Worcester's median home price sits at $360,000, 14% below the $420,000 national median. On a $55,000 median household income, that puts the price-to-income ratio at 6.5x, or 6.5 years of gross pay for the purchase price alone.
Worcester's 1.55% property tax rate runs above the 1.1% national average. That's $465/month on the median home here, not a rounding error against the mortgage payment.
Unlike the nine no-income-tax states, Massachusetts taxes wage income. Worth running your actual take-home pay against the $2,482/month payment here before locking in a target price.
Day-to-day expenses in Worcester track at 118 against the national 100 baseline, above average once you look past the mortgage payment itself.
Worcester's median home price runs 52% lower than nearby Boston: $750,000 there versus $360,000 here.