J. Merrick Hale
Writes on property tax, town finance and what a house costs to hold.
A pen name for the RE413 desk. What that means.
What Salary Do You Need to Buy a House in Western Mass?
We ran the median home, the real tax bill and the current rate for all 101 towns. In most of them the answer is above what households there actually earn.
Your Town Does Not Live on Your Property Tax Alone. Here Is the Rest.
State aid sends more than a billion dollars a year to these 101 towns, and the share it covers ranges from almost everything to almost nothing.
Mortgage Rates Since 1971: What a Home Loan Has Actually Cost
The 30-year rate has been under 3% and over 18%, and both were within one working lifetime. Here is what each level did to the payment on the same house.
How Massachusetts Property Taxes Are Assessed, and Why Yours Went Up
Your bill moved and the rate did not. That is normal, it is not a mistake, and understanding why is the difference between appealing and wasting a morning.
The Cost of Living in Western Mass, 2026: What a Year Actually Costs
Tax, heat and the mortgage on one median home, town by town. The gap between the cheapest and the dearest town here runs to five figures every year.
Renting in Western Mass: What It Costs and How Many People Are Stretched
In the median town, half of renters spend a third or more of their income on housing. For owners the same figure is a quarter. That gap decides a lot.
What $400,000 Buys in Each of the 101 Western Mass Towns
The same money buys a median home outright in Franklin County and a third of one in Alford. It also carries a tax bill that varies by $530 a month.
Property Taxes in Western Mass: Every Town's 2026 Rate and Real Bill
Rates run from $2.18 per $1,000 to $20.50, a nine-fold spread across one region. But the rate is not the bill, and the two lists are not the same list.