Sterling, Massachusetts.
Typical home $593,525 (+2.2% in a year). Worcester, MA-CT metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,744 (+127%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $12,692 +2%
- $580,833$593,525 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $133,927 +29%
- $459,598$593,525 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.
- Sterling$3,115
- 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 Sterling, MA rose 2.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Sterling, Worcester County, Massachusetts
Sterling is a town of 7,985 people in Worcester County. Half its households earn more than $129,063 a year and half less, against $95,939 across Worcester County; 6% of its people live below the poverty line. 86% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 14% 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Sterling is a small town where people tend to be older than in most places, and nearly everyone owns the home they live in. Incomes run well above the county's, and fewer households than elsewhere live below the poverty line. A good share of adults hold a four-year degree, and homes here are valued well above what is typical across much of the country.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in professional and business services, in banks, insurance and property, and in manufacturing. Among the largest workplaces in Sterling are Sterling Village, a skilled nursing facility, N&T Mechanical Contractors, and Kitchen Associates. Commutes run long, and a fair number of people work from home. Across Worcester County, unemployment is slightly lower than a year ago and the number of jobs has edged up.
Things to do. Water and woods are close by. Wachusett Reservoir and Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, a protected area, are both a short drive away, as is the Fitchburg Art Museum for a quieter afternoon. Winters are cold and the summers warm, with a fair amount of rain and melted snow through the year.
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- 3,282households
- 48%of adults have a degree
- 6%below the poverty line
- 34 mintypical commute
- 18%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 34° and lows near 16°; warmest in July, with highs near 83° and lows near 62°. About 43 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Fitchburg Municipal Airport weather station, 7 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Sterling
- Sterling VillageSkilled nursing facilities168
- The Botanist, Inc. (2)Raw farm products merchant wholesalers65
- N&T Mechanical ContractorsHeating, ventilation and air-conditioning contractors61
- Kitchen AssociatesKitchen cabinets, stock or custom wood, manufacturing48
- Princeton ScapesLandscape care and maintenance services35
- Azelis Sterling CrossingChemicals merchant wholesalers25
- Monson Sterling CrossingChemicals merchant wholesalers21
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 423 people in all. 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.
Sterling home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Sterling$593,525
- Massachusetts$655,219
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Sterling 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.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Sterling18
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Sterling8
Zip codes with a Sterling address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Sterling — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.