Chelsea, MA

The affordability dashboard for Chelsea, MA aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 35,124 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of F (25/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $72,179, median home value of $493,500, median rent of $1,956 per month, and 22.2% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $2,941 per month (studio $2,359, 1BR $2,476, 3BR $3,526, 4BR $3,894). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $30,680 per year, consuming 43% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are education, housing, commute, rent, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 9.2% and poverty 20.7% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.