Hampden County · 31.58 square miles
Palmer
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
Palmer's residential property tax rate is $16.66 per $1,000 of assessed value for fiscal 2026, about $4,630 a year on the town's median single-family home, assessed at $277,900. Rates are set by the town and reported to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.
The median recorded single-family sale in Palmer was $305,000 in 2024, across 150 recorded arm's-length deeds, from the Massachusetts standardized assessors' parcel layer published by MassGIS.
Palmer had a population of 12,448 at the 2020 decennial census, published by the U.S. Census Bureau, up 2.5% on 2010.
Parts of Palmer lie inside mapped special flood hazard areas, where most mortgages require flood insurance. Whether a given property is inside one is a parcel-level question. 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?
$4,630/year in property tax on the median home
At $16.66 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
$78,7895-year estimate ending 2023 · overlapping windows, not annual readings
The average single-family tax bill, FY1989 to FY2026
$5,014FY2026 average · the figure above is the median home, this line is the DLS average
What Does It Cost to Heat?
Most homes here heat with heating oil. A gas main serves at least part of the town. This week's prices and the season maths are on the heating page.
What Kind of Homes Are Here?
5,820 parcels; the median single-family home here was built in 1960, surviving stock, not construction history.5,854 housing units at the 2020 count (5,402 in 2000). 68.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.
62.1% of homes here are single-family detached houses, and 21% of the housing stock predates 1940 while 2.2% went up in 2010 or later. Survey shares (2023), not counts.
6.9% of Homes Vacant at the Last Count
About 1 in 14 homes here stood empty at the April 2020 count, and 6.4% of those are seasonal or vacation homes.
≈140 sales a year
About 1 in 42 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 42 years. Steady-state arithmetic, not a measured wait, and the count includes land and commercial parcels. The latest complete year's median sale: $305,000 (2024).
New homes permitted, year by year, since 1980
9units permitted in 2025, 0 months reported · permission to build, not completions
Reported construction value in 2025: $2,741K (permit filings, nominal dollars).
Median recorded sale, quarter by quarter
$310,5002025 Q4, on 37 sales · small quarters swing hard
9 new homes were permitted in 2025 (the Bureau's estimate; the town filed no monthly reports that year). County-wide, house prices moved up 5.27% in 2025 (Hampden County index, a county figure, not this town's).
What homes actually sold for in Palmer, quarter by quarter, with the sale count behind every median.
Where Do Kids Go to School?
Schools Through Grade 12
Students here are covered from the early grades through high school by Palmer (PK–12).
The schools page carries every district serving Palmer, where the buildings are, and what each district spends per pupil.
The district spends $23,575 per student. That is total spending per pupil, an input the state publishes, not a rating or a ranking of the schools.
Vocational option: Pathfinder RVT (grades 9–12), admission has its own application, and member towns differ on transport.
Charter schools whose region includes this town: Old Sturbridge Academy Charter Public School, Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School. Eligibility to apply, not a placement, admission is by lottery.
3 school buildings stand in town. Which building a child attends is set by the district, not by the address alone.
- Old Mill Pond School · PK, K, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06 · public elementary
- Palmer High School · 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12 · public secondary
- Pathfinder Regional Vocational-Technical High School · 09, 10, 11, 12 · public voc/tech/ag reg'l hs
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.
90.4% 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?
Public water exists here: PALMER WATER DISTRICT NO.1, THORNDIKE FIRE AND WATER DISTRICT, BONDSVILLE FIRE AND WATER DISTRICT and 2 more, service areas have edges, so a specific address may still be on a well. Municipal sewer exists (PALMER SEWER DEPARTMENT); beyond its edge, homes are on septic. Bedrock well yield potential in town is rated "average specific yield".
Will It Flood? Anything Nasty Nearby?
Mapped Flood Zones Present
Parts of this town are inside mapped special flood hazard areas, where flood insurance is required for most mortgages and building is regulated. Whether a specific property is inside one is a parcel-level question, check the address, not the town.
The flood page carries the mapping status, wetlands, dams and cleanup sites for Palmer, with every town in the county.
16 dams in town. 9 reported release sites appear in the state's cleanup registry. 8 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: QUABOAG RIVER AT WEST BRIMFIELD.
Facilities here reported 4,017 lbs of TRI-listed chemicals released to air, water and land in 2024, down from a peak of 61,335 lbs in 2006. The most-released over the years has been styrene. 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
4,017 lbsreported released in 2024 · on- and off-site, self-reported, not an exposure measure
What's the Commute Like?
18.2% of working residents work right here in town. The rest most often head to Springfield, Chicopee, Ludlow. The town itself hosts 4,065 jobs.
Where people here work: living near Monson (140 already commute, 10 min), living near Brimfield (20 already commute, 14 min), living near Ludlow (188 already commute, 15 min), living near Wilbraham (168 already commute, 17 min), living near Wales (3 already commute, 18 min), living near Ware (162 already commute, 18 min), living near Chicopee (254 already commute, 25 min), living near Springfield (865 already commute, 26 min).
The average commute from here runs 31.8 minutes one way (working residents who leave home for work, 2023 5-year estimate). Walkability, where people live, scores 6.3 out of 20 on the EPA's index (below the national average).
PVTA runs fixed-route buses here: 12 stops in town, on 2 routes. PS · Palmer Shuttle; WS · Ware Shuttle.
What Do Rentals Go For?
$1,734/Month: HUD's Two-Bedroom Standard
HUD's fair-rent standard for a two-bedroom here is $1,734 a month, the figure housing vouchers are built on for the Springfield, MA MSA, 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
$1,041/monthmedian gross rent, 5-year estimate ending 2023 · rent plus utilities, what sitting tenants pay, not asking rents
41.4% of households here fall below 80% of the area's median family income, the federal housing-programme measure of need, not a poverty rate. 4.51% of the town's year-round homes count toward the state's subsidized-housing inventory (the state threshold where override rules change is 10%).
46.5% of renters here spend a third or more of their income on housing (21.1% spend half or more); for owners it is 26%. 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 26.4°F, summers 68.5°F, and about 43″ of snow a year
Thirty-year normals (1991–2020), not this year's weather. The year averages 47.7°F with 48.62″ 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: BELCHERTOWN, MA US (8.4 mi). Snow: WARE, MA US (8.3 mi).
Growing or Shrinking?
Population is up 20.2% since 1960. Between 1971 and 1999, about 1,329 acres were developed. About 24% 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 Palmer, every published figure
12,3882024 estimate · hover the line for any year
Everything taxable in town, at full value, since 1970
$1.41B2024 equalized valuation, the Commissioner's biennial full-value figure
The town's certified reserves, year by year, since 2003
$2Mcertified free cash as of 1 July 2023 · audited spendable reserves, not a budget
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
$14Mnet cherry sheet aid, fiscal 2027, the Commonwealth's published estimate for a year not yet settled
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 $16M in aid against $2M in assessments, of which $12M 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 Palmer beside any of the other 100 towns.
Compare Side by Side →Cite this page: RE413, “Palmer Town Record,” https://www.re413.com/towns/palmer-ma/.
From the Desk
RE413 News, on the questions this page answers for Palmer.
Nearby Towns
The same record for each, with its own residential rate.
Or put two side by side in the Palmer comparison tool, see what the tax bill would be in every town, or read the state of housing across all 101.
Sources
- Massachusetts DLS Municipal Databank. Tax rates and the bill on the median home (fiscal 2026), the average single-family bill back to FY1988, and the equalized valuation back to 1970, plus certified free cash (the town's audited spendable reserves) back to 2003.
- Massachusetts DLS Cherry Sheets. State aid received and state and county assessments charged, per year from 2010; the newest year is the Commonwealth's published estimate for a fiscal year not yet settled.
- MassGIS standardized parcels. Parcel counts, building ages, lot sizes, and the recorded sales behind the turnover figure and the quarter-by-quarter median.
- U.S. Census Bureau. Population (decennial counts 1960–2020, annual estimates to 2024), housing units, vacancy with its seasonal share, tenure, heating fuels, commute flows, and permitted units per year back to 1980 from the Building Permits Survey.
- PVTA, BRTA and FRTA schedules. Fixed-route bus stops and routes in town; zero means checked against all three and none found.
- EPA National Walkability Index. The population-weighted walkability score, block groups rolled up to the town.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration. This week's heating-oil and propane prices and the state electricity average. Figures through 2026-03-30.
- FHFA house-price index. The county-level annual price change, a county figure, never this town's. Figures through 2025.
- Massachusetts DESE registries. Which districts operate here, their grade spans and tuition arrangements.
- MassGIS PK-12 school locations. The school buildings that physically stand in this town, with the grades each serves and its type. Locations, never ratings.
- DESE Per Pupil Expenditures report. Total per-pupil spending for the town's operating district(s), a published input, not a rating.
- MassGIS utility registry and municipal fibre programmes. Cable franchise, town fibre and the electric utility.
- MassDEP and USGS. Water systems, sewer service and well-yield mapping.
- FEMA flood layer, the Office of Dam Safety and the MassDEP release registry. Flood mapping status, dam hazard classes and cleanup-registry counts.
- U.S. Geological Survey NWIS. Active stream gauges (with their live-data pages) and groundwater wells monitored in town.
- EPA Toxics Release Inventory (Envirofacts). The count of active facilities in town that report to the TRI.
- EPA TRI Basic Data Files (1987 to present). Reported pounds of TRI-listed chemicals released on- and off-site per year, the trend line and its peak, placed by facility coordinate.
- HUD and the state subsidized housing inventory. The fair-market rent standard and the Chapter 40B share.
- American Community Survey 5-year estimates. The income and rent lines, one point per survey vintage since 2009; each point pools five years ending in its label.
- American Community Survey, tables B25091 & B25070. The share of owners and renters spending 30%+ and 50%+ of income on housing.
- American Community Survey, tables B08013/B08303, B25034, B15003, B25024. Mean commute time, housing-age and structure-type shares, and the bachelor's-degree share.
- MassGIS land use. Acres developed between the 1971 and 1999 surveys.
- NOAA 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals. Winter, summer and annual temperature, snowfall and precipitation, from the nearest reporting station to each measure.
"Figures through" is the period the publisher's data describes; "checked" is only when we last asked. The full sourcing: sources and method.