Agawam and Southwick comparisons often turn on the relationship between a house and its land. A lower asking price, larger parcel or different service arrangement can change the responsibilities of ownership. Use the public measures to describe the difference, then confirm what the actual properties require.
What does the recorded housing comparison show?
Agawam's median single-family assessment is $342,300, while Southwick's is $342,800. The annual tax illustrations based on those medians are $4,875 and $5,048. Because the illustrations use different underlying assessments, they do not isolate the cost of a tax-rate difference on an identical house. Obtain actual bills once you have a shortlist and compare property size, condition and services. An assessment is a tax record, not a quote for a currently available building.
Massachusetts Department of Revenue: determining property values.
Is the extra acreage useful for your plans?
Recorded median single-family lot sizes are 0.39 acres in Agawam and 0.92 acres in Southwick. Those figures do not show the buildable or practical portion of any particular parcel. Identify the areas you would actually use and maintain, then check access, drainage and restrictions. A proposal for an outbuilding or other new use needs its own review. Keeping the existing property's usefulness separate from uncertain future projects makes the purchase comparison more realistic.
Which service responsibilities could change the budget?
The sewer records below establish municipal system presence, not a connection at every house. Verify the actual water and wastewater systems and ask who maintains the equipment and private pipes. An onsite system has a different inspection and replacement history from a municipal connection, but neither arrangement should be assumed free of future work. Compare ordinary bills and possible near-term work separately. Include grounds maintenance and the actual household travel pattern before deciding which property's overall obligation better fits the budget.
What does the local record show?
These towns provide local context for the decision in this article. The figures describe the published records and survey periods identified below. Compare the same measures across places, then confirm the details of any actual home before using them in a budget or offer.
Local Figures for This Decision
Download CSV, same columns, same definitions
Selected municipalities, shown alphabetically. Definitions below distinguish assessments, administrative benchmarks and survey estimates from current market quotes.
| Town | Single-family Assessment | Annual Tax Illustration | Median Lot Acres | Sewer Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agawam | $342,300 | $4,875 | 0.39 | Recorded |
| Southwick | $342,800 | $5,048 | 0.92 | Recorded |
What These Columns Mean
- Town
- Municipality; follow its record below for the full data and address check.
- Single-family Assessment
- Median assessed value of single-family parcels. This is a tax-roll statistic, not an asking price, appraisal or median sale price. Assessment years are identified in the sources.
- Annual Tax Illustration
- The published residential rate applied to the town's median single-family assessment, including the recorded community preservation surcharge and its general first-value exemption where adopted. Individual exemptions, special assessments and a future reassessment can change an actual bill.
- Median Lot Acres
- Median recorded single-family parcel acreage. Lot area is not a measure of buildable, dry or accessible land and does not establish a surveyed boundary.
- Sewer Recorded
- Whether a sewer system is recorded for the municipality. Town-level presence does not establish street coverage, a private connection, available capacity or connection cost.
Cite: RE413. “Local Figures for This Decision.” Updated September 19, 2026. https://www.re413.com/news/agawam-vs-southwick-ma/, underlying sources at https://www.re413.com/sources/.
Agawam's town record. Single-family assessment: $342,300. Annual tax illustration: $4,875. Median lot acres: 0.39. Sewer recorded: Recorded.
Southwick's town record. Single-family assessment: $342,800. Annual tax illustration: $5,048. Median lot acres: 0.92. Sewer recorded: Recorded.
How has the published average tax bill changed?
This is the Department of Revenue's published average single-family tax-bill series in nominal dollars. It is a different measure from the current median-assessment illustration above. Changes can reflect the tax levy, assessed values and the housing stock; this is not a forecast of the bill for a home you buy.
Published Average Single-Family Tax Bill
AgawamSouthwick
Agawam$5,190Southwick$6,187Fiscal 2026; common reporting years
What should you check next?
- Obtain actual property tax bills and compare similarly sized and maintained houses.
- Identify usable land and verify any approvals essential to the intended outdoor use.
- Confirm water, wastewater and private maintenance responsibilities, then price known work and recurring travel consistently.
Keep the address, document date and source alongside each answer. If records disagree, identify which period and property each describes before treating the difference as a change. A missing result leaves a question open; it does not establish that a property has no problem or no cost.
Where can you continue the comparison?
Browse all housing guides by subject.
Open the linked town records for the wider context, including sources and dates. Use the property-specific records to narrow a decision, and keep current quotes separate from the historical figures used to explain it here.
Which official guidance supports this article?
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue: determining property values. Guidance checked 2026-09-05; confirm current requirements for your transaction.
Sources
- MassGIS and municipal assessors. single-family assessment, annual tax illustration, median lot acres. Figures through Agawam: FY2026; Southwick: FY2025. Checked 2026-08-21.
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services. annual tax illustration. Figures through Agawam: FY2026; Southwick: FY2026. Checked 2026-08-05.
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue, community preservation records. annual tax illustration. Checked 2026-08-05.
- Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, public sewer systems. sewer recorded. Checked 2026-09-07.
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue, historical average single-family tax bills. Published annual mean bills in the chart; nominal dollars, with only common reporting years in a two-town comparison. Figures through FY2010–FY2026. Checked 2026-08-05.
"Figures through" is the period the publisher's data describes; "checked" is only when we last asked. The full sourcing: sources and method.