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RE413

Berkshire County · 51.8 square miles

Sandisfield

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

Sandisfield's residential property tax rate is $7.89 per $1,000 of assessed value for fiscal 2026, about $3,212 a year on the town's median single-family home, assessed at $407,100. Rates are set by the town and reported to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.

The median recorded single-family sale in Sandisfield was $386,750 in 2024, across 20 recorded arm's-length deeds, from the Massachusetts standardized assessors' parcel layer published by MassGIS.

Sandisfield had a population of 989 at the 2020 decennial census, published by the U.S. Census Bureau, up 8.1% on 2010.

Parts of Sandisfield 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?

$3,212/year in property tax on the median home

At $7.89 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

$88,2505-year estimate ending 2023 · overlapping windows, not annual readings

to 2009range $55,917–$88,250to 2023

The average single-family tax bill, FY1992 to FY2026

$3,489FY2026 average · the figure above is the median home, this line is the DLS average

FY1992range $1,313–$3,791FY2026

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?

1,296 parcels; the median single-family home here was built in 1980, surviving stock, not construction history.659 housing units at the 2020 count (650 in 2000). 63.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.

91.1% of homes here are single-family detached houses, and 26.3% of the housing stock predates 1940 while 4.8% went up in 2010 or later. Survey shares (2023), not counts.

40.5% of Homes Vacant at the Last Count

About 1 in 2 homes here stood empty at the April 2020 count, but 82.8% of those are seasonal or vacation homes. That is a second-home market, not an abandoned one.

≈19 sales a year

About 1 in 67 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 67 years. Steady-state arithmetic, not a measured wait, and the count includes land and commercial parcels. The latest complete year's median sale: $386,750 (2024).

New homes permitted, year by year, since 1980

0units permitted in 2025 · permission to build, not completions

1980range 0–182025

3 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).

Where Do Kids Go to School?

Younger Grades Local, Older Grades by Arrangement

The town's own schooling (Farmington River (PK–06)) stops before grade 12; older students attend Berkshire Hills, Lee (grades 7-12) under a tuition arrangement the town pays for. Every grade has a school, the question is where the bus goes.

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

The district spends $32,033 per student. That is total spending per pupil, an input the state publishes, not a rating or a ranking of the schools.

No school building stands in this town; children travel to one of the district's schools elsewhere.

How's the Internet?

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.

92.5% 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: BERKSHIRE REHAB SKILLED CARE CTR, service areas have edges, so a specific address may still be on a well. No municipal sewer treatment is registered here, homes are on septic systems, which state law has inspected at sale. 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 Sandisfield, with every town in the county.

20 dams in town, 7 classed high hazard, a statement about what a failure would harm, not about condition or likelihood. No sites appear in the state's cleanup registry for this town, a registry fact, not a clean bill of health. Address-level detail, this parcel, this street, is on the address check.

The USGS runs 1 stream gauge in town with live river levels: WEST BRANCH FARMINGTON RIVER NEAR NEW BOSTON.

What's the Commute Like?

5.7% of working residents work right here in town. The rest most often head to Great barrington, Pittsfield, Otis. The town itself hosts 178 jobs.

Where people here work: living near New Marlborough (3 already commute, 15 min), living near Otis (33 already commute, 21 min), living near Tolland (1 already commute, 22 min), living near Monterey (23 min), living near Tyringham (26 min), living near Great Barrington (36 already commute, 34 min), living near Lee (18 already commute, 37 min).

The average commute from here runs 31.8 minutes one way (working residents who leave home for work, 2023 5-year estimate).

No fixed-route bus stops in town. All three regional transit authorities' schedules were checked; dial-a-ride and paratransit services do not appear in them.

What Do Rentals Go For?

$1,709/Month: HUD's Two-Bedroom Standard

HUD's fair-rent standard for a two-bedroom here is $1,709 a month, the figure housing vouchers are built on for the Berkshire County, MA (part) 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.

What tenants here actually pay, survey by survey

$1,225/monthmedian gross rent, 5-year estimate ending 2023 · rent plus utilities, what sitting tenants pay, not asking rents

to 2009range $595–$1,313to 2023

46.9% 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% of the town's year-round homes count toward the state's subsidized-housing inventory (the state threshold where override rules change is 10%).

66.7% of renters here spend a third or more of their income on housing (66.7% spend half or more); for owners it is 27.1%. 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 24.6°F, summers 66.7°F, and about 75″ of snow a year

Thirty-year normals (1991–2020), not this year's weather. The year averages 45.9°F with 52.46″ 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: NORFOLK 2 SW, CT US (11.8 mi). Snow: NORFOLK 2 SW, CT US (11.8 mi).

Growing or Shrinking?

Population is up 84.5% since 1960. Between 1971 and 1999, about 326 acres were developed. About 29.8% 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 Sandisfield, every published figure

9842024 estimate · hover the line for any year

1960range 536–9892024 est.

Everything taxable in town, at full value, since 1970

$345M2024 equalized valuation, the Commissioner's biennial full-value figure

1970range $6M–$345M2024

The town's certified reserves, year by year, since 2004

$329,677certified free cash as of 1 July 2023 · audited spendable reserves, not a budget

2004range $329,677–$1M2023

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

$163,548net cherry sheet aid, fiscal 2027, the Commonwealth's published estimate for a year not yet settled

2010range $81,376–$199,1092027

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 $231,772 in aid against $68,224 in assessments. 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 Sandisfield beside any of the other 100 towns.

Compare Side by Side

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

From the Desk

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

Nearby Towns

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

Or put two side by side in the Sandisfield 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.