Leicester, Massachusetts.
Typical home $457,043 (+2.6% in a year), asking rent $1,900 . Worcester, MA-CT metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,357 (+130%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $11,689 +3%
- $445,354$457,043 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $102,886 +29%
- $354,157$457,043 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Leicester$2,399
- Massachusetts$3,439
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 14 years.
Typical home values in Leicester, MA rose 2.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Leicester, Worcester County, Massachusetts
Leicester is a town of 11,087 people in Worcester County. Half its households earn more than $105,173 a year and half less, against $95,939 across Worcester County; 4% of its people live below the poverty line. 88% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 12% are rented. Unemployment in Worcester County was 4.5% in August 2026, and the county had 1.4% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then professional services.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Leicester is a small town in Worcester County where nearly everyone lives in a home they own, and incomes run higher than across the county as a whole. Few households live below the poverty line, and the typical home is worth a good deal. The population is somewhat older than in many places, and a four-year degree is held by a sizeable minority of adults. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month, while July brings warm days and the year is fairly wet.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by professional and business services, the building trades and manufacturing. Among the largest workplaces in Leicester are Leicester Schools, Vibra Hospital of Western Massachusetts and Accu Trak Tool, a metalworking manufacturer. Commutes are of middling length, and a fair number of people work from home. Unemployment across Worcester County has eased a little over the past year, and the county has added jobs.
Things to do. Spencer State Forest, a protected area a short drive away, is the nearest place for walking in the woods. Also a short drive off are Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts, a theatre for live shows, and Fitton Field, a stadium. Lake Chaubunagungamaug, one of the best known names around, is a lake a longer drive away.
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- 4,058households
- 31%of adults have a degree
- 4%below the poverty line
- 27 mintypical commute
- 13%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Worcester County had 356,384 jobs in 2025, 1.4% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 32° and lows near 17°; warmest in July, with highs near 80° and lows near 62°. About 73 inches of snow and 48 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Worcester Regional Airport weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Leicester
- Leicester SchoolsSchool district229FTE
- Vangarden CannabisHerb farming, grown under cover135
- Vibra Hospital of Western MassachusettsHospitals, specialty54
- Worcester County WeldingOrnamental metal work installation24
- Accu Trak ToolKnurling machines, metalworking, manufacturing22
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 235 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Ice stormsVery high
- Strong windRelatively high
- HurricanesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Worcester County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Worcester County and the Worcester, MA-CT metro.
Leicester home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Leicester$457,043
- Massachusetts$655,219
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Leicester listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Leicester24.86%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Leicester33
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Leicester16
Zip codes with a Leicester address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Leicester — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zip codes in Leicester
| Zip activate to sort by Zip | Place activate to sort by Place | Population sorted descending, activate to sort ascending | Rent activate to sort by Rent | Home value activate to sort by Home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01524 | Leicester | 6,327 | $1,900 | $462,483 |
| 01542 | Rochdale | 2,615 | — | $498,815 |
| 01611 | Cherry Valley | 2,299 | — | $424,592 |