?WhereToHQ

Ranked · Pick an HQ · Massachusetts

Best cities to put your HQ in Massachusetts

Cities of 25,000+ residents, scored with the “Pick an HQ” weighting the live tool uses, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax. Scores are relative to this set; open the tool to change the weights and re-rank.

Re-rank for your priorities
Top 10 · computed ranking

  1. 1.Northampton, MA31k residents

    62/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 62.7% · avg. weekly wage: $1,208/wk · corporate income tax: 8%

  2. 2.Brookline, MA63k residents

    61/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 85.4% · avg. weekly wage: $1,676/wk · corporate income tax: 8%

  3. 3.Milton, MA29k residents

    61/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 71.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,676/wk · corporate income tax: 8%

  4. 4.Needham, MA32k residents

    59/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 81.9% · avg. weekly wage: $1,676/wk · corporate income tax: 8%

  5. 5.Westfield, MA40k residents

    58/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 33.2% · avg. weekly wage: $1,244/wk · corporate income tax: 8%

  6. 6.Springfield, MA155k residents

    57/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 20.5% · avg. weekly wage: $1,244/wk · corporate income tax: 8%

  7. 7.Quincy, MA102k residents

    57/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 50.3% · avg. weekly wage: $1,676/wk · corporate income tax: 8%

  8. 8.Salem, MA45k residents

    57/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 47.8% · avg. weekly wage: $1,502/wk · corporate income tax: 8%

  9. 9.Beverly, MA43k residents

    57/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 53.4% · avg. weekly wage: $1,502/wk · corporate income tax: 8%

  10. 10.Wellesley, MA30k residents

    57/100

    bachelor's degree or higher: 89% · avg. weekly wage: $1,676/wk · corporate income tax: 8%

Methodology: each city is scored 0–100 by min–max normalizing every weighted facet across this candidate set (direction-aware), identical math to the tool's “Best fit” tab. A different weighting produces a different order, which is the point: this is a starting shortlist, not a verdict.

Questions & answers
Which city is best to put your HQ in Massachusetts?
Northampton, MA ranks first with a fit score of 62/100, followed by Brookline (61) and Milton (61), using the "Pick an HQ" weighting.
How is this ranking calculated?
Each of the 10 candidate cities (25,000+ residents) is scored 0 to 100 by min-max normalizing the weighted facets, heaviest on bachelor's degree or higher, avg. weekly wage, corporate income tax, state & local income tax, across this set. Change the weights in the live tool and the order changes with them.