Most residents think Massachusetts is a great place to live, and also unaffordable

September 22, 2026

By Chris Lisinski

If most Massachusetts residents had to come up with a new state motto, they could probably agree on something like: It’s a great place to live, if you can afford it.

Heading into an election season in which “affordability” is the defining issue, a majority of Bay Staters agree that Massachusetts is a better place to live than most other states and, simultaneously, that it remains too expensive, according to newly released polling data.

The latest survey from the MassINC Polling Group, conducted as part of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation’s annual assessment of state competitiveness, builds on a well-established thematic foundation. The Bay State has some of the highest incomes in the country, but with the costs for basics like housing and utilities growing at a much faster pace, many families are feeling the pinch.

Sixty-three percent of respondents rated Massachusetts as “one of the best” places to live or “above average” compared to other states, a rate unchanged from when pollsters asked the same question a year ago. At the same time, only 19 percent dubbed the Bay State one of the best or above average on “overall affordability,” compared to 56 percent who said the state is below average or one of the worst for affordability.

Doug Howgate, president of the Mass. Taxpayers Foundation, said polling would likely find affordability to be a top concern in “49 other states.” But in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, he thinks concerns about the high cost of living in Massachusetts have “ratcheted up a little more compared to other states.”

“When you look under the hood at how people feel and these cost pressures that are weighing on them, and weighing on their location choices, that’s why we need to keep our foot on the gas,” Howgate said. “This is not a mirage.”

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