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RE413

Hampshire County · 28.15 square miles

Southampton

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

Southampton's residential property tax rate is $13.11 per $1,000 of assessed value for fiscal 2026, about $6,016 a year on the town's median single-family home, assessed at $448,400. Rates are set by the town and reported to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.

The median recorded single-family sale in Southampton was $429,500 in 2024, across 60 recorded arm's-length deeds, from the Massachusetts standardized assessors' parcel layer published by MassGIS.

Southampton had a population of 6,224 at the 2020 decennial census, published by the U.S. Census Bureau, up 7.5% on 2010.

Parts of Southampton 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?

$6,016/year in property tax on the median home

At $13.11 per $1,000 of assessed value (fiscal 2026), including the 3% community-preservation surcharge. 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

$125,5345-year estimate ending 2023 · overlapping windows, not annual readings

to 2009range $68,693–$125,534to 2023

The average single-family tax bill, FY1988 to FY2026

$6,413FY2026 average · the figure above is the median home, this line is the DLS average

FY1988range $1,146–$6,413FY2026

What Does It Cost to Heat?

Most homes here heat with utility gas. 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?

3,096 parcels; the median single-family home here was built in 1980, surviving stock, not construction history.2,551 housing units at the 2020 count (2,025 in 2000). 67.5% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.

83.8% of homes here are single-family detached houses, and 13.2% of the housing stock predates 1940 while 10.3% went up in 2010 or later. Survey shares (2023), not counts.

4.1% of Homes Vacant at the Last Count

About 1 in 24 homes here stood empty at the April 2020 count, and 28.6% of those are seasonal or vacation homes.

≈65 sales a year

About 1 in 48 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 48 years. Steady-state arithmetic, not a measured wait, and the count includes land and commercial parcels. The latest complete year's median sale: $429,500 (2024).

New homes permitted, year by year, since 1980

0units permitted in 2025, 2 months reported · permission to build, not completions

1980range 0–542025

Median recorded sale, quarter by quarter

$587,5002026 Q1, on 10 sales · small quarters swing hard

2024 Q1range $415,000–$587,5002026 Q1

0 new homes were permitted in 2025 (2 of 12 months reported, the rest estimated by the Bureau). County-wide, house prices moved up 6.04% in 2025 (Hampshire County index, a county figure, not this town's).

What homes actually sold for in Southampton, 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 Hampshire (07–12), Southampton (PK–06).

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

Hampshire (07–12) spends $23,152 per student; Southampton (PK–06) spends $17,388 per student. That is total spending per pupil, an input the state publishes, not a rating or a ranking of the schools.

Charter schools whose region includes this town: 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.

  • William E Norris School · PK, K, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06 · public elementary

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.

97.1% 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: SOUTHAMPTON WATER DEPT, 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. One privately run treatment works serves a site here (Longhill Gardens), which is neither town sewer nor a septic tank. 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 Southampton, with every town in the county.

6 dams in town, 1 classed high hazard, a statement about what a failure would harm, not about condition or likelihood. 1 reported release site appear in the state's cleanup registry. Address-level detail, this parcel, this street, is on the address check.

What's the Commute Like?

9.5% of working residents work right here in town. The rest most often head to Northampton, Springfield, Easthampton. The town itself hosts 1,162 jobs.

Where people here work: living near Easthampton (244 already commute, 8 min), living near Westhampton (40 already commute, 13 min), living near Holyoke (228 already commute, 16 min), living near Westfield (243 already commute, 16 min), living near Northampton (373 already commute, 19 min), living near Springfield (367 already commute, 27 min).

The average commute from here runs 21.3 minutes one way (working residents who leave home for work, 2023 5-year estimate). Walkability, where people live, scores 5.1 out of 20 on the EPA's index (least walkable).

PVTA runs fixed-route buses here: 13 stops in town, on 2 routes. G47 · Northampton-Westfield-Southwick; NE · Nashawannuck Express.

What Do Rentals Go For?

$2,004/Month: HUD's Two-Bedroom Standard

HUD's fair-rent standard for a two-bedroom here is $2,004 a month, the figure housing vouchers are built on for the Amherst Town-Northampton, 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

$741/monthmedian gross rent, 5-year estimate ending 2023 · rent plus utilities, what sitting tenants pay, not asking rents

to 2009range $741–$1,192to 2023

28.7% of households here fall below 80% of the area's median family income, the federal housing-programme measure of need, not a poverty rate. 2.22% of the town's year-round homes count toward the state's subsidized-housing inventory (the state threshold where override rules change is 10%).

39.7% of renters here spend a third or more of their income on housing (25.3% spend half or more); for owners it is 18.3%. 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 27.9°F, summers 70.4°F, and about 37″ of snow a year

Thirty-year normals (1991–2020), not this year's weather. The year averages 49.4°F with 52.77″ 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: WESTFIELD BARNES MUNI AP, MA US (5 mi). Snow: AMHERST, MA US (14.6 mi).

Growing or Shrinking?

Population is up 183.9% since 1960. Between 1971 and 1999, about 1,067 acres were developed. About 41.1% 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 Southampton, every published figure

6,1812024 estimate · hover the line for any year

1960range 2,192–6,2462024 est.

Everything taxable in town, at full value, since 1970

$1.13B2024 equalized valuation, the Commissioner's biennial full-value figure

1970range $15M–$1.13B2024

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

$476,282certified free cash as of 1 July 2023 · audited spendable reserves, not a budget

2004range $135,438–$626,8672023

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

$4Mnet cherry sheet aid, fiscal 2027, the Commonwealth's published estimate for a year not yet settled

2010range $3M–$4M2027

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 $4M in aid against $354,697 in assessments, of which $3M 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 Southampton beside any of the other 100 towns.

Compare Side by Side

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

From the Desk

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

Nearby Towns

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

Or put two side by side in the Southampton 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.