Orange and Ware are useful comparisons for a household considering different parts of the region on a defined budget. Their distance from the household's actual destinations matters, so begin with a realistic search area. Once that is established, compare similarly useful homes and the complete expense of occupying them.
What do the assessed medians establish?
Orange's recorded median single-family assessment is $279,950, compared with $289,600 in Ware. The annual tax illustrations are $4,647 and $4,196. These are local tax-record figures, not current asking-price medians. They help establish scale but cannot identify available homes within a purchase budget. Use actual candidates and current bills to refine the comparison, and distinguish differences in building size or condition from a difference associated with location.
Massachusetts Department of Revenue: determining property values.
How does the condition of the stock affect the decision?
The median recorded construction years are 1950 in Orange and 1971 in Ware. Those dates do not describe the timing or quality of renovations. Request the history of major systems and use an inspection to identify unresolved work. A property that needs immediate repairs may require a different cash reserve from one with documented updates. Price substantial work individually rather than using a town's building age as a shortcut to a maintenance estimate.
What should you do with the commute data?
Treat it as a description of survey respondents' journeys, not a prediction to your employer. Test the route from the actual house to the exact destination at the relevant time. Add parking, the return journey and frequent errands. If the housing choice changes the number of vehicles or the amount of travel needed, include those costs in the budget. A purchase saving can only be evaluated properly alongside the recurring routine and obligations that accompany it.
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 | Mean Commute Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange | $279,950 | $4,647 | 1950 | 30.3 |
| Ware | $289,600 | $4,196 | 1971 | 28.6 |
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.
- Mean Commute Minutes
- Survey mean travel time to work for workers who travel to work. This is not a drive-time prediction to a chosen employer, a rush-hour estimate or a promise about a particular route.
Cite: RE413. “Local Figures for This Decision.” Updated September 19, 2026. https://www.re413.com/news/orange-vs-ware-ma/, underlying sources at https://www.re413.com/sources/.
Orange's town record. Single-family assessment: $279,950. Annual tax illustration: $4,647. Median year built: 1950. Mean commute minutes: 30.3.
Ware's town record. Single-family assessment: $289,600. Annual tax illustration: $4,196. Median year built: 1971. Mean commute minutes: 28.6.
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
OrangeWare
Orange$4,910Ware$4,770Fiscal 2026; common reporting years
What should you check next?
- Establish a search area that supports the household's actual destinations before comparing municipal housing figures.
- Use inspection and work records to price near-term repairs for similarly sized properties.
- Compare current tax, insurance and utility bills together with the transportation pattern each address requires.
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 Orange: FY2025; Ware: FY2025. Checked 2026-08-21.
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services. annual tax illustration. Figures through Orange: FY2026; Ware: FY2026. Checked 2026-08-05.
- Massachusetts Department of Revenue, community preservation records. annual tax illustration. Checked 2026-08-05.
- U.S. Census Bureau, commuting survey. mean commute minutes. Figures through 2023. 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.