Dorchester Center, MA

The affordability dashboard for Dorchester Center, MA aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 47,783 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of F (30/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $81,923, median home value of $650,700, median rent of $1,684 per month, and 31.6% 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 37% 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 housing, commute, rent, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 8.0% and poverty 17.0% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.