Tampa vs Boston: which should you move to?
Tampa or Boston? Housing, rent, crime, climate, income, taxes and transit, side by side, from each city's own published figures. Written for someone deciding where to live, not for a ranking.
Boston's typical home was $791,816 in June 2026 and Tampa's $380,283, and on mortgage, property tax and insurance the Boston owner pays about $4,756 a month against $2,906, before condominium fees, flood cover or heat. Tampa wins on money and on winter: no state income tax, worth about $4,780 a year to a single filer on $100,000, a January averaging 16.7 C against -1.2 C, and reported violent crime of 375.5 per 100,000 in 2025 against 507. Boston wins on most of what the money buys: 25.3% of workers commute on the MBTA against 1.2% in Tampa, the state's uninsured rate was 2.8% in 2024 against Florida's Medicaid gap, city median household income was $97,791 against $84,114, and no street is in a surge zone. Choose Tampa if the price and the weather decide it and you will pay to insure against hurricanes. Choose Boston if you want to live without a car and can carry the payment.
| Measure | Tampa | Boston | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| City population | 413,554 (2025) | 672,973 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Metro population | 3,418,895 (2025) | 5,034,221 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
| Five-year growth Growth is pressure on rents and roads as much as it is opportunity, so it is reported without a winner. | 7.3% (2020-2025) | -0.8% (2020-2025) | Not directly comparable |
What a home costs in each
The figures the two cities' rent-versus-buy and mortgage calculators run on, read from the same tables.
| Measure | Tampa | Boston | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchmark home price MLS® HPI or equivalent benchmark. Lower is treated as the advantage, which is the buyer's view rather than the owner's. | $380,283 (June 2026) | $791,816 (June 2026) | Tampa |
| Detached house benchmark Tampa publishes a single house index rather than a composite, so the two rows repeat. | $380,283 | $858,328 | Tampa |
| Apartment or condominium benchmark | Not published | $739,553 | Not directly comparable |
| Two-bedroom rent | $1,999/mo (median, June 2026) | $3,425/mo (median, June 2026) | Tampa |
| One-bedroom rent | $1,719/mo | $2,877/mo | Tampa |
| Two-bedroom rent against median income A year of two-bedroom rent as a share of the median household income below. A household paying the median rent out of the median income is a fiction, but it is the same fiction in both columns and it crosses currencies. | 28.5% of a year's income | 42.0% of a year's income | Tampa |
| Mortgage payment on the benchmark, 20% down 30-year amortization on American monthly compounding, the convention in both. | $1,957/mo at 6.67% | $4,071/mo at 6.66% | Tampa |
| Price to household income Benchmark price divided by the median household income below. A ratio is comparable across currencies; the dollars are not. | 4.5× | 8.1× | Tampa |
| Property tax on the benchmark home The effective rate on market value, which is what the two rates have in common and what the Advantage column is decided on; the bills are in each city's own dollars. | $6,712/yr (1.765%, 2025) | $5,465/yr (0.690%, 2026) | Boston |
| Transfer tax on the benchmark home Compared as a share of the price. Where the seller pays it, it is a cost of leaving rather than arriving. | $2,662 (seller pays) | $3,611 (seller pays) | Boston |
| Rent control A cap protects a sitting tenant and does nothing for the next lease, so neither column is simply better. | Forbidden by state law | Forbidden by state law | Not directly comparable |
Tampa: About 1.77% of what you pay for the house, which is lower than the 19.8428 mills Tampa is charged, and the difference is Florida's homestead exemption rather than any assessment lag. The state assesses at full market value and a purchase resets the assessment to the price. What there is instead is an exemption: $25,000 of taxable value comes off for every taxing authority and a second slice comes off for all of them except the Hillsborough County school board, which levies 6.3400 of the 19.8428. That second slice was $25,000 through the 2024 tax roll and has been adjusted for inflation every 1 January since, under the 2024 amendment to Article VII section 6 of the state constitution, so it is now somewhat more than $25,000. The figures here use the base amount, because the Department of Revenue sends the adjusted figure to the county property appraisers rather than publishing it. The difference is worth a few dollars a year on a bill, and the county property appraiser can tell you the amount in force. A homesteaded buyer's first-year bill is therefore about $6,712 on the $380,283 typical home value here. That 19.8428 is the figure Hillsborough County publishes for this taxing district rather than a total assembled here, and Tampa's own council sets 6.2076 of it. The exemption is not automatic: you file for it with the county property appraiser by 1 March of the year after you buy. The seller's tax bill is not a guide to yours. Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded property's assessed value at 3% growth a year, and that cap resets to full market value the January after the sale, so a long-tenured owner can be taxed on a fraction of what you will be taxed on for the same house. Ask the property appraiser what the assessment would be at your purchase price, not what the current bill is. Boston: About 0.69% of what you pay for the house. Boston charges business $27 per $1,000 against the $12 it charges you, a shift of 2.17 to one. That is why the residential rate is what it is: under MGL c.40 s.56 a municipality may move part of the levy onto commercial property, so a low published rate is evidence of a commercial tax base rather than of a cheap town. Boston is one of nine municipalities in this layer that grants a residential exemption under MGL c.59 s.5C, and it takes $351,108 of assessed value off an owner-occupied parcel. That is a flat dollar slab rather than a percentage of your house, so it is worth the same on a cheap home as on an expensive one and worth far more as a share of the bill at the bottom of the market. On the $791,816 typical home value here it produces a bill of about $5,465 a year against the $9,819 somebody who does not live in the building pays on the same house. It is not automatic: you file with the assessors, the deadline is 1 April, and you must have owned and occupied the property on the previous 1 January. Massachusetts assesses at full and fair cash value and re-sets the whole class every year, with the Department of Revenue certifying the roll every five years and reviewing the interim adjustments in between. There is no assessment freeze as in Ontario and North Carolina and no purchase reset or growth cap as in Florida, which means the useful thing a Massachusetts buyer can do that a Florida buyer cannot: the seller's current tax bill is a fair guide to what you will pay. The only lag is the lien date. Fiscal 2026 bills are charged against values as of 1 January 2025.
How safe each city is, by the numbers it publishes
Police-reported figures for the most recent year each force or statistics agency has released. Rates describe a whole city or metro area, and the spread between neighbourhoods inside one city is usually wider than the gap between the two cities.
| Measure | Tampa | Boston | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crime Severity Index Statistics Canada's weighted index for the metropolitan area, where 100 is Canada in 2006. American cities have no equivalent series. | Not published | Not published | Not directly comparable |
| Violent crime per 100,000 | 376 (2025) | 507 (2025) | Tampa |
| Property crime per 100,000 | 1,465 (2024) | 1,950 (2025) | Tampa |
| Homicides Counts, not rates, and a single year in a small city moves a long way on chance alone. What each figure covers is under the table. | 17 (2025) | 31 (2025) | Not directly comparable |
Violent crime in the city fell from 2,031 offences in 2023 to 1,862 in 2024 and 1,553 in 2025 (TPD 2025 Annual Report), with homicides halving in 2025 to 17. Total crime fell 21.3% in 2025 and TPD reported a 22% mid-year drop the year before, so the direction over three years is clearly down, though the figures remain preliminary until certified under NIBRS.
What the rates cover: Computed: Tampa Police Department 2025 Annual Report counts 1,553 violent crimes (robbery, aggravated assault/battery, murder, sexual battery) in 2025, down from 1,862 in 2024 and 2,031 in 2023; divided by the 413,554 Vintage 2025 city population. FBI UCR-based 2024 figure for comparison: 1,817 offences, 445 per 100k. TPD notes Florida moved to NIBRS in 2022 and figures are preliminary until certified by FDLE and the FBI.
Homicides: City of Tampa, 2025: 17 homicides, a 52.8% drop from 36 in 2024 (FBI UCR 2024 count 36, 8.8 per 100k). Works out to about 4.1 per 100k in 2025. TPD calls it the lowest annual total in more than 50 years. One January 2026 FOX 13 report quoted 19; the 52.8% figure in TPD's annual report is consistent with 17.
Violent Part One offences fell from 3,636 in 2023 to 3,615 in 2024 and 3,409 in 2025 on BPD's own year-end counts, and property offences went 12,777, then 13,354, then 13,120, so the three-year direction is down on both. Homicides moved the other way and are the number people argue about: 36 in 2023, then 24 in 2024, a low the city had not seen in decades, then 31 in 2025. Even at 31 the count sits below the 38.2 five-year average, and BPD reports shootings still more than 30% under that average. All of these are preliminary until UCR coding is complete, and BPD's violent crime definition runs below the FBI's, which recorded 4,138 violent offences in Boston in 2024 against BPD's 3,615.
What the rates cover: Computed: Boston Police Department counted 3,409 Part One violent offences between 1 January and 28 December 2025 (31 homicides, 150 rapes, 760 robberies, 914 domestic aggravated assaults, 1,554 non-domestic aggravated assaults), divided by the 672,973 Vintage 2025 city population. The FBI's 2024 file for Boston gives a higher figure, 4,138 violent offences and 628 per 100k, almost all of the gap in aggravated assault; BPD's counts are its own and are preliminary until UCR coding is complete.
Homicides: City of Boston, 31 homicides in the 1 January to 28 December 2025 count, up from 24 in 2024 and down from 36 in 2023. Three of the 31 were deaths from earlier years ruled homicides in 2025. That is about 4.6 per 100,000. Commissioner Michael Cox put the 2025 total 16% below the five-year average of 38.2, and 19 of the 31 victims were shot.
Winters, summers and what the weather can do to a house
| Measure | Tampa | Boston | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| January mean | 16.7 °C | -1.2 °C | Not directly comparable |
| July mean | 28.8 °C | 23.4 °C | Not directly comparable |
| Precipitation a year | 1,176 mm | 1,107 mm | Not directly comparable |
| Snowfall a year | 0 cm | 125 cm | Not directly comparable |
| Sunshine a year | Not published | 2,634 hours | Not directly comparable |
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals, Tampa International Airport (USW00012842): January mean 62.0 F, July mean 83.8 F (August is the warmest month at 84.0 F), annual precipitation 46.30 in, annual snow normal 0. About 30 of those inches (762 mm) fall June through September. Sunshine hours are not part of the 1991-2020 normals product and were not verified.
Hazards: Hurricanes and storm surge are the defining hazard: Helene's surge in September 2024 flooded coastal Tampa Bay neighborhoods, then Milton made landfall near Siesta Key on October 9, 2024 as a Category 3, and 2024 alone generated 10,261 NFIP flood claims and about $1.1 billion in payouts in Hillsborough County. Flood insurance is effectively required in much of the city and has grown costlier under NFIP Risk Rating 2.0; summer heat indices above 100 F and daily lightning storms are routine from June to September.
NOAA NCEI 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International Airport (USW00014739): January mean 29.9 F, July mean 74.1 F and the warmest month, annual precipitation 43.59 in spread almost evenly across the twelve months, annual snowfall normal 49.2 in. Converted here to -1.2 C, 23.4 C, 1,107 mm and 125 cm. Sunshine is not in the 1991-2020 normals product; the 2,634 hours shown is the older 1961-1990 NCDC mean, 58% of possible, the same series used for Charlotte on this site.
Hazards: Nor'easters are the hazard that defines the coast here. The bomb cyclone of 4 January 2018 pushed the Boston tide gauge to 15.16 ft, beating the 15.1 ft of the Blizzard of 1978 in records kept since 1921, floated ice down Atlantic Avenue, flooded 75 homes in Winthrop and put water into the Aquarium subway station; a second nor'easter did much the same two months later. Climate Ready Boston plans against roughly 9 inches of sea level rise by 2030, 21 inches by 2050 and 36 to 40 inches (91 to 102 cm) by 2070, and the city's coastal resilience plans for Charlestown, the downtown waterfront and North End, East Boston, South Boston and Dorchester are all designed for a 1% annual chance storm at 2070 sea levels across 47 miles of shoreline. In East Boston alone the near-term works are costed to protect 10,800 residents and 250 businesses and to avoid about $620 million in losses. Away from the water the hazards are ordinary and expensive: a 49 inch snow normal, ice, and summer heat waves that are short but severe.
What people earn and what the government takes
| Measure | Tampa | Boston | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $84,114 USD (2024) | $97,791 USD (2024) | Boston |
| Unemployment rate | 4.7% (June 2026) | 4.3% (July 2026) | Boston |
| Sales tax | 7.5% | 6.25% | Boston |
| Top marginal income tax Federal plus provincial or state. The American figure leaves out payroll taxes and the cost of health insurance, both of which a Canadian household covers through the tax it pays here. | 37% | 46% | Tampa |
| Income tax on $100,000, single filer Computed from each jurisdiction's brackets at a single filer's $100,000 and rounded to the dollar, so a gap of a dollar is rounding rather than tax. Two cities in one province or state are shown as Even, because there the two cells describe the same tax and whatever separates them is method. | $13,449 USD | $18,229 USD | Tampa |
BLS counted 1,583,300 nonfarm jobs in the MSA in December 2025, up 0.9% over the year, with education and health services (+4.2%) and leisure and hospitality (+2.0%) leading and the May 2025 mean hourly wage of $31.96 sitting below the US average of $33.54. The largest industries by employment in the metro in 2024 were health care and social assistance, retail trade, and professional, scientific and technical services (Census ACS via Data USA).
Main sectors: Health care and social assistance, Finance, insurance and professional services, Retail and leisure/hospitality, Port, logistics and defense (Port Tampa Bay, MacDill AFB), Higher education and research (USF, Moffitt).
Florida has no state income tax, estate tax or inheritance tax. Property tax is the main local levy; homesteaded owners get a $50,000 exemption and the Save Our Homes 3% annual assessment cap, which means long-time owners pay much less than a new buyer of the same house.
BLS counted 2,747,200 nonfarm jobs in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton MSA in July 2026, up 0.3% on the 2,739,800 of July 2025, so the metro job market is flat rather than growing. Inside the city the largest industries by employment in 2024 were health care and social assistance (68,674), professional, scientific and technical services (59,267) and educational services (50,798), and the best-paid were management of companies ($120,536 median), finance and insurance ($111,396) and professional and technical services ($104,866). Hospitals and universities are not a sideline here, they are the base of the economy, which makes the city unusually exposed to federal research funding and to international student flows. bls.gov answered 403 to the fetcher, so the employment counts come through FRED and the industry mix through Data USA, both of which restate Census and BLS series.
Main sectors: Health care and social assistance (Mass General Brigham, Beth Israel Lahey, Boston Children's), Higher education and research, Professional, scientific and technical services, Finance and insurance, especially asset management and custody banking, Life sciences and biotech, in the Longwood Medical Area and along the Charles.
Property tax is the local levy that matters. Boston's certified fiscal 2026 residential rate is $12.40 per $1,000 of full and fair cash value, and an owner who is domiciled in the home gets a residential exemption of $351,108 off the assessed value, worth $4,353.74 a year at that rate; it is not automatic on purchase and has to be filed for by 1 April. Proposition 2 1/2 caps the levy a municipality may raise rather than the rate, so a rate can fall in a year when every bill rises. Massachusetts reassesses the whole residential class at full value every year, with no cap, no freeze and no reset on sale, which means the seller's current bill is a fair guide to what a buyer will pay. Nothing is charged to take title or to borrow: no buyer transfer tax and no mortgage recording tax, only the deeds excise at $4.56 per $1,000, which MGL c.64D s.1 puts on the seller. Massachusetts does levy an estate tax, unusual among the states on this site: estates over $2 million file, and since the 2023 change a credit of up to $99,600 means only the value above $2 million is taxed, at 0.8% to 16%.
Whether you need a car
| Measure | Tampa | Boston | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| System | HART (Hillsborough Area Regional Transit) buses, the TECO Line Streetcar between downtown and Ybor City, and HART's MetroRapid and on-demand HARTFlex services | The MBTA: three heavy rail subway lines (Red, Orange, Blue), the Green Line light rail and the Mattapan trolley, about 150 bus routes, 12 commuter rail lines over 394 miles of track, and 8 ferry routes | Not directly comparable |
| Commute by public transit | 1.2% (2024) | 25.3% (2024) | Boston |
| Walk or cycle to work | 3.4% (2024) | 17.4% (2024) | Boston |
| Airport | Tampa International Airport (TPA), 24,811,007 passengers in calendar 2025 (+0.22% on 2024), 27th busiest US airport, 635 daily flights, Southwest the largest carrier at 24% (TPA Fact Sheet, June 2026). | Logan International Airport (BOS), 43.2 million passengers in calendar 2025 per Massport's 2025 Year in Review, including a record 10 million international passengers, up 3.8% on 2024. It sits in East Boston, about three miles from downtown across the harbor. | Not directly comparable |
HART carried about 11.94 million unlinked trips in 2025 (APTA Transit Ridership Report, Q4 2025). The 2.7-mile TECO Line Streetcar, fare-free since 2018, carried 1,323,715 riders in 2024, its record year.
The MBTA carried 270,715,800 unlinked trips in 2025 (APTA ridership report, as cited by Wikipedia; the APTA PDF itself refused the fetcher). Average weekday ridership in the first quarter of 2026 was 851,600, of which about 326,500 on the Red, Orange and Blue lines, 124,900 on the Green Line and Mattapan trolley and 104,000 on commuter rail. Commuter rail alone passed 29 million trips in 2025 by the MBTA and Keolis year-in-review report.
Health care, schools and what each city is like
Health care
Care is paid for through employer plans, ACA marketplace plans, Medicare and Medicaid; Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so low-income adults without children often fall into the coverage gap, and out-of-pocket costs depend entirely on the plan. Tampa General Hospital (the USF Health teaching hospital, ranked the top hospital in the Tampa Bay region by U.S. News for 11 straight years through 2026-2027, with OB-GYN ranked fifth nationally in 2025-2026), Moffitt Cancer Center (an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center), AdventHealth Tampa, St. Joseph's and the James A. Haley VA are the major hospitals; specialist waits are usually weeks rather than months but vary by insurer network.
Education
The University of South Florida (about 48,700 students across Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee in 2025-26, an AAU member since 2023) and the private University of Tampa anchor higher education, with Hillsborough Community College for two-year programs. Schools are run by a single county district, Hillsborough County Public Schools, the seventh-largest in the US, whose 40-day enrollment fell 3.9% to 213,513 in 2025-26 as families took state vouchers and charters; it runs 42 magnet schools (about 17,500 students in 2024-25) with admission by lottery, so the school you get depends as much on the choice application as on the address.
Living there
Tampa is a flat, hot, car-first city where a 26-minute average commute hides the reality that I-275 and the Howard Frankland Bridge back up daily and transit carries about one commuter in a hundred. The walkable parts are concentrated: the Riverwalk, Hyde Park, Seminole Heights and Ybor City, with the streetcar linking downtown to Ybor for free. Flood zone and elevation now matter as much as school zone when picking a house, after Helene's surge in 2024 showed which streets go under; summers mean afternoon lightning storms and heat indices over 100 F from June into September.
Health care
Massachusetts has the lowest uninsured rate in the country, 2.8% in 2024 against 8.2% nationally, which is the legacy of its own 2006 coverage law and of MassHealth, the Medicaid program, expanded under the ACA. Care is still paid for through employer plans, ConnectorCare and marketplace plans, Medicare and MassHealth, and what a household pays out of pocket depends entirely on the plan. The teaching hospitals are the draw. Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's were both named to the U.S. News 2026-2027 Best Hospitals honor roll, the top 20 in the country, with Mass General first nationally in psychiatry and McLean second, Brigham and Dana-Farber third in cancer, Brigham second in obstetrics and gynecology and eighth in neuroscience, and Mass General sixth in heart and vascular care. Beth Israel Deaconess, Tufts Medical Center, Boston Children's and the rest of the Longwood Medical Area cluster fill in the rest. Density of hospitals is not the same as an appointment: this file did not verify a wait time figure for primary or specialist care.
Education
Boston Public Schools enrolled 44,416 students in 2025-26 on the state's count, down 1,678 or 3.6% from 46,094 the year before, which itself was up from 45,742 in 2023-24. Address does not settle where a child goes. Assignment runs through a choice application, and the three exam schools, Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy and the John D. O'Bryant School, admit on a composite score that is 70% grade point average and 30% the MAP Growth test, with applicants competing only inside one of four socioeconomic tiers drawn from where they live. The School Committee voted 4 to 2 in November 2025 to set aside 20% of seats for the highest scorers citywide regardless of tier, and to drop the bonus points for students at high-poverty schools; the district's own simulation put Black students' share of invitations falling from 20% to 15% and white students' rising from 27% to 33%. Higher education is the city's other anchor and a large part of its economy: Boston University counted 37,737 students in fall 2024, Northeastern is the other large private university inside the city, and Harvard and MIT are across the Charles in Cambridge.
Living there
Boston is small, old and dense in a way no other city on this site is. The median home was built in 1947, 64% of occupied homes are rented, and a quarter of workers get to work on the MBTA, against about one in a hundred in Tampa. That buys a life much of the city can live without a car, and it costs the most money of the American cities here: Zillow's typical value for June 2026 is $791,816. Winter is the part people underestimate, a 49 inch snow normal and a January mean below freezing, and the housing stock that gives the city its look is the housing stock that has to be heated. The open question is on the waterfront. The Seaport was built out over the last twenty-five years on filled land at the harbor's edge, the January 2018 tide showed what a nor'easter can do at high water, and the city now designs its coastal defenses to 2070 sea levels.
Where each city wins, and where it loses
Boston's typical home value was $791,816 in June 2026, down 1.3% over the year, against Tampa's $380,283, both in US dollars. With 20% down the Boston loan is $633,453 at 6.66% over 30 years, $4,071 a month, against Tampa's $1,957 at 6.67%. The bills attached to the loan run the other way. A Boston owner-occupier who files the residential exemption pays about $5,465 a year in property tax, 0.69% of the price, while a homesteaded Tampa buyer pays about $6,712, or 1.77% on a house worth less than half as much. Insurance is $230 a month in Boston against $390 in Tampa, and Tampa's figure excludes flood, which is a separate policy and effectively required across much of the city. On those three lines the Boston owner is at about $4,756 a month ($4,071 mortgage, $455 tax, $230 insurance) and the Tampa owner at about $2,906. Condominium fees average $625 against $700. Rents run the same way, by a narrower multiple: a median two-bedroom of $3,425 in Boston against $1,999, and one-bedrooms of $2,877 against $1,719. Neither state permits rent control, Massachusetts under MGL c.40P since 1 January 1995 and Florida since it closed its last exception in 2023.
Boston's reported crime is higher, and the two counts are not built the same way. Boston Police recorded 3,409 Part One violent offences between 1 January and 28 December 2025, about 507 per 100,000 on 672,973 residents, and 13,120 property offences, about 1,950 per 100,000. Tampa Police counted 1,553 violent crimes in 2025, about 375.5 per 100,000 on 413,554 residents; Tampa's newest property figure is the FBI's 2024 count of 5,988 offences, 1,465 per 100,000. Homicides land close: 31 in Boston, about 4.6 per 100,000 and up from 24 in 2024, against 17 in Tampa, about 4.1 and down 52.8% from 36. Neither figure here is a published rate. Both are department counts divided by Census population estimates, both are preliminary until UCR or NIBRS coding is complete, and the definitions differ: the FBI's 2024 file gives Boston 4,138 violent offences where the department counted 3,615, almost all of the gap in aggravated assault. Boston's three-year direction is down on both counts, and Tampa's violent count has fallen every year since 2023.
Boston Logan averages -1.2 C in January and 23.4 C in July on the 1991-2020 normals, with 1,107 mm of precipitation and a 125 cm snow normal. Tampa International averages 16.7 C and 28.8 C with no snow, and about 30 of its 46 inches of rain fall between June and September. Sunshine will not compare: Boston's 2,634 hours is the older 1961-1990 series and Tampa's is not published in the current normals. Both cities flood, from different water. Tampa's hazard is surge. Helene reached coastal neighbourhoods in September 2024, Milton landed near Siesta Key that October as a Category 3, and Hillsborough County generated 10,261 NFIP claims and about $1.1 billion in payouts that year. Boston's is the nor'easter at high tide. The bomb cyclone of 4 January 2018 took the Boston tide gauge to 15.16 ft, past the 15.1 ft of the 1978 blizzard in records kept since 1921, and flooded 75 homes in Winthrop, and the city now designs 47 miles of shoreline for 36 to 40 inches of sea level rise by 2070. Its dull hazard shows up on the bill: six months of heat on stock built mostly between 1890 and 1940, which puts the owner's utility premium at $210 a month against Tampa's $150.
Boston earns more and keeps less of it. Its city median household income was $97,791 in 2024 and its metro's $117,825, the widest city to metro gap of any US city here; Tampa's were $84,114 and $78,275, the gap running the other way. Unemployment was 4.3% in the Boston metro in July 2026 and 4.7% in Tampa Bay in June 2026. Boston's 2,747,200 metro jobs grew 0.3% over the year, and hospitals and universities are the base rather than a sideline: health care led the city at 68,674 jobs in 2024, then professional and technical services at 59,267 and education at 50,798, which leaves it exposed to federal research funding and to international student numbers. Tampa's 1,583,300 jobs grew 0.9% and lean on health care, finance and insurance, Port Tampa Bay, MacDill and USF, at a May 2025 mean wage of $31.96 an hour against the US $33.54. Tax takes back part of the price gap. A single filer on $100,000 pays about $13,449 in Tampa, all of it federal, and $18,229 in Boston, where Massachusetts charges a flat 5% above a $4,400 personal exemption and allows no standard deduction. Sales tax is 6.25% statewide in Massachusetts against 7.5% in Hillsborough County, and Massachusetts taxes estates over $2 million where Florida taxes none.
This is the widest gap on the page. A quarter of Boston's workers, 25.3% in 2024, commute on the MBTA: 54,816 by subway, 33,703 by bus, 4,039 on commuter rail and 916 by ferry, out of 378,248 workers. Another 17.4% walk or cycle and only 31.3% drive alone, on a mean commute of 31.7 minutes. Tampa's transit share is 1.2%, 2,612 of 223,498 workers, and its walk and cycle share 3.4%, on a 26.1-minute mean that does not convey what I-275 and the Howard Frankland Bridge do at rush hour. The MBTA runs three heavy rail lines, the Green Line, about 150 bus routes, 12 commuter rail lines over 394 miles of track and 8 ferry routes, and carried 270,715,800 trips in 2025. HART carried about 11.94 million, and Tampa's only rail is the 2.7-mile TECO Line Streetcar to Ybor City, fare-free since 2018. Logan handled 43.2 million passengers in 2025, a record 10 million of them international, three miles from downtown; Tampa International handled 24,811,007, 27th busiest in the country.
Massachusetts has the lowest uninsured rate in the country, 2.8% in 2024 against 8.2% nationally, from its own 2006 coverage law and MassHealth; Florida has not expanded Medicaid, so a low-income adult without children in Tampa can fall into a coverage gap. Mass General and Brigham and Women's are both on the U.S. News 2026-2027 honor roll, with Mass General first nationally in psychiatry; Tampa General, the USF teaching hospital, has been its region's top-ranked hospital for 11 straight years and Moffitt is an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer centre. Neither city's profile verified a wait time for care. Schools work in opposite ways. Boston Public Schools enrolled 44,416 in 2025-26, down 3.6%, and an address does not settle assignment: a choice application does, and the exam schools admit on 70% grade point average and 30% the MAP Growth test inside four socioeconomic tiers, which the School Committee voted in November 2025 to cut across by awarding 20% of seats citywide. Hillsborough County enrolled 213,513, down 3.9% as families took vouchers, and runs 42 magnets by lottery. Boston's median home was built in 1947 and 64% of occupied homes are rented; its 672,973 residents are 0.8% fewer than in 2020, the only city here that has shrunk, while Tampa's 413,554 is up 7.3%.
The underestimated item is what the tax bill does the year after you buy, because the two states do the opposite thing. Florida's Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded assessment at 3% growth a year and resets it to full market value the January after a sale, so a Tampa seller's bill tells you nothing about yours; ask the property appraiser what the assessment would be at your price. Massachusetts reassesses the whole residential class at full and fair cash value every year, with no cap, no freeze and no reset, so a Boston seller's bill is a fair guide. What is not automatic there is the exemption: $351,108 off the assessed value of an owner-occupied home, worth about $4,354 a year at the fiscal 2026 residential rate of $12.40 per $1,000, filed with the assessors by 1 April, and you must have owned and occupied the home on the previous 1 January. Miss the first year and the bill on the benchmark is about $9,819 rather than $5,465. The close differs too. Massachusetts charges a buyer no transfer tax and no mortgage recording or intangible tax, puts the deeds excise of $4.56 per $1,000 on the seller, and requires a lawyer to conduct the closing. A Florida buyer pays documentary stamp tax on the note at 0.35% and a non-recurring intangible tax at 0.2%, both charged on the loan, so both grow the less you put down.
Better here
- The typical home was $380,283 in June 2026 against Boston's $791,816, and the mortgage with 20% down is $1,957 a month against $4,071.
- Mortgage, property tax and insurance come to about $2,906 a month against about $4,756 in Boston.
- Florida has no state income tax and no estate tax: a single filer on $100,000 pays about $13,449 against $18,229 in Boston.
- January averages 16.7 C and the snow normal is zero, against -1.2 C and 125 cm, and the owner's utility premium is $150 a month against $210.
- Reported violent crime was about 375.5 per 100,000 in 2025 against Boston's 507, and homicides fell 52.8% to 17.
- A median two-bedroom rented for $1,999 in June 2026 against $3,425, and the city has grown 7.3% since 2020 while Boston shrank 0.8%.
Worse here
- Property tax on the benchmark is about $6,712 a year, 1.77% of the price, against about $5,465 for a Boston owner-occupier at 0.69%.
- Insurance is $390 a month against $230 and excludes flood; Hillsborough County generated 10,261 NFIP claims and about $1.1 billion in payouts in 2024.
- Transit carried 1.2% of commuters in 2024 against Boston's 25.3%, and HART's 11.94 million trips in 2025 sit against the MBTA's 270,715,800.
- Florida has not expanded Medicaid, while Massachusetts had the country's lowest uninsured rate at 2.8% in 2024.
- City median household income was $84,114 in 2024 against $97,791, and the metro mean wage of $31.96 an hour trailed the US $33.54.
- Sales tax is 7.5% in Hillsborough County against 6.25% in Massachusetts, and condominium fees average $700 a month against $625.
Choose Tampa if
- you want the lower purchase price and the lower monthly total, and will pay for windstorm and flood cover to get them
- you would rather owe no state income tax than have a train to work
- you want a January at 16.7 C and never to shovel a driveway
- you work in health care, insurance, the port or defence and are content to drive to it
- you will buy on elevation and flood zone before school zone
The Tampa guide · Neighborhoods · Tampa rent vs buy · Tampa mortgage calculator
Better here
- 25.3% of workers commuted on the MBTA in 2024 and only 31.3% drove alone, against a 1.2% transit share in Tampa.
- Property tax on the benchmark is about $5,465 a year for an owner-occupier who files the residential exemption, 0.69% against Tampa's 1.77%, and insurance is $230 a month against $390.
- Massachusetts had the country's lowest uninsured rate in 2024 at 2.8%, and Mass General and Brigham and Women's are both on the U.S. News 2026-2027 honor roll.
- City median household income was $97,791 in 2024 against Tampa's $84,114, and the metro's was $117,825.
- Assessment is at full and fair cash value every year with no cap and no reset on sale, so the seller's bill is a fair guide to yours.
- Logan handled 43.2 million passengers in 2025, a record 10 million of them international, against 24,811,007 at Tampa International.
Worse here
- The typical home cost $791,816 in June 2026, more than twice Tampa's $380,283, and the mortgage on a $633,453 loan is $4,071 a month against $1,957.
- Mortgage, tax and insurance come to about $4,756 a month before condominium fees, flood cover and utilities, and a median two-bedroom rents for $3,425 against $1,999.
- Massachusetts income tax costs a single filer on $100,000 about $4,780 a year that Florida does not charge, and the state taxes estates over $2 million.
- Reported violent crime was about 507 per 100,000 in 2025 against Tampa's 375.5, and there were 31 homicides against 17.
- January averages -1.2 C on a 125 cm snow normal, and the owner pays $210 a month more in utilities than a renter, the highest figure on this site.
- Metro employment grew 0.3% in the year to July 2026, and the city's population is 0.8% below its 2020 level.
Choose Boston if
- you would actually use the subway, the bus or commuter rail and want to sell the second car
- you work in hospitals, universities, life sciences or asset management
- health coverage matters more to you than the marginal tax rate
- you want an annual full-value assessment rather than a bill that resets the January after you buy
- you can carry about $4,756 a month and would rather heat a house than insure one against a hurricane
The Boston guide · Neighborhoods · Boston rent vs buy · Boston mortgage calculator
Tampa or Boston, in short
Is Tampa or Boston cheaper to live in?
Tampa, by a wide margin. The typical home was $380,283 in Tampa and $791,816 in Boston in June 2026, giving mortgages of $1,957 and $4,071 a month at 20% down. Boston's carrying costs are the lighter of the two in percentage terms, about $5,465 a year in property tax for an owner who files the residential exemption against Tampa's $6,712, and $230 a month of insurance against $390, but on the three lines together the Boston owner is at about $4,756 a month and the Tampa owner at about $2,906. A median two-bedroom rents for $1,999 against $3,425. Tampa's other saving is income tax, about $4,780 a year on $100,000.
Is Tampa or Boston safer?
Tampa, on the published counts, though homicide is close. Tampa Police counted 1,553 violent crimes in 2025, about 375.5 per 100,000, and 17 homicides, about 4.1 per 100,000 and the lowest total in more than 50 years. Boston Police counted 3,409 Part One violent offences in its 1 January to 28 December 2025 report, about 507 per 100,000, and 31 homicides, about 4.6 per 100,000, up from 24 in 2024 but below the five-year average of 38.2. Property crime is about 1,950 per 100,000 in Boston for 2025 against 1,465 in Tampa for 2024. None of these are published rates, all are preliminary, and the FBI counted 4,138 violent offences in Boston in 2024 where the department counted 3,615.
Which has the better climate, Tampa or Boston?
It depends on which season you mind. Tampa averages 16.7 C in January and 28.8 C in July with no snow; Boston averages -1.2 C and 23.4 C on a 125 cm snow normal. Rainfall is close, 1,176 mm against 1,107 mm, but Tampa's is concentrated, about 30 of its 46 inches falling from June through September in afternoon lightning storms with heat indices above 100 F. Sunshine cannot be compared, since Boston's 2,634 hours is the 1961-1990 series and Tampa's is not published. The hazards differ more than the temperatures: hurricanes and storm surge in Tampa, as Helene and Milton showed in 2024, against nor'easters at high tide in Boston.
How does the property tax bill change after you buy in each city?
In opposite directions, and it catches buyers in both. In Tampa, Save Our Homes caps a homesteaded assessment at 3% growth a year and resets it to full market value the January after a sale, so the seller's bill understates yours, sometimes by half; ask the Hillsborough County property appraiser what the assessment would be at your purchase price. In Boston, Massachusetts reassesses at full and fair cash value every year with no cap and no reset, so the seller's bill is a reasonable guide. What Boston has instead is a residential exemption of $351,108 for an owner who lives in the home, worth about $4,354 a year at the fiscal 2026 rate of $12.40 per $1,000. It is not automatic: file by 1 April, having owned and occupied on the previous 1 January. On the benchmark that is the difference between about $5,465 and about $9,819.
Where the figures come from
Housing figures are the ones behind each city's calculators, dated on those pages. The rest are listed here with the date they were retrieved. See the methodology for how facts, estimates and opinion are kept apart.
- Tampa, FL Population (2025), citing US Census Bureau PEP Vintage 2025 · Every City in the USA (compiling US Census Bureau) · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth
- Resident Population in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (MSA), TMAPOP · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (US Census Bureau data) · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Florida Metropolitan Statistical Areas, 2025 Estimate · Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research · retrieved Supports: Metro population
- Tampa Police Department Annual Report 2025: Strength in Partnerships · City of Tampa · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend, Property crime rate
- Tampa crime drops in 2025, outpacing national trend: TPD · FOX 13 Tampa Bay · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- Tampa police sees drop in homicides, violent crime for 2025 · WTSP 10 Tampa Bay · retrieved Supports: Homicides
- Tampa, St. Pete homicides, other crimes drop to lowest level in 50+ years · FOX 13 Tampa Bay · retrieved Supports: Homicides
- Tampa Police Release Mid-Year Crime Stats Showing Significant Reductions · City of Tampa · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- Tampa, FL Crime Rates: Stats & Map (FBI UCR 2024 data) · AreaVibes · retrieved Supports: Property crime rate, Homicides, Violent crime rate
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00012842 Tampa International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall
- Milton misses worst-case scenario, devastates Florida · Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Flooding the zone · UF Warrington College of Business · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- FEMA Exercises Borrowing Authority for National Flood Insurance Program · FEMA · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Tampa, FL profile, ACS 2024 1-year · Census Reporter (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B08301 and B19013 for Tampa city and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Unemployment Rate in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (MSA), TAMP312URN · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS LAUS data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- What is the unemployment rate in the Tampa, FL area right now? · USAFacts (BLS data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL: Southeast Information Office · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Occupational Employment and Wages in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL, May 2025 · US Bureau of Labor Statistics · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL · Data USA (Census ACS) · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- TIP 25A01-12: Hillsborough County Surtax Rate Update · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: Sales tax
- 2025 Tax Brackets · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax, Income tax on $100,000
- Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (citing APTA Transit Ridership Report Q4 2025) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- TECO Line Streetcar · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- TPA Fact Sheet: Activity Report, Calendar Year 2025 · Tampa International Airport / Hillsborough County Aviation Authority · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Tampa General Is the Top-Ranked Hospital in the Tampa Bay Region for the 11th Year in a Row, According to U.S. News & World Report · Tampa General Hospital via PR Newswire · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Tampa General again named the top hospital in Tampa Bay; OB-GYN rises to No. 5 in the U.S. · USF Health · retrieved Supports: Health care
- State University System of Florida 2025-2026 Matrix · Florida Board of Governors · retrieved Supports: Education
- HCPS data shows total county enrollment has declined since last year · Plant City Observer · retrieved Supports: Education
- 2024 Annual Report, Growth Management · Hillsborough County Public Schools · retrieved Supports: Education
- Boston, MA Population (2025), citing US Census Bureau PEP Vintage 2025 · Every City in the USA (compiling US Census Bureau) · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth
- Resident Population in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (MSA), BOSPOP · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (US Census Bureau data) · retrieved Supports: Metro population, Five-year growth
- Boston (2020 census count and land area) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: City population, Five-year growth
- Part One Crime Reported, citywide by offence and district, 1/1/2024 to 12/28/2024 vs 1/1/2025 to 12/28/2025 · Boston Police Department · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Homicides, Crime trend
- Part One Crime Reported, citywide by offence and district, 1/1/2023 to 12/29/2023 vs 1/1/2024 to 12/29/2024 · Boston Police Department · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- Crime Stats · Boston Police Department · retrieved Supports: Crime trend
- Boston's yearly homicide rate increases 30%, from 24 killings to 31 · Boston.com · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- Boston leaders tout the city's low crime rate in 2025 · The Boston Globe · retrieved Supports: Homicides, Crime trend
- Boston, MA Crime Rates: Stats & Map (FBI UCR 2024 data, released September 2025) · AreaVibes · retrieved Supports: Violent crime rate, Property crime rate, Crime trend
- US Climate Normals 1991-2020, station USW00014739 Boston Logan International Airport (Access Data Service) · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information · retrieved Supports: January mean, July mean, Annual precipitation, Annual snowfall, Climate normals
- Average Annual Sunshine in US Cities · Current Results (NCDC Comparative Climatic Data, 1961-1990) · retrieved Supports: Sunshine hours
- USA: Storm and High Tide Cause Coastal Flooding in North East · FloodList · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Climate Ready East Boston (case study) · American Society of Landscape Architects · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Coastal Resilience Planning · City of Boston · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards
- Coastal Resilience Implementation · City of Boston · retrieved Supports: Climate hazards, Character
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B08301 and B19013 for Boston city and the Boston-Cambridge-Newton MSA · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Median household income, Transit commute share, Walk and cycle commute share
- Boston, MA profile, ACS 2024 1-year · Census Reporter (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Walk and cycle commute share, Median household income
- ACS 2024 1-year tables B25035 and B25003 for Boston city · Census Reporter API (US Census Bureau ACS) · retrieved Supports: Character
- Unemployment Rate in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (MSA), LAUMT251446000000003 · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS LAUS data) · retrieved Supports: Unemployment rate
- All Employees: Total Nonfarm in Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (MSA), SMS25144600000000001 · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (BLS CES data) · retrieved Supports: Labour market
- Boston, MA · Data USA (Census ACS) · retrieved Supports: Main sectors, Labour market
- Massachusetts Tax Rates & Rankings (2026) · Tax Foundation · retrieved Supports: Sales tax, Top marginal income tax
- What is Massachusetts Income Tax? Rates & Tax Brackets · TaxAct · retrieved Supports: Income tax on $100,000
- Massachusetts Millionaire Surtax 2026, citing Department of Revenue certified thresholds · Morkel Financial · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax
- Don't Call it the 'Millionaires' Tax: Inflation is Raising the Bar on Who Pays Massachusetts' High-earner Levy · Massachusetts High Technology Council · retrieved Supports: Top marginal income tax
- Massachusetts State Taxes: What You'll Pay in 2026 · AARP · retrieved Supports: Tax notes, Top marginal income tax
- Residential exemption · City of Boston Assessing Department · retrieved Supports: Tax notes
- Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (citing the APTA ridership report and MBTA figures) · Wikipedia · retrieved Supports: Transit system, Transit ridership
- MBTA Sees Over 29 Million Trips in 2025, citing the MBTA and Keolis TRACKed year-in-review · American-Rails.com · retrieved Supports: Transit ridership
- 2025 Year in Review · Massport · retrieved Supports: Airport passengers
- Explore Uninsured in Massachusetts (US Census Bureau ACS 1-year 2024) · America's Health Rankings, United Health Foundation · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Mass General Brigham Hospitals Named Among Nation's Best by U.S. News & World Report (2026-2027 rankings) · Mass General Brigham · retrieved Supports: Health care
- Enrollment Data (2025-26), Boston (00350000) · Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education · retrieved Supports: Education
- Enrollment Data (2024-25), Boston (00350000) · Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education · retrieved Supports: Education
- Enrollment Data (2023-24), Boston (00350000) · Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education · retrieved Supports: Education
- Exam Schools Admissions FAQs · Boston Public Schools · retrieved Supports: Education
- Boston School Committee approves changes to exam school admissions · WBUR · retrieved Supports: Education
- Common Data Set 2024-2025, section B: Enrollment and Persistence (Fall 2024) · Boston University, Analytical Services & Institutional Research · retrieved Supports: Education
- Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), all homes, mid-tier, smoothed and seasonally adjusted: city file, June 2026 · Zillow Research · retrieved Supports: A typical home value for each municipality, computed on one method across all twenty-four, The same series and month the Charlotte, Orlando, Palm Beach and Miami pages use, Year-over-year change to June 2026, which is negative in twenty-three of the twenty-four
- Final 2025 millage rates by taxing district · Hillsborough County Property Appraiser · retrieved Supports: Published totals of 19.8428 for Tampa, 19.5319 for Temple Terrace, 18.2926 for Plant City and 18.2515 for the unincorporated county, Every component behind them, including the 0.5583 library services levy Temple Terrace and Plant City are outside and the 0.5000 transit authority levy Plant City is outside, A county General Purpose MSTU of 4.6163 paid in the unincorporated area in place of a municipal rate
- Millage rates levied for 2025 taxes · Pinellas County Tax Collector · retrieved Supports: A published real estate total for every taxing district in Pinellas County, from Redington Shores at 15.1568 to Belleair at 20.4449, including St Petersburg at 19.9197 and Belleair Beach at 15.4466, Countywide components: general fund 4.5423, health department 0.0713, emergency medical services 0.8050 and school 6.2930, Other districts totalling 1.0256: planning council 0.0175, Juvenile Welfare Board 0.8250 and the Southwest Florida Water Management District 0.1831, The Transit District at 0.7300 and which districts are inside it, and the Pinellas Suncoast Fire District at 0.6700 and which are inside that
- Table 1: Comparison of Taxes Levied, county and municipal governments, fiscal years 2024-25 and 2025-26 · Florida Department of Revenue, Property Tax Oversight · retrieved Supports: Independent confirmation of each municipality's own adopted 2025-26 levy in both counties
- Annual estimates of the resident population for incorporated places, 2020 to 2024 · United States Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program · retrieved Supports: 2020 census counts and 2024 estimates for each municipality, Tampa at 414,547 and St. Petersburg at 267,102; Indian Shores at 1,190
- Hurricane Helene storm surge and Pinellas County flooding, September 2024 · Latent Insurance, on National Weather Service and Pinellas County data · retrieved Supports: The largest storm surge on record for St. Petersburg, over six feet in the city and more than seven on the barrier islands, Thousands of Pinellas homes flooded, many of which had never flooded before, St. Petersburg single-family homeowners insurance of roughly $3,900 to $5,500 a year with wind coverage, and higher on the barrier islands
- Home insurance in Tampa, Florida: 2026 rates · InsuranceQuotes · retrieved Supports: Tampa homeowners insurance averaging about $2,400 a year in 2026, A Tampa Bay range of roughly $3,285 to $5,100 across Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey · Freddie Mac · retrieved Supports: 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaging 6.67%
- Documentary stamp tax · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: 70 cents per $100 on a deed, in every county except Miami-Dade, which charges 60 cents plus a 45-cent surtax, 35 cents per $100 on a promissory note or other written obligation to pay money
- Governmental leasehold intangible personal property tax and the non-recurring intangible tax on mortgages · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A non-recurring intangible tax of 2 mills: 0.2%, on the obligation secured by a mortgage on Florida real property
- Property tax exemptions and additional benefits · Florida Department of Revenue · retrieved Supports: A $25,000 homestead exemption applying to all taxing authorities and a second slice, $25,000 in the 2024 base year and adjusted for inflation each 1 January since, applying to all but the school district, The Save Our Homes assessment limitation of 3% or the change in CPI, whichever is lower, Portability of up to $500,000 of accrued Save Our Homes benefit to a new homestead, The 1 March filing deadline
- Chapter 2023-17, Laws of Florida: preemption of rent control · The Florida Senate · retrieved Supports: The repeal of the referendum exception that had allowed a local rent control ordinance in a declared housing emergency
- Tax Rates by Class, fiscal year 2026 · Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services, Municipal Databank · retrieved Supports: The certified fiscal 2026 residential rate for each of the twenty-four municipalities, from Cambridge at $6.67 to Everett at $12.62, The commercial, industrial and personal property rate behind each of them, which gives the classification shift, That Arlington and Belmont charge a single rate to all classes, That fiscal 2026 is the most recent fully certified year: at the retrieval date only two of the state's 352 municipalities had a fiscal 2027 rate on the table
- City of Somerville FY2026 Classification Hearing, 25 November 2025, and the FY2026 Property Tax Update · Somerville Board of Assessors · retrieved Supports: A residential exemption of 35% of average assessed value adopted for fiscal 2026, yielding savings of up to $4,578, A minimum residential factor of 82.816, the legal minimum for the city, Form LA-4 parcel counts and assessed values by use code, from which the average Class One value of about $1,191,000 follows, That Somerville carries 7,251 condominium parcels against 2,315 single-family parcels, That life science property in this market depreciated about 20% between fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026
- City Council meeting minutes, 28 October 2025: adoption of a residential exemption and minimum residential factor for fiscal 2026 · City of Malden · retrieved Supports: A unanimous vote to adopt a residential factor of 0.9054 and a residential exemption of 35%, raised from 30%, The council's own statement on the record that the increase is a tax shift benefiting owner-occupied households and not a tax cut, and that the shift is budget neutral, Average fiscal 2026 values of $449,000 for a condominium, $666,000 for a single family, $861,000 for a two-family and $991,000 for a three-family, That the increase from 30% to 35% is worth about $291 a year, from which the $178,684 exemption value here is derived, A Proposition 2 1/2 override under discussion for fiscal 2027 at $5.4 million and $8.2 million
- Residential exemption information for fiscal year 2026 · City of Chelsea Board of Assessors · retrieved Supports: An exemption of 35% of the average assessed value of all Class One residential parcels, $279,066 of assessed value excluded for fiscal 2026, worth $3,203.68 at the city's $11.48 rate, The 1 April 2026 filing deadline and the 1 January ownership and occupancy test
- Residential exemption information, fiscal year 2026 · City known as the Town of Watertown, Assessing Department · retrieved Supports: The maximum 35% exemption recommended by the assessors and adopted by the council for fiscal 2026, $324,715 of assessed value excluded, worth $3,961.52 at the town's $12.20 rate
- Residential exemptions · Town of Brookline Assessors · retrieved Supports: $354,974 deducted from a qualified owner-occupier's assessed value for fiscal 2026, That the exemption may be not more than 35% of the average assessed value of all Class One residential parcels and that the amount changes each year
- Assessor's Department: the residential exemption · City of Waltham · retrieved Supports: $317,643 of assessed value removed from an owner-occupied residence of up to three units for fiscal 2026, The maximum 35% exemption continued by the city council, The 1 January 2025 ownership and occupancy test for the fiscal 2026 year
- Assessor's office: owner-occupant residential exemption, fiscal year 2026 · City of Everett · retrieved Supports: $204,651 of taxable value removed from an owner-occupied parcel, worth $2,582.70 at the city's $12.62 rate
- Residential exemption and fiscal 2026 tax rates · City of Cambridge Assessing Department · retrieved Supports: A 30% residential exemption for fiscal 2026, $510,208 of assessed value, worth about $3,403, A residential rate of $6.67 per $1,000 set by the city council on 20 October 2025, the lowest in the Commonwealth
- Fiscal Year 2026 Fair Market Rents: Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH HUD Metro FMR Area · United States Department of Housing and Urban Development · retrieved Supports: $2,476 for one bedroom, $2,941 for two and $3,526 for three, The ratios this layer uses to split the Zillow rent index by bedroom count, which differ from the Florida layers'
- Average home insurance cost in Massachusetts, 2026 · MoneyGeek and Insurance.com, on carrier rate filings · retrieved Supports: A Massachusetts average between roughly $1,500 and $1,900 a year against a national average near $2,800, Coastal communities running roughly a third to two thirds above the state mean, Wind and hurricane deductibles on coastal policies of 1% to 5% of dwelling value rather than a flat amount
- Chapter 59, Section 5C: residential exemption · Massachusetts General Laws · retrieved Supports: A local option exemption of not more than 35% of the average assessed value of all Class One residential parcels, The exemption applies only to a parcel that is the principal residence of the taxpayer as of 1 January, The percentage is voted annually by the municipality
- Chapter 59, Section 21C: Proposition 2 1/2 · Massachusetts General Laws · retrieved Supports: A levy ceiling of 2.5% of the total full and fair cash value of taxable property, A levy limit that may grow 2.5% a year plus certified new growth, Overrides and debt exclusions as the two ways a municipality exceeds the limit, That the cap is on the levy and not on the tax rate
- Chapter 59, Section 38: valuation at full and fair cash value · Massachusetts General Laws · retrieved Supports: Assessment at full and fair cash value, re-set annually rather than frozen at a base year, No purchase reset and no growth cap on an assessment, so a seller's bill is a fair guide to a buyer's
- Chapter 40, Section 56: classification and the minimum residential factor · Massachusetts General Laws · retrieved Supports: The power to shift part of the levy onto commercial, industrial and personal property, A ceiling of 175% of the commercial share, subject to a minimum residential factor, That the published residential rate is therefore an output of a local vote rather than a measure of what a town spends
- Chapter 64D, Section 1: excise upon deeds, instruments and writings · Massachusetts General Laws · retrieved Supports: $2.28 for each $500 of consideration, which is $4.56 per $1,000 or 0.456%, The excise falls on the person making the deed, so it is the seller's by statute, The Barnstable County rate of $2.85 per $500, which no municipality in this layer pays
- Chapter 40P: the Massachusetts Rent Control Prohibition Act · Massachusetts General Laws · retrieved Supports: No city or town may enact or enforce any control on the rent of residential property, Enacted by the 1994 ballot initiative and effective 1 January 1995, The voiding of the then-existing ordinances in Boston, Cambridge and Brookline
- Chapter 188: the declaration of homestead · Massachusetts General Laws · retrieved Supports: Protection of up to $500,000 of equity in a principal residence from most creditors on a declared homestead, and $125,000 automatically, That this is a creditor protection and not a property tax exemption, which is the confusion the caveat in lib/housing/massachusetts.ts exists to prevent
- Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts v. National Real Estate Information Services, 459 Mass. 512 · Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts · retrieved Supports: That conducting a residential real estate closing in Massachusetts is the practice of law and must be done by an attorney
- Homebuyer programs and down payment assistance · MassHousing · retrieved Supports: Down payment assistance to $30,000 generally and to $50,000 or 10% of price in Boston and the Gateway Cities
- ONE Mortgage · Massachusetts Housing Partnership · retrieved Supports: A 3% down first mortgage with no private mortgage insurance for income-eligible first-time buyers