Suffolk County, Massachusetts financial profile

A two-bedroom at Fair Market Rent eats 40.3% of the median household income here — above the 30% affordability line.

We use data from HUD Fair Market Rent and data from Census ACS median household income.

The typical home costs 7.4 times the median household income — above the 3–4× range lenders traditionally treat as comfortable.

We use data from Census ACS median home value and data from Census ACS median household income.

House prices in this county moved 34.8% over five years, which on today's median value is about $167,929 of the price.

We use data from FHFA House Price Index (5-year) and data from Census ACS median home value.

FEMA’s National Risk Index rates this county “Relatively Moderate” for overall natural hazard risk on its own national scale (composite risk score 93.5), and it has been inside 12 federal disaster declarations in the last 15 years, led by hurricane. That is what drives homeowners insurance pricing.

We use data from FEMA National Risk Index and data from FEMA disaster declarations (15 years).

19.3% of mortgage applications here are denied, versus 17.7% nationally — 1.6 points harder than the national picture.

We use data from CFPB HMDA county aggregates and data from CFPB HMDA national aggregates.

At 30.5¢ per kilowatt-hour, a typical 900 kWh month costs about $274 — 3.8% of the median household income over a year.

We use data from EIA average retail electricity price and data from Census ACS median household income.

Feeding two adults and two school-age children at USDA's low-cost plan runs about $1,125 a month (6/2026 prices) — 15.4% of the median household income here, before rent, energy or health cover.

We use data from USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home, June 2026 (June 2026) (household-adjusted) and data from Census ACS median household income.

The average Social Security payment in this county is $1,779 a month (December 2025), and a two-bedroom at Fair Market Rent is $2,941 — 165.3% of that cheque, a calculation that touches 101,995 beneficiaries locally.

We use data from SSA OASDI beneficiaries by county and data from HUD Fair Market Rent.

Consumer prices in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH area moved up 3.7% over the year to July 2026. Applied to the median household income here, that rate is income-equivalent inflation exposure of $3,248 a year — a simple scaling heuristic, not measured household spending, because CPI-U tracks a fixed basket rather than what any one household buys. This county is inside the metro the BLS actually prices, so the price reading itself is not extrapolated.

We use data from BLS Consumer Price Index (metropolitan area) and data from Census ACS median household income.

NAIC puts the average Massachusetts car insurance premium at $1,413 a year and the average owner-occupied HO-3 homeowners premium at $2,134 (2023 data). Together that is 4.0% of the median household income in this county. Both figures are state averages — NAIC does not publish county premiums, so we never break them down further, and an average premium reflects each state's coverage limits, deductibles, risk and regulation rather than the price of cover alone.

We use data from NAIC auto and homeowners insurance reports (state) and data from Census ACS median household income.

The Massachusetts average HO-3 premium of $2,134 works out at $3.28 for every $1,000 of the $650,900 median home value in this county. High-hazard states such as Louisiana, Florida and Oklahoma sit far above the national picture on this measure.

We use data from NAIC homeowners report, HO-3 state average and data from Census ACS median home value.