Adams

$3,858/year in property tax on the median home

At $15.63 per $1,000 of assessed value (fiscal 2026). The tax rate year by year, with the bill history and every town in the county, is on its own page. The full worked figure, mortgage at this week's rate, heating, the lot, is on the cost page, and the calculator takes any price.

Most homes here heat with utility gas. A gas main serves at least part of the town. This week's prices and the season maths are on the heating page.

3,695 parcels; the median single-family home here was built in 1939, surviving stock, not construction history.4,336 housing units at the 2020 count (4,362 in 2000). 64.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.

48.9% of homes here are single-family detached houses, and 56.5% of the housing stock predates 1940 while 2.2% went up in 2010 or later. Survey shares (2023), not counts.

11.9% of Homes Vacant at the Last Count

About 1 in 8 homes here stood empty at the April 2020 count, and 7.2% of those are seasonal or vacation homes.

≈102 sales a year

About 1 in 36 properties here changes hands in a year (2022–2024 average of recorded arm's-length deeds), at that pace, a property comes up roughly every 36 years. Steady-state arithmetic, not a measured wait, and the count includes land and commercial parcels. The latest complete year's median sale: $222,000 (2024).

Reported construction value in 2025: $532K (permit filings, nominal dollars).

0 new homes were permitted in 2025 (the Bureau's estimate; the town filed no monthly reports that year). County-wide, house prices moved up 1.06% in 2025 (Berkshire County index, a county figure, not this town's).

Schools Through Grade 12

Students here are covered from the early grades through high school by Adams-Cheshire (PK–12).

The district spends $20,302 per student. That is total spending per pupil, an input the state publishes, not a rating or a ranking of the schools.

3 school buildings stand in town. Which building a child attends is set by the district, not by the address alone.

• Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School · 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12 · charter
• Hoosac Valley Elementary School · PK, K, 01, 02, 03 · public elementary
• St. Stanislaus Kostka School · PK, K, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08 · private

Cable Internet: Spectrum

Cable internet serves this town. Franchise areas can stop at village edges, so confirm service at the specific address, not the town line.

Public water exists here: ADAMS FIRE DISTRICT, service areas have edges, so a specific address may still be on a well. Municipal sewer exists (ADAMS SEWER DEPT); beyond its edge, homes are on septic. Bedrock well yield potential in town is rated "average specific yield".

Flood Map Unavailable

The federal flood map for this town has not been digitised, so flood risk here is unmapped; that is not the same as absent. Ask the town's building department before relying on any flood answer.

11 dams in town. 10 reported release sites appear in the state's cleanup registry. 6 facilities report to the EPA Toxics Release Inventory, industrial sites above federal reporting thresholds, absence of which is not proof of none. Address-level detail, this parcel, this street, is on the address check.

The USGS runs 1 stream gauge in town with live river levels: HOOSIC RIVER AT ADAMS.

Facilities here reported 1,172 lbs of TRI-listed chemicals released to air, water and land in 2024, down from a peak of 367,674 lbs in 1987. The most-released over the years has been toluene. Self-reported by facilities above federal thresholds, a disclosure record, not a measure of anyone's exposure or risk.

17.2% of working residents work right here in town. The rest most often head to Pittsfield, North adams, Williamstown. The town itself hosts 1,563 jobs.

Where people here work: living near North Adams (568 already commute, 11 min), living near Cheshire (135 already commute, 11 min), living near Clarksburg (24 already commute, 14 min), living near Savoy (5 already commute, 19 min), living near Lanesborough (50 already commute, 20 min), living near Williamstown (259 already commute, 21 min), living near Pittsfield (910 already commute, 29 min).

The average commute from here runs 24.2 minutes one way (working residents who leave home for work, 2023 5-year estimate). Walkability, where people live, scores 9.1 out of 20 on the EPA's index (below the national average).

BRTA runs fixed-route buses here: 7 stops in town, on 2 routes. 1 · Pittsfield, North Adams; 903 · North Adams / Greenfield .

$1,626/Month: HUD's Two-Bedroom Standard

HUD's fair-rent standard for a two-bedroom here is $1,626 a month, the figure housing vouchers are built on for the Pittsfield, MA HUD Metro FMR Area, not what landlords ask. It assumes rent plus most utilities, so it is not comparable to an advertised rent that excludes heat.

54.7% of households here fall below 80% of the area's median family income, the federal housing-programme measure of need, not a poverty rate. 7.54% of the town's year-round homes count toward the state's subsidized-housing inventory (the state threshold where override rules change is 10%).

61% of renters here spend a third or more of their income on housing (28.9% spend half or more); for owners it is 25.1%. The federal "cost-burdened" line is 30% of income; these are 5-year survey estimates (2023), not a headcount.

Winters average 26.1°F, summers 67.2°F, and about 85″ of snow a year

Thirty-year normals (1991–2020), not this year's weather. The year averages 47°F with 42.3″ of precipitation. Readings come from the nearest long-record weather station to each measure, so a hilltown reading a valley station will see less snow here than falls on its own ridges.

Population is down 34.1% since 1960. Between 1971 and 1999, about 215 acres were developed. About 25.2% of adults here hold a bachelor's degree or higher (2023 survey). The deep story, the town's oldest surviving houses and what they're built in, is in the Old House Atlas.