What Does it Cost to Live in Massachusetts?
Posted by Leslie Mann on Fri, Mar 25, 2011 @ 05:40 PM
People relocating to the Boston area often ask what living expenses are like here. I thought I’d share what typical taxes are for Massachusetts residents.
Excise tax. Towns charge $25 per one thousand dollars of a car’s value for excise tax. (The value is considered list price in its year of manufacture.)
Sales tax. Massachusetts has a 6.25% sales tax on purchases except for food; water, gas, or electric service; clothing; shoes, and prescription drugs and certain medical devices.
Income taxes. Massachusetts has an income tax rate of 5.3 percent.
Real estate taxes. Here’s a quick snapshot of residential real estate tax rates across Greater Boston metrowest communities. To calculate the taxes on a particular home, take the home value, divide by 1,000 and multiply by the tax rate below.
For easy math, if a home is assessed at $500,000 and the tax rate is 11%, the annual taxes would be $5,500.
Here's a snapshot of real estate taxes in Boston suburbs, listed by town:
Ashland MA tax rate 15.1
Berlin MA tax rate 13.89
Bolton MA tax rate 19.42
Brookline MA tax rate 13.3
Carlisle MA tax rate 14.62
Concord MA tax rate 13.1
Dover MA tax rate 10.92
Framingham MA tax rate 16.03
Holliston MA tax rate 16.31
Hopkinton MA tax rate 16.73
Hudson MA tax rate 13.02
Lexington MA tax rate 13.86
Lincoln MA tax rate 12.37
Marlborough MA tax rate 13.41
Medfield MA tax rate 15.02
Medway MA tax rate 17.1
Millis MA tax rate 13.64
Natick MA tax rate 12.6
Needham MA tax rate 10.9
Newton MA tax rate 10.41
Northborough MA tax rate 14.38
Sherborn MA tax rate 17.72
Southborough MA tax rate 15.58
Stow MA tax rate 17.05
Sudbury MA tax rate 17.03
Wayland MA tax rate 17.78
Wellesley MA tax rate 11.43
Westborough MA tax rate 18.24
Weston MA tax rate 11.39