BR | 3 BR | 4 BR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnstable County | Barnstable Town, MA MSA | $1,889 | $1,902 | $2,488 | $3,121 | $3,721 |
| Berkshire County | Pittsfield, MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,315 | $1,324 | $1,704 | $2,231 | $2,848 |
| Berkshire County | Berkshire County, MA (part) HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,329 | $1,348 | $1,763 | $2,409 | $2,947 |
| Bristol County | New Bedford, MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,297 | $1,305 | $1,668 | $1,987 | $2,524 |
| Bristol County | Providence-Fall River, RI-MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,423 | $1,509 | $1,879 | $2,302 | $2,615 |
| Bristol County | Taunton-Mansfield-Norton, MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,517 | $1,666 | $2,179 | $2,596 | $2,864 |
| Bristol County | Easton-Raynham, MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,971 | $2,209 | $2,589 | $3,085 | $3,651 |
| Dukes County | Dukes County, MA | $1,461 | $1,537 | $2,010 | $2,783 | $3,112 |
| Essex County | Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH HUD Metro FMR Area | $2,440 | $2,518 | $3,008 | $3,584 | $3,953 |
| Essex County | Lawrence, MA-NH HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,677 | $1,809 | $2,367 | $2,820 | $3,111 |
| Franklin County | Franklin County, MA | $1,311 | $1,439 | $1,882 | $2,242 | $2,473 |
| Hampden County | Springfield, MA MSA | $1,264 | $1,421 | $1,800 | $2,241 | $2,370 |
| Hampshire County | Amherst Town-Northampton, MA MSA | $1,416 | $1,593 | $2,034 | $2,663 | $2,768 |
| Middlesex County | Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH HUD Metro FMR Area | $2,440 | $2,518 | $3,008 | $3,584 | $3,953 |
| Middlesex County | Lowell, MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,659 | $1,831 | $2,383 | $2,878 | $3,132 |
| Nantucket County | Nantucket County, MA | $2,495 | $2,739 | $3,583 | $4,269 | $5,392 |
| Norfolk County | Brockton, MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,678 | $1,842 | $2,409 | $3,015 | $3,166 |
| Norfolk County | Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH HUD Metro FMR Area | $2,440 | $2,518 | $3,008 | $3,584 | $3,953 |
| Plymouth County | Brockton, MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,678 | $1,842 | $2,409 | $3,015 | $3,166 |
| Plymouth County | Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH HUD Metro FMR Area | $2,440 | $2,518 | $3,008 | $3,584 | $3,953 |
| Suffolk County | Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH HUD Metro FMR Area | $2,440 | $2,518 | $3,008 | $3,584 | $3,953 |
| Worcester County | Fitchburg-Leominster, MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,323 | $1,571 | $1,900 | $2,419 | $2,828 |
| Worcester County | Western Worcester County, MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,280 | $1,288 | $1,659 | $2,297 | $2,773 |
| Worcester County | Worcester, MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,577 | $1,587 | $2,043 | $2,560 | $2,915 |
| Worcester County | Eastern Worcester County, MA HUD Metro FMR Area | $1,740 | $1,910 | $2,499 | $3,424 | $3,736 |
Two things in this table reward a second look. First, the 2-bedroom column (highlighted) is the standard benchmark: HUD and housing agencies quote it most often, and it is the column to use when comparing one county with another. Second, many counties share a rent area and therefore share identical figures — that is deliberate. HUD sets FMRs for rent areas, not individual counties: metropolitan counties in the same housing market get the same numbers, while each nonmetropolitan county is generally its own area. All figures are gross rents, meaning they include the cost of utilities on top of the lease rent.
Where Massachusetts rents run highest — and lowest
The three most expensive county listings in Massachusetts are Nantucket ($3,583), Essex ($3,008), Middlesex ($3,008). The three least expensive are Worcester ($1,659), Bristol ($1,668), Berkshire ($1,704). That 2.2× gap between the top and bottom of the table is mostly a story of housing markets rather than county lines: the priciest figures belong to counties inside or near the state's large metropolitan areas, where wages, land prices, and demand are highest, while the lowest figures are rural counties where HUD's formula rests on thinner rental markets and lower incomes.
Measured against what renters actually pay, 80% of Massachusetts's county listings carry a 2-bedroom FMR above the state's ACS median gross rent of $1,848. That pattern is expected rather than alarming. An FMR is set near the 40th percentile of rents paid by recent movers, and recent movers usually pay more than long-settled tenants, whose rents are held down by tenure. The ACS median, by contrast, covers every renter household including those in place for a decade. Read together, the two series bracket the market: the ACS median shows the typical existing rent, and the FMR shows what a new lease at the modest end of the market is expected to cost.
What income covers the typical Massachusetts two-bedroom?
The long-standing affordability yardstick is the 30% rule: a household is "cost-burdened" when gross rent takes more than 30% of gross income. At the median Massachusetts county 2-bedroom FMR of $2,367, staying under the line takes an annual income of about $94,680 — roughly $46 an hour for a full-time worker. In Nantucket, the state's priciest market, the same rule requires about $143,320 a year. Our rent affordability calculator runs this math for your own income against the counties we cover in depth.
We also publish a dedicated page for Massachusetts’s largest rental market covered in depth: Suffolk, with the full bedroom-by-bedroom table and the income each unit size takes under the 30% rule.
Compare with the neighboring state tables: Louisiana · Maryland. Or go back to the national overview for the most and least expensive counties in the country.
Massachusetts rent questions
What is the average rent in Massachusetts?
The Census Bureau's American Community Survey put Massachusetts's median gross rent at $1,848 a month in 2024. HUD's FY2027 Fair Market Rents put the median Massachusetts county 2-bedroom figure at $2,367, ranging from $1,659 in Worcester to $3,583 in Nantucket.
What is a Fair Market Rent?
A Fair Market Rent is HUD's gross-rent benchmark for an area, set near the 40th percentile of rents paid by recent movers. Housing agencies use it to set payment standards for Housing Choice Vouchers, so it is a reliable yardstick for comparing rent levels between counties.
What salary do you need to rent a 2-bedroom in Massachusetts?
Under the common 30% rule — housing should cost no more than 30% of gross income — the median Massachusetts county 2-bedroom FMR of $2,367 a month implies an annual income of about $94,680. In the priciest county, Nantucket, the same rule implies about $143,320.
Sources: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fair Market Rents FY2027 (county-level data file, effective October 1, 2026), huduser.gov; U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year estimates, table B25031 (median gross rent), census.gov. Last verified: October 2026.