Festivals & Projects

Under-Resourced Cities & Towns

In order to promote more equitable distribution of resources, Mass Cultural Council is focusing on communities in Massachusetts that fall behind other communities in several key measures.

Under-Resourced communities include:

• Gateway Cities
• Cities or towns of any population size where:
  • The median household income is below the median household income for the state as a whole, and
  • The rate of educational attainment of a bachelor’s degree or above is below the rate for the state as a whole.

The following 122 cities and towns meet this definition:

Acushnet

Adams

Agawam

Amesbury

Amherst

Athol

Attleboro

Barnstable

Barre

Becket

Bernardston

Blandford

Bourne

Brimfield

Brockton

Brookfield

Buckland

Carver

Charlemont

Chelsea

Cheshire

Chester

Chesterfield

Chicopee

Clarksburg

Clinton

Colrain

Cummington

Dalton

Dennis

Dudley

East Brookfield

Easthampton

Edgartown

Erving

Everett

Fairhaven

Fall River

Fitchburg

Florida

Gardner

Gloucester

Great Barrington

Greenfield

Hancock

Hardwick

Hatfield

Haverhill

Hawley

Hinsdale

Holbrook

Holland

Holyoke

Huntington

Lanesborough

Lawrence

Lee

Leicester

Leominster

Leyden

Lowell

Ludlow

Lynn

Malden

Marlborough

Mashpee

Merrimac

Methuen

Middleborough

Middlefield

Millville

Monroe

Monson

Montague

New Ashford

New Bedford

New Salem

North Adams

North Brookfield

Orange

Oxford

Palmer

Peabody

Peru

Petersham

Pittsfield

Quincy

Randolph

Revere

Rockland

Rowe

Russell

Salem

Salisbury

Sandisfield

Savoy

Sheffield

South Hadley

Southbridge

Spencer

Springfield

Stockbridge

Taunton

Templeton

Tisbury

Wales

Ware

Wareham

Warren

Warwick

Washington

Watertown

Webster

West Brookfield

West Springfield

Westfield

Westport

Winchendon

Winthrop

Worcester

Worthington

Yarmouth