LivingCostFacts / county

Berkshire County, MA: cost of living

Compare HUD rent benchmarks with household income in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. These figures describe area-wide conditions rather than a personal budget.

Pittsfield, MA metro RPP: 95.1 (BEA 2024; U.S. = 100). Regional context, not a county-specific price estimate.

BEA 2024 · HUD FY2027 · ACS 2020–2024 · CPI through 2026-10

$1,726
2BR monthly rent

HUD FY2027

27.3%
Rent / household income

Annual 2BR FMR ÷ ACS median income

$76,013
Median household income

ACS 2020–2024

$305,400
Median home value

Owner-occupied homes, ACS 2020–2024

Read the local picture

Fair Market Rent (FMR) is HUD’s estimate of the 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality rental homes occupied by recent movers. It includes rent and most tenant-paid utilities. A household’s actual rent can differ substantially by neighborhood, lease and property.

2BR rent: county vs state vs US

HUD FY2027 monthly gross FMR. State and U.S. values are population-weighted county means. Dollars per month.

  1. Berkshire County$1,726
  2. Massachusetts$2,566
  3. United States$1,761
0$2,566

Put the benchmark in context

The rent-to-income comparison uses 12 months of the 2BR FMR divided by median household income. It compares different vintages and all household types; it is not the share of renter households that are cost burdened.

Annual income vs annual 2BR rent

ACS 2020–2024 median household income and 12 × HUD FY2027 2BR FMR. Dollars per year; separate vintages and household groups.

  1. Median household income$76,013
  2. Annual 2BR rent$20,718
0$76,013

Income remaining after this rent benchmark is $55,295 per year, before taxes, food, transport, health care and other expenses.

HUD reports town-level rents here. The county-equivalent figure is a population-weighted mean using HUD’s pop2024 values; population is the sum of the included town rows.

This county or equivalent belongs to the Pittsfield, MA metro area. Its 2024 metro-wide all-items RPP is 95.1. A metro RPP is not a county-specific price estimate.

A matching metro wage page is unavailable on JobPayFacts; the wage link provides state context instead.

The data in view

Monthly rent by bedroom

HUD FY2027 gross monthly FMR; includes most tenant-paid utilities. Dollars per month.

  1. Studio$1,320
  2. 1 bedroom$1,333
  3. 2 bedrooms$1,726
  4. 3 bedrooms$2,299
  5. 4 bedrooms$2,886
0$2,886

Pittsfield, MA: RPP components

BEA 2024 regional context; each category is compared with its own U.S. = 100 benchmark. These are not county price estimates or spending shares.

  1. All items95.1
  2. Goods97.0
  3. Housing rents73.5
  4. Utilities153.7
  5. Other services101.2
0153.7

Black marker: U.S. benchmark = 100 in each row.

Monthly Fair Market Rent by bedroom

HUD 40th percentile gross rent for standard-quality units; includes tenant-paid utilities except telephone, cable and internet. These are benchmarks, not asking-rent medians.

Home sizeFY2027 monthly gross rent
Studio$1,320
1 bedroom$1,333
2 bedrooms$1,726
3 bedrooms$2,299
4 bedrooms$2,886

Homeownership and population

Property taxes are for owner-occupied homes, not a renter charge. A + marks a Census top-coded estimate.

MeasureValue
Median annual real estate taxes paid$4,036
Population used for weighting (HUD pop2024)129,430

Compare rent and income

State and U.S. rents are population-weighted means of available county benchmarks; income is the published ACS median.

Area2BR rent / monthMedian household income
Berkshire County$1,726$76,013
Massachusetts$2,566$103,960
United States$1,761$80,734