The Real Cost of Owning in Quincy, MA

Property Tax: A Well-Documented Rate, and a Fiscal Scare That Ended in Certification

Quincy's property tax rates are about as well-confirmed as this kind of figure gets, sourced directly from the City of Quincy Assessor's own tax-rate page. Under Massachusetts' split classification system, residential and commercial property are taxed at different rates per $1,000 of assessed value: FY2024 came in at $11.27 residential / $22.45 commercial, FY2025 at $11.53 residential / $23.01 commercial, and FY2026 at $11.78 residential / $23.53 commercial. Commercial property is taxed at roughly double the residential rate in Quincy, which is standard practice across many Massachusetts cities, not a Quincy-specific penalty.

That FY2026 rate did not arrive quietly. Heading into the certification process, Quincy faced a roughly $19 million unbudgeted gap, driven in part by a $3 million new teachers-union payroll increase and, more seriously, by a $16 million assessment from PERAC (the state's Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission) covering the city's pension fund -- an assessment Mayor Thomas Koch reportedly argued did not need to be paid, even though state law says otherwise. The Massachusetts Department of Revenue would not certify a Quincy tax rate until the assessment was funded, and local coverage at the time projected a possible 10-12% property-tax increase to cover an estimated $59 million total city spending increase. That was a live, unresolved standoff for a stretch of FY2026 budget season -- but it is resolved now: the Assessor's own page shows a certified FY2026 rate of $11.78 residential / $23.53 commercial, the figure quoted above. Treat this as a fiscal-controversy story with a certified ending, not an open dispute, though anyone budgeting against next year's rate should still check the Assessor's page directly rather than assume FY2026's rate simply repeats.

Home Values: Four Sources, a Reasonably Tight Range, Reported Separately on Purpose

Home-value figures for Quincy cluster more tightly than in some of this site's other Massachusetts coverage, but they are still measuring different things and are reported here separately rather than blended into one number. Zillow's ZHVI index (January 2026 data) puts typical home value at $657,568, up 0.7% year-over-year, with 117 homes for sale and a median 18 days to pending -- a reasonably brisk, if not scorching, market. The Census Bureau's own QuickFacts page gives a median home value of $618,500 (2020-2024 American Community Survey vintage). Ownwell's property-tax analysis separately puts the median home value at $619,500, with a median annual tax bill of $7,143 and an effective property-tax rate of 1.15% -- a figure Ownwell notes matches the Massachusetts state median exactly, not a Quincy-specific outlier. Redfin's transaction data, the most different of the four because it reflects actual closed sales rather than an index or assessment estimate, shows a median sale price of $549,500 in February 2025, down 1.9% year-over-year.

That $549,500-to-$657,568 spread depending on source and vintage is a meaningfully tighter, more internally consistent range than this site has had to report for some neighboring South Shore towns. Still, treat each figure as measuring something different -- an index value, a Census estimate, an assessment-based median, and an actual sale-price median are four different instruments -- and lean on Redfin- or MLS-level, address-specific comparables from a local agent before pricing an actual offer.

Household Income and Affordability: A More Reassuring Cross-Check Than Some Neighboring Towns

Quincy's median household income is $98,882, per the Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey estimate -- and DataUSA independently reports an essentially identical $98,882 figure with a stated 3.31% year-over-year increase. That kind of tight agreement between two independent sources is genuinely reassuring, and a notably cleaner cross-check than some of the wider income-figure spreads this site has had to flag for other nearby South Shore towns. Against a roughly $618,500-$657,568 median home value, Quincy reads as a city where the math is at least in a recognizable, if still stretched, range for a dual-income household -- not the kind of price-to-income gap that shows up in Massachusetts' most expensive coastal enclaves.

How Quincy Compares: A More Affordable, More Urban Boston-Adjacent Alternative

Quincy's home values sit meaningfully below two of its South Shore neighbors further down the coast: Cohasset's Zillow ZHVI runs $1,474,056 and Scituate's runs $1,040,218 -- both more than $400,000 above Quincy's own $657,568 figure. Quincy is roughly comparable to, or slightly below, Marshfield ($803,822 ZHVI) and Hull ($731,712 ZHVI). What Quincy offers in exchange for that lower price point is a genuinely different kind of place: four MBTA Red Line rapid-transit stations (North Quincy, Wollaston, Quincy Center, and Quincy Adams) plus an MBTA ferry stop at Marina Bay, none of which any of those other South Shore towns can match -- Scituate and Cohasset have commuter rail, and Hull has ferry service only, but rapid transit into Boston is a Quincy-specific advantage. Combine that with a majority-renter housing stock (45.2% owner-occupied, per Census QuickFacts), a walkable, actively redeveloping downtown, and a population of over 100,000, and Quincy reads less like a smaller, cheaper version of the South Shore's beach towns and more like a distinct, denser, more urban alternative for anyone who wants Boston-area access without Boston-area or Cohasset-level prices.

Adding It Up: What Is Verified, and What Still Needs a Professional

What is well-grounded here: FY2024-FY2026 property tax rates confirmed directly from the City of Quincy Assessor's own site, including the FY2026 rate's certification after a real, dollar-specific pension-assessment standoff; four independently sourced home-value figures (Zillow, Census QuickFacts, Ownwell, Redfin) that cluster in a reasonably tight $549,500-$657,568 range; a median household income figure ($98,882) cross-confirmed by two independent sources; and a genuine transit-access advantage -- four Red Line stations plus a ferry stop -- that no other South Shore town in this site's coverage can match.

What this page will not guess: a property-specific FY2027 or later tax rate, since Massachusetts municipalities recertify rates on their own annual cycle and Quincy's own FY2026 cycle shows how much a single pension assessment can move the outcome; a current assessed value or actual tax bill for any specific address; flood-zone status or flood-insurance premiums for any individual Quincy parcel, particularly in the more flood-exposed Houghs Neck and Adams Shore waterfront neighborhoods; and closing costs, financing terms, or condo/HOA fees for any specific property. Get current numbers from the people who actually have them: the City of Quincy Assessor's office for a current tax rate and any specific parcel's assessed value, a Massachusetts-licensed real estate agent with recent closed comparables for the specific neighborhood, FEMA's Flood Map Service Center plus a licensed Massachusetts insurance agent for any waterfront or near-waterfront parcel, and a Massachusetts-licensed real estate attorney or tax professional before making any purchase decision. Nothing on this page is legal, tax, insurance, or financial advice.