Landlord & Rentals

October 18, 2026 By Krista Recker

Last updated: October 18, 2026
FRESHNESS: rate/stat-dependent

LIFESTYLE

How Much Does It Cost to Live in Quincy MA in 2026? (Rent, Mortgage, Utilities, Taxes, and a Real Monthly Budget)

October 18, 2026 | By Krista Recker

A single person renting a typical one bedroom in Quincy should plan on about $4,500 to $5,300 a month after taxes for rent, utilities, food, transportation, health costs, and everyday spending, which usually implies a pre-tax salary somewhere in the $75,000 to $90,000 range depending on your deductions and health coverage. A family of four that owns a median priced Quincy home with one child in daycare is closer to $11,000 to $12,000 a month, because the mortgage on a $670,000 house at today's rates is about $3,665 before taxes and insurance, and infant care in Norfolk County runs about $2,400 a month on its own.

Those are the two numbers people are actually asking for when they type this question, so I put them first. The rest of this post shows the line items underneath them, where each figure comes from, and which ones you can move. I sell real estate in Quincy and I am not a financial planner, so treat this as a budgeting framework built from published sources, and swap in your own rent, car, and childcare numbers before you make a decision.

Who this applies to

This post is for you if any of these describes your situation:

• You are moving to Quincy from Boston, from another state, or from another South Shore town and need a realistic monthly budget before you sign a lease or write an offer.
• You are a first time buyer trying to figure out whether your income supports owning in Quincy or whether renting for another year makes more sense.
• You are a landlord or investor who wants to know what tenants in Quincy are actually spending, so you can price a unit against a real household budget rather than a listing average.
• You are a parent weighing Quincy against a town farther out, and childcare and commuting are the two costs that will decide it.
• You are relocating for a job and your employer asked you to estimate your cost of living for a salary conversation.

What is the total monthly cost of living in Quincy MA?

Published calculators put Quincy's cost of living at roughly $3,800 a month for a single person and about $8,300 a month for a family of four, and both of those are low for anyone paying 2026 market rent or a 2026 mortgage. Salary.com's Quincy page lists $3,789 a month for a single and $8,343 for a family of four, and rates the city 53% above the national average. The MIT Living Wage Calculator, which is more conservative about what counts as a necessity, puts the required after tax income for one adult with no children in Norfolk County at $59,032 a year, or about $4,919 a month, and the pre-tax income to get there at $75,532. For two working adults with two children it lists $158,114 after tax and $201,954 before tax, which is about $13,200 a month in required household expenses and income combined.

The gap between those two sources is housing. MIT's Norfolk County housing allowance for a single adult is $31,035 a year, or $2,586 a month, which lines up with a real Quincy one bedroom. The cheaper calculators lean on older or county wide rent data that includes towns with far lower rents than Quincy. If you want a number to plan around, use the MIT figures as the floor and add what your actual rent or mortgage runs above $2,586.

Figures checked against the MIT Living Wage Calculator for Norfolk County, data dated February 15, 2026, and Salary.com's Quincy cost of living page in October 2026.

How much does housing cost in Quincy in 2026?

Renting a one bedroom in Quincy costs about $2,500 to $2,700 a month in fall 2026, and owning a median priced home costs about $4,500 to $4,700 a month before utilities. Housing is the line that decides everything else, so here is each option with its source.

Rent. Apartment List's September 2026 Quincy report puts the citywide median rent at $2,295 a month, which captures the whole housing stock including the second floor of a Wollaston two family. RentCafe's August 31, 2026 snapshot, which is weighted toward larger managed buildings in Quincy Center and North Quincy, puts the average at $2,777, with a one bedroom averaging about $2,568. A realistic plan for a one bedroom you would actually want to live in is $2,500 to $2,700. A two bedroom in a newer building runs $3,000 to $3,300.

Owning. Redfin reported a Quincy median sale price of $669,557 for the three months ending August 2026. With 20% down, the loan is $535,646, and at the Freddie Mac 30 year fixed average of 7.28% released October 1, 2026, the principal and interest payment is about $3,665 a month. Add property tax at Quincy's FY2026 residential rate of $11.78 per $1,000 of assessed value, which would be about $657 a month if the city assessed the home at that same $669,557 (assessments and sale prices often differ, so check the actual assessment), and homeowners insurance at the Massachusetts statewide average of $2,371 a year, about $198 a month, and you are at roughly $4,520 a month before a single utility bill. With 10% down and mortgage insurance, the same house is closer to $5,100. These payment figures assume a 30 year fixed loan, 20% down, no condo fee, and the rate a well qualified borrower would see on the survey date; your rate, points, credit, and closing date will move the number.

Condo owners trade a lower purchase price for a monthly fee. A Quincy one bedroom condo around $375,000 with a $450 condo fee runs about $3,200 a month all in with 10% down, which is still $500 to $700 more than renting the equivalent unit. Two weeks ago I broke that comparison down line by line in the rent vs. buy post, so I will not repeat it here.

Figures checked against Apartment List's September 2026 Quincy Rent Report, RentCafe's Quincy market page dated August 31, 2026, Redfin's Quincy market page captured September 17, 2026, the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey dated October 1, 2026, the City of Quincy Assessors Office FY2026 rate, and the Massachusetts Division of Insurance 2024 homeowners premium data.

How much are utilities in Quincy MA?

Plan on $250 to $350 a month for utilities in a Quincy apartment and $400 to $600 a month in a single family house, with the biggest swing coming from winter heat. Here is the breakdown.

Electricity. Massachusetts residential electricity averaged about 29.6 cents per kilowatt hour in mid 2026 with a typical monthly bill around $170, among the highest in the country. Quincy is served by National Grid, whose basic service supply rate rose to about 17.2 cents per kWh on August 1, 2026, before delivery charges are added. As a planning estimate from the Quincy bills I see in transactions, a one bedroom apartment with gas heat typically lands at $80 to $120 a month, and a house with electric heat or central air can double that in January or July.

Heat. Most Quincy homes heat with natural gas from National Grid, and a lot of the older housing stock in Wollaston, Houghs Neck, and Quincy Point still runs on oil. These are planning ranges rather than published averages: a gas heated two bedroom typically costs $60 to $100 a month averaged over the year, with winter months at $150 to $250, and oil heat in an older, drafty single family can run $300 to $500 a month from December through March. Ask the seller or landlord for the last 12 months of bills; in Massachusetts a landlord has to tell you which utilities you pay before you sign.

Water and sewer. The City of Quincy charges $10.00 per 100 cubic feet for water and $18.56 per 100 cubic feet for sewer as of July 2026, a combined $28.56 per hundred cubic feet. A two person household using 6 hundred cubic feet a month (about 4,500 gallons) pays about $171 a month; a family using 9 pays about $257. Renters usually do not pay this directly in multi family buildings, but owners of single families and condos do, and it is the utility that surprises people who move from a city where water was cheap.

Internet and mobile. MIT budgets $2,029 a year for internet and mobile for a single adult, about $169 a month. A standalone home internet plan in Quincy runs $50 to $90 a month depending on the provider and promotion.

Figures checked against the City of Quincy Department of Public Works water and sewer rates page published August 6, 2026, National Grid's August 1, 2026 basic service rate, and Massachusetts statewide electricity averages reported for June through September 2026.

How much does it cost to get around Quincy?

Commuting by Red Line costs $90 a month for an MBTA Monthly LinkPass, and owning a car in Quincy costs roughly $500 to $800 a month once you count insurance, excise tax, gas, and parking. The difference between those two numbers is one of the biggest savings a Quincy resident can choose.

The MBTA. A subway one way fare is $2.40 and the Monthly LinkPass is $90, good for unlimited subway and local bus. Quincy has four Red Line stations (North Quincy, Wollaston, Quincy Center, and Quincy Adams), so most of the city is within a 15 minute walk or a short bus ride of a train. Quincy Center is also a Zone 1 Commuter Rail stop, and that monthly pass is $214 on a CharlieTicket. Since September 1, 2026, the T has been piloting unlimited transfers between subway, bus, and ferry inside a two hour window, which drops the cost of a bus to train commute to a single fare.

A car. Massachusetts car insurance averages vary widely by source, from about $1,200 a year for a clean driver with a basic full coverage policy to $2,400 to $3,600 a year in broader 2026 surveys, so budget $100 to $300 a month depending on your record and vehicle. Massachusetts motor vehicle excise tax is $25 per $1,000 of the state's valuation, billed annually by the city, so a car valued at $25,000 costs $625 a year, or about $52 a month, and the valuation steps down as the car ages. Add gas, maintenance, and parking. Many Quincy apartments charge $100 to $250 a month for a garage or deeded space in newer buildings, while street parking in the older neighborhoods is free but tight.

MIT's transportation allowance for a single adult in Norfolk County is $8,425 a year, about $702 a month, and that assumes car ownership. If you can live near a Red Line station and skip the car, you can replace that line with $90.

Figures checked against MBTA fare pages in October 2026, Mass.gov's motor vehicle excise guide, and 2026 Massachusetts car insurance surveys from multiple providers.

What taxes do you pay living in Quincy MA?

Massachusetts has a flat 5% income tax, a 6.25% sales tax that exempts most groceries and clothing under $175, and Quincy's FY2026 residential property tax rate is $11.78 per $1,000 of assessed value. There is no local income tax and no local sales tax add on.

Income tax. The state rate is 5% on wages, interest, and most other income, with a 4% surtax on the portion of income above about $1.1 million. On a $90,000 salary the state takes about $4,500 before deductions and exemptions. Massachusetts also has a paid family and medical leave payroll deduction that shows up on your pay stub.

Property tax. At $11.78 per $1,000, a Quincy home assessed at $669,557 pays about $7,887 a year. As of the December 2025 tax classification hearing, Quincy had not adopted the owner occupied residential exemption that Boston and about two dozen other Massachusetts communities use (it was raised at that hearing as an idea, not enacted), so an owner occupant and an investor currently pay the same rate on the same assessment. The bill is based on the city's assessed value, not your purchase price, and the two can differ, so check the assessment on any specific property.

Sales tax. 6.25% statewide. Groceries, most clothing items under $175, and prescriptions are exempt, which matters for a family budget. Restaurant meals are taxed, and Quincy adds the optional 0.75% local meals tax that most Greater Boston cities have adopted, bringing meals to 7%.

Excise tax. $25 per $1,000 of vehicle valuation per year, covered above.

Figures checked against the Massachusetts Department of Revenue tax rate pages and the City of Quincy Assessors Office in October 2026.

How much do groceries and food cost in Quincy?

A single adult should plan on about $435 a month for groceries in Quincy and a family of four about $1,270, before eating out. MIT's food budget for one adult in Norfolk County is $5,211 a year; for two adults and two children it is $15,251 a year, about $1,271 a month. Those are home cooked, no restaurant numbers.

Quincy's grocery options cover the whole price range, which helps. Stop & Shop and Star Market handle the standard shop. Kam Man on Quincy Avenue and the smaller Asian markets in North Quincy and along Hancock Street are noticeably cheaper for produce, rice, and seafood than the chains, and a lot of Quincy households shop both. A new Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are in the mix for Quincy Center, which I covered last month. Eating out in Quincy runs about $18 to $25 a person for a casual lunch and $60 to $80 a person for a sit down dinner with a drink, plus the 7% meals tax.

How much is childcare in Quincy MA?

Full time infant care at a licensed center in Norfolk County averages about $2,400 a month, or $28,860 a year, in 2026, according to private childcare cost surveys rather than a state figure. Individual Quincy centers list starting rates from about $1,690 to $2,256 a month, and home based family daycare runs $1,600 to $2,100. MIT's childcare allowance for one child in Norfolk County is $31,070 a year, and $56,165 for two. For many Quincy families, childcare is the second largest line after housing and sometimes the largest.

Preschool age care drops to roughly $1,600 to $2,000 a month. Quincy Public Schools runs free full day kindergarten, and before and after school programs through the district and the YMCA typically cost $200 to $500 a month, so the budget eases significantly once a child turns five.

Figures checked against Norfolk County childcare cost surveys published in 2026 and the MIT Living Wage Calculator.

What does a real Quincy monthly budget look like?

Here are two sample budgets built from the figures above. Every row stands on its own, so pull out the ones that match your situation.

Line item	Single renter, one bedroom near the Red Line, no car	Family of four, owns a $670,000 house, one car, one child in daycare
Housing	$2,600 rent for a Quincy one bedroom at the fall 2026 market midpoint	$4,520 for principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $669,557 home at 7.28% with 20% down
Utilities	$230 for electric, gas heat share, internet, and mobile in a Quincy apartment	$600 for electric, gas, water and sewer at Quincy's $28.56 per hundred cubic feet, internet, and mobile
Transportation	$90 MBTA Monthly LinkPass for unlimited Red Line and bus	$700 for insurance, excise, gas, and maintenance on one car, per MIT's Norfolk County allowance
Food	$435 groceries per MIT's Norfolk County single adult budget	$1,270 groceries for two adults and two children per MIT
Childcare	$0	$2,400 full time infant care at a Norfolk County center
Health care	$350 for an employer plan premium share and out of pocket costs, per MIT's $4,161 annual allowance	$1,025 per MIT's $12,282 annual allowance for a family with two children
Everything else	$600 for clothing, household goods, personal care, and entertainment	$850 for the same categories for a family
Monthly total	About $4,305	About $11,365
Pre-tax income needed	About $75,000 to $90,000	About $190,000 to $210,000

The single renter total lands below MIT's $4,919 after tax requirement mostly because I dropped the car. Add a car back and it climbs to about $5,000. The family total assumes the house is already purchased with 20% down; with 10% down and mortgage insurance, the housing line rises by about $580 and the total crosses $12,000.

Is Quincy expensive compared to Boston and the rest of the country?

Quincy costs roughly 40 to 55% more than the national average to live in, depending on which calculator you use, and about 8% less than Boston, with housing accounting for almost all of both gaps. The median Quincy home at $669,557 is well below a comparable Boston property, and a Quincy one bedroom at $2,600 is $500 to $900 a month less than the same unit in the South End or Seaport. Utilities, groceries, insurance, and the T cost about the same in both cities. If you are deciding between the two, the full comparison is in last month's post on whether it is cheaper to buy in Quincy than in Boston.

Compared to the rest of the South Shore, Quincy is more expensive than Weymouth, Braintree, and Randolph on a per square foot basis, and the premium is the Red Line. You pay more for the house and less to get to work.

The Bottom Line

Living in Quincy in 2026 costs a single renter about $4,300 to $5,000 a month and a family that owns a median home with a child in daycare about $11,000 to $12,000 a month. Housing is 55 to 60% of that in either case, so it is the only line where a decision changes the whole budget. The levers that actually move the number are these: live within walking distance of a Red Line station and skip the car, which saves $600 a month; rent in the older two and three family housing stock rather than a new elevator building, which saves $300 to $500 a month; and if you are buying, put down enough to avoid mortgage insurance and know the assessed value before you fall in love with the kitchen.

If you are working out whether Quincy fits your budget, as a renter, a buyer, or an investor pricing a unit, reach out through the contact page. I will walk through the actual numbers for the neighborhood and property type you are looking at, so you are deciding with real figures rather than a calculator average.