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RE413

Franklin County · 19.67 square miles

Buckland

The town record: taxes, homes, schools, water, flood, commute and the market, every figure from a named public source.

LATESTSources checked 2026-08-05 · 60+ named public bodies · each figure above states its own period

The Record in Brief

Buckland's residential property tax rate is $16.74 per $1,000 of assessed value for fiscal 2026, about $5,278 a year on the town's median single-family home, assessed at $315,300. Rates are set by the town and reported to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.

The median recorded single-family sale in Buckland was $430,000 in 2024, across 21 recorded arm's-length deeds, from the Massachusetts standardized assessors' parcel layer published by MassGIS.

Buckland had a population of 1,816 at the 2020 decennial census, published by the U.S. Census Bureau, down 4.5% on 2010.

The federal flood map for Buckland has not been digitised, so flood risk here is unmapped rather than absent. Mapping is published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Every figure below states the period it covers and the body that publishes it. Full sourcing: sources and method.

What Does It Cost to Live Here?

$5,278/year in property tax on the median home

At $16.74 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.

Median household income, survey by survey

$80,9955-year estimate ending 2023 · overlapping windows, not annual readings

to 2009range $49,485–$80,995to 2023

The average single-family tax bill, FY1988 to FY2026

$5,804FY2026 average · the figure above is the median home, this line is the DLS average

FY1988range $871–$5,804FY2026

What Does It Cost to Heat?

Most homes here heat with heating oil. No Gas Main serves the town, heating follows the delivered-fuel market. This week's prices and the season maths are on the heating page.

What Kind of Homes Are Here?

1,133 parcels; the median single-family home here was built in 1945, surviving stock, not construction history.906 housing units at the 2020 count (848 in 2000). 59% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.

72.4% of homes here are single-family detached houses, and 40.2% of the housing stock predates 1940 while 0% went up in 2010 or later. Survey shares (2023), not counts.

9.4% of Homes Vacant at the Last Count

About 1 in 11 homes here stood empty at the April 2020 count, and 37.6% of those are seasonal or vacation homes.

≈21 sales a year

About 1 in 56 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 56 years. Steady-state arithmetic, not a measured wait, and the count includes land and commercial parcels. The latest complete year's median sale: $430,000 (2024).

New homes permitted, year by year, since 1980

1units permitted in 2025 · permission to build, not completions

1980range 0–152025

Reported construction value in 2025: $400K (permit filings, nominal dollars).

2 new homes were permitted in 2025 (the Bureau's estimate; the town filed no monthly reports that year). County-wide, house prices moved up 9.61% in 2025 (Franklin County index, a county figure, not this town's).

Where Do Kids Go to School?

Schools Through Grade 12

Students here are covered from the early grades through high school by Mohawk Trail (PK–12).

The schools page carries every district serving Buckland, where the buildings are, and what each district spends per pupil.

The district spends $26,521 per student. That is total spending per pupil, an input the state publishes, not a rating or a ranking of the schools.

Vocational option: Franklin County RVT (grades 9–12), admission has its own application, and member towns differ on transport.

Charter schools whose region includes this town: Four Rivers Charter Public School, Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public School, Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School. Eligibility to apply, not a placement, admission is by lottery.

1 school building stands in town. Which building a child attends is set by the district, not by the address alone.

  • Mohawk Trail Regional High School · 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12 · public secondary

How's the Internet?

Cable Internet: Comcast

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

93.6% of households here subscribe to broadband, per the Census Bureau's rolling five-year survey, the ground truth against any coverage map.

Water, Sewer, or Septic?

No community water system is registered in this town, homes are on private wells. Municipal sewer exists (BUCKLAND SEWER); beyond its edge, homes are on septic. Bedrock well yield potential in town is rated "average specific yield".

Will It Flood? Anything Nasty Nearby?

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.

The flood page carries the mapping status, wetlands, dams and cleanup sites for Buckland, with every town in the county.

7 dams in town. No sites appear in the state's cleanup registry for this town, a registry fact, not a clean bill of health. 1 facility reports 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.

Facilities here reported 339 lbs of TRI-listed chemicals released to air, water and land in 2014, down from a peak of 6,000 lbs in 1987. The most-released over the years has been chromium. Self-reported by facilities above federal thresholds, a disclosure record, not a measure of anyone's exposure or risk.

TRI-listed chemical releases here, year by year

339 lbsreported released in 2014 · on- and off-site, self-reported, not an exposure measure

1987range 339 lbs–6,000 lbs2014

What's the Commute Like?

6.3% of working residents work right here in town. The rest most often head to Greenfield, Shelburne, Deerfield. The town itself hosts 366 jobs.

Where people here work: living near Ashfield (5 already commute, 9 min), living near Shelburne (90 already commute, 14 min), living near Charlemont (19 already commute, 15 min), living near Goshen (16 min), living near Colrain (8 already commute, 21 min), living near Greenfield (134 already commute, 26 min), living near Deerfield (45 already commute, 33 min).

The average commute from here runs 27 minutes one way (working residents who leave home for work, 2023 5-year estimate). Walkability, where people live, scores 8.9 out of 20 on the EPA's index (below the national average).

FRTA runs fixed-route buses here: 1 stops in town, on one route. 41 · Charlemont.

What Do Rentals Go For?

$1,866/Month: HUD's Two-Bedroom Standard

HUD's fair-rent standard for a two-bedroom here is $1,866 a month, the figure housing vouchers are built on for the Franklin County, MA, not what landlords ask. It assumes rent plus most utilities, so it is not comparable to an advertised rent that excludes heat.

What tenants here actually pay, survey by survey

$1,048/monthmedian gross rent, 5-year estimate ending 2023 · rent plus utilities, what sitting tenants pay, not asking rents

to 2009range $789–$1,048to 2023

42.5% of households here fall below 80% of the area's median family income, the federal housing-programme measure of need, not a poverty rate. 0.92% of the town's year-round homes count toward the state's subsidized-housing inventory (the state threshold where override rules change is 10%).

61.4% of renters here spend a third or more of their income on housing (41.2% spend half or more); for owners it is 14.4%. The federal "cost-burdened" line is 30% of income; these are 5-year survey estimates (2023), not a headcount.

What Are the Winters Like?

Winters average 21.8°F, summers 62.5°F, and about 85″ of snow a year

Thirty-year normals (1991–2020), not this year's weather. The year averages 42.6°F with 52.16″ 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.

Temperature: E HAWLEY, MA US (3.8 mi). Snow: ASHFIELD, MA US (5.8 mi).

Growing or Shrinking?

Population is up 9.1% since 1960. Between 1971 and 1999, about 222 acres were developed. About 47.1% 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.

People in Buckland, every published figure

1,8182024 estimate · hover the line for any year

1960range 1,664–1,9912024 est.

Everything taxable in town, at full value, since 1970

$302M2024 equalized valuation, the Commissioner's biennial full-value figure

1970range $10M–$302M2024

The town's certified reserves, year by year, since 2003

$297,919certified free cash as of 1 July 2023 · audited spendable reserves, not a budget

2003range $59,632–$362,3942023

Free cash is what the state certifies a town may actually spend from its reserves once receivables and deficits are taken out. It is the closest public measure of municipal cushion, and it is why one town absorbs a bad winter or a failed roof without an override while its neighbour cannot.

State aid, net of what the state charges back, since 2010

$452,331net cherry sheet aid, fiscal 2027, the Commonwealth's published estimate for a year not yet settled

2010range $270,030–$452,3312027

The cherry sheet is the Commonwealth's annual notice of what it will send the town and what it will charge back. In fiscal 2027 that is $460,790 in aid against $8,459 in assessments, of which $7,677 of the aid is school aid. It is the half of a town's budget the property tax does not explain, which is why two towns with the same rate can be in very different shape.

Next door different? Put Buckland beside any of the other 100 towns.

Compare Side by Side

Cite this page: RE413, “Buckland Town Record,” https://www.re413.com/towns/buckland-ma/.

From the Desk

RE413 News, on the questions this page answers for Buckland.

Nearby Towns

The same record for each, with its own residential rate.

Or put two side by side in the Buckland comparison tool, see what the tax bill would be in every town, or read the state of housing across all 101.

Sources

"Figures through" is the period the publisher's data describes; "checked" is only when we last asked. The full sourcing: sources and method.