Greenfield provides a useful starting point for a Franklin County housing search because it lets you compare an individual municipality with nearby alternatives without collapsing the whole county into one price. Start with the building and the destinations that matter to you. Then use the town record to identify which questions about taxes, maintenance and local employment need more detailed answers.
What can the local employment figure show?
The recorded share of residents working in Greenfield describes the relationship between jobs and homes during the source period. It does not prove that a job is available, establish a commute for a specific address or measure every type of work arrangement. Use it to understand the local pattern, then investigate your own destination. If employment or work hours may change, consider how the same address handles several plausible routines rather than judging it on one favorable trip.
How should you approach the building stock?
Use the median construction year as a prompt to request work records. For an older home, ask which systems are original, which were replaced and whether the improvements were documented. A recorded age cannot determine the quality of maintenance. Review the basement, roof drainage and heating arrangement through an inspection, and price significant work with written estimates. This helps distinguish a lower initial purchase amount from a lower total cost over the period you expect to occupy the house.
What belongs in a Franklin County comparison?
Greenfield, Montague and Deerfield each have their own assessment roll and municipal tax assumptions. Compare similar houses and use current property bills once candidates are identified. A difference in the town medians may reflect the mix of housing, not the cost of an identical building in another location. Include the daily trips and service arrangements that the household would actually use. The useful outcome is a shortlist whose expenses and routines can be explained line by line.
Massachusetts Department of Revenue: determining property values.
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 Year Built | Residents Working in Town |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deerfield | $424,900 | $5,846 | 1971 | 22.9% |
| Greenfield | $264,600 | $4,963 | 1940 | 27.8% |
| Montague | $302,800 | $4,581 | 1954 | 15.1% |
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 Year Built
- Middle recorded construction year of single-family homes in the assessment data. It describes building age, not renovation date, condition, lead status or energy performance.
- Residents Working in Town
- Share of resident workers with jobs in the same municipality in federal employment origin-destination records. This is a dated employment pattern, not a measure of remote-working suitability.
Cite: RE413. “Local Figures for This Decision.” Updated September 19, 2026. https://www.re413.com/news/living-in-greenfield-ma/, underlying sources at https://www.re413.com/sources/.
Deerfield's town record. Single-family assessment: $424,900. Annual tax illustration: $5,846. Median year built: 1971. Residents working in town: 22.9%.
Greenfield's town record. Single-family assessment: $264,600. Annual tax illustration: $4,963. Median year built: 1940. Residents working in town: 27.8%.
Montague's town record. Single-family assessment: $302,800. Annual tax illustration: $4,581. Median year built: 1954. Residents working in town: 15.1%.
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
$6,063Fiscal 2026; Greenfield
What should you check next?
- Test the work and errand pattern from each candidate address instead of treating the local-employment share as a commute forecast.
- Request documents for major building work and obtain estimates for inspection findings that affect the budget.
- Compare Greenfield with specific Montague or Deerfield properties using actual tax bills, condition and service responsibilities.
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 year built. Figures through Deerfield: FY2026; Greenfield: FY2025; Montague: FY2026. Checked 2026-08-21.
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services. annual tax illustration. Figures through Deerfield: FY2026; Greenfield: FY2026; Montague: FY2026. Checked 2026-08-05.
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue, community preservation records. annual tax illustration. Checked 2026-08-05.
- U.S. Census Bureau, employment origin-destination records. residents working in town. Figures through 2022. Checked 2026-08-05.
- 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.