Why is Beverly MA the Hottest Zip Code in the US?

To understand why Beverly, MA was anointed the Hottest Zip Code in the US by Realtor.com, you’ll need to understand where Beverly came from and the choice it represents from the surrounding area of cities.

The selection criteria for the hottest zip code of home sales comes from online metrics from the Realtor.com website. The hottest areas are determined to be those that have the most online “watchers” per home listing. This is combined with a metric to determine fast selling homes – signaling a near anemic supply.

The Fast Selling home metric measures how quick the property went from “List date” to “Under Contract” in days. Abundance of watchers and very few days puts a city higher on the list.

Keep in mind Leominster MA came in at number 3 (on a national list of 20,000 cities and towns).

Leominster and Beverly are both former mill towns. The grit, soot and industrial accidents are long gone. Yet Leominster still has its share of boarded up storefronts plus an above average rate of violent crime.

Beverly elevated out of that status mainly thanks to two real estate developers that undertook courageous risks and made a personal investment in downtown Beverly in the 90’s and early 2000’s (more below).

A power outage of more than a few minutes in Beverly could have altered the ordering of the Hottest Zip Code list (accumulated “watchers” may have varied by just one or two). Then Leominster would have shuffled to the #1 national ranked city before your Wi-Fi router even rebooted.

And if you’re thinking the Hottest Zip Code Ranking is a result of Beverly’s beaches, schools and coffee shops and that is why an underdog like Beverly rocketed to the top of the Hottest Cities in America list, think again.

Let’s dive in.

For the past 25 years we’ve asked our new customers inbound to Beverly “how did you first discover Beverly?”

Asking that question helps establish the “Why” behind a home purchase.

With that hidden “Why” revealed (FYI there’s a Why behind every home purchase) we can discover crucial details and motivations that allow us to bring more value to the work that we do (but that’s another story for another time).

I do not believe that the proximity to Boston is the driving force behind Beverly being named the hottest zip code in the United States (I’ll explain the true reasons below). Our company’s new “implants” to Beverly seldom work in Boston. If they do, they’re probably renting in one of the low-rise apartments along the Rantoul Street “canyon” and taking the train to town. Tenants paying for expensive apartments don’t contribute to a Hot Zip Code according to Realtor.coms’ Home Sales criteria.

Rantoul Street started as a cobblestoned industrial zone lined with 4 story brick mill buildings. Where there weren’t factories, there were seedy bars and rooming houses. There were a fair amount of homelessness and hypodermic needles. Chemical tank train cars rolled down the middle of Water Street. As the looming chemical “tank farms” were removed from the waterfront, gradually the factories and rooming houses started to shutter (some burned, one tragically).

If you want to attribute a specific event that “turned around” Beverly, you’d want to thank the late Steve Dodge of Windover. He was essentially Downtown Beverly’s foster parent. His first “from-scratch” condo development of an eyesore block was the start of slow segue through gentrification. More projects followed. Then restaurants tentatively opened when they could scrape together funds from friends and family (local banks wouldn’t touch them). Once the downtown matured it became safe, walkable and actually quite enjoyable.

Before we get into the true reasons Beverly is the Hottest Zip Code in the country, let’s go over a few reasons why it isn’t.

Inaccurate Reasons listed by Realtor.com

Let’s go through a few Reasons cited by Realtor.com for Beverly being The Hottest Zip Code. Obviously they are wildly inaccurate:

The employers and companies that Realtor.com cited aren’t even remotely close to impacting the hottest factor list.

As for major employers located in Beverly?

Realtor.com lists CVS Health, US Postal Service and DoorDash.

If you’re from New England you know CVS is headquartered in Woonsocket RI. Woonsocket is so depressed it has a 30 year abandoned bank downtown. It’s true that the first CVS store was in Massachusetts, just not in Beverly. (it was in Lowell MA). And for what it’s worth Beverly, like every other town in America seems to have a CVS. Beverly even has TWO.

The USPS does have a strong presence in Beverly with 4 post offices.

There is a distribution center as well. But as for thier corporate headquarters? That would be in Washington, DC. Sorry, Realtor.com

DoorDash? Sure that service is available in Beverly. Their delivery drivers double park at the Cummings Center before they stream in and out of our building throughout the day.

But their corporate headquarters in Beverly? Nope. Wrong coast. Not even a mailbox here:

AllClear Healthcare shows this image on its website:

Looks huge right? That building façade hosts 400 individual offices. AllClear is one of them. But the real AllClear office appears to have just one or two employees. Below is a photo of it.

Obviously Realtor.com never actually visited Beverly.

As for Aetna?  They are a huge brand name. We’d be honored to have them in Beverly.

But they don’t even have a small office in the Cummings Center. They certainly are not headquartered at the Cummings Center or anywhere in Beverly for that matter. We do have an Aetna salesperson in Beverly, but they share an office with another company and don’t appear on any directories.

Reasons you would think would contribute to the Hottest Zip code metric but really don’t.

Beverly has some good amenities, I’ll immodestly state they are even awesome. But they are nowhere near tops in the nation, and NO ONE is kicking a door down to get access to them, I assure you.

A host of boutique coffee shops, the transformation of the Cabot Theater, The Larcom Theater, Off Cabot, and the North Shore Music Theater was not the tide that elevated Beverly to the hottest zip code.

Nor are the 4 awesome beer breweries within a 9-iron swing of each other the reason for Beverly’s success.

What about the public beaches? Dane, Lynch Park & Woodberry Beach, Rice’s beach, Brackenberry Beach, and West Beach (public from Labor Day to Memorial Day) and the pocket beaches Independence Park, Sandy Point, and Pleasant View Beach, plus all the public right of ways to the ocean?  None of those were ever cited as the “Why” for a home purchase from our thousands of clients.

How about the 5 train stations from Beverly to Boston? Or the on/off accessibility to Rt 128. Ease of access to Logan Airport? It never came up as a primary reason for the past 25+ years other than maybe nice additional amenities.

No families come specifically for the schools (the high school is ranked at #197 out of 405 public high schools in Massachusetts).

So, what drove the “Why” behind the popular decision to relocate to Beverly?

Keep in mind that the 3rd hottest zip code on the National List of Hottest Zip Codes was Leominster. And if you’re from Leominster you’re scratching your head even harder than people from Beverly are doing today.

So, I’d argue that many nearby towns are “hotter” than Beverly and Leominster. But those towns don’t have the measurable volume to make the list. In those towns the housing stock is so sparse that the real estate “pulse” is too faint to measure.

The metrics for Hottest Zip Codes measured buyer curiosity (online “watchers”) with a quick turnover of inventory. In adjacent towns – such as Topsfield, Wenham and Manchester – those are towns that may only put up between 50 and 100 sales a year – it would hard to consider those “hot” when basically you’re talking about 16 sales per quarter.

The biggest “Why’s” for buying a Home in Beverly.

The Insiders know the true value of Beverly.

If you grew up here, you’re inclined to stay. You know just how good your childhood was. These “Insiders” displace opportunities for outsiders who want to come to Beverly. The result? Off market deals, buying your parents’ home directly, waiting patiently for a home to come for sale on a specific street and then pouncing on it with FOMO-like determination. All of those wannabe outsiders never stood a chance.

Let’s call this the vacuum effect on inventory.

Beverly provides endless “move up” options.

If you started off renting an apartment in a triple-decker in Gloucester Crossing, you can do very well in your career and later move up without moving out (of town). Did you just think of Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out” and the elongated burnout in the song like I did?

There is virtually no limit on how high up the ladder you can go while staying Inside of Beverly.

It’s like a feeder system. Tenants enjoy the city scene so much they decide to make it a permanent housing choice.

If Why’s #1 and #2 whisk away the bulk of the inventory, then remaining slim pickings create a shortage of supply (vacuum effect continues).

The inbound buyers now have to fight for the remainder of the homes ….

Buyers have a former heart-connection with Beverly.

One of our clients told us he discovered Beverly when an ex-girlfriend from college invited him to her family home over a weekend. He fell in love with Beverly but fell out of love with her. He later chose Beverly as his future homestead. While this story is a one-off, a variation of it is quite common.

That variation includes stories of graduates of nearby colleges experiencing Beverly and years later fighting strongly to regain those connections by moving back here.

Colleges include Endicott College with a great nursing program as well as a strong business program. Nearby Gordon College is virtually in Beverly (except it’s a few hundred feet into Wenham). Since there are very few apartments in Wenham, students and recent grads flow into Beverly when searching for off-campus housing. A lot of Salem State Student rent in Beverly too.

Beverly became a Tech and Banking Executives haven.

For whatever reason, many leaders in Tech and Banking put their finger on a map and covered nearly the entire village of Beverly Farms (and Prides Crossing, the 5^th and oft forgotten train station – a flag stop) and stated: “This is where I want to live.”

I suspect it started in the early days when bankers still rode the train into town, but why has that trend continued? I suspect they’re all tied into a membership golf course together. Younger career bankers and techies get invited to golf and they become an insider too. Beverly becomes an ideal “entry level” professional town. Certainly, more house to choose from than Wenham, Hamilton, Manchester, Essex and Ipswich. A gateway to the Essex County Club and Myopia regions.

Again, a batch of insiders scooping up another swath of homes before they even hit the market (even more vacuum effect).

Corporate Recruits come to Beverly (just not Aetna, DoorDash or CVS).

A certain percentage of the buyers we represent have a professional affiliation to the area. Primarily starting at the Cummings Center, a multi-acre business metropolis downtown that houses 550 business and boasts over 2 million square/ft of professional office, medical and biotechnology space. The campus has several restaurants, gyms and walking paths around a pair of picturesque ponds. Workers are recruited or hired by businesses. This revitalized 2 million square foot office park has become the city’s flagship centerpiece. Had the Cummings Center not been redeveloped by Bill Cummings, Beverly would absolutely NOT be on the list of the Hottest Zip Codes in the US. Full stop.

Workers who are recruited and hired by businesses fall in love with the area and then choose to make it their home, if they can find a home before it goes under (agreement) like Whack-a-Mole.

Nearby, Cherry Hill Office Park (half Beverly, half Danvers) has some corporate heavy hitters like Abiomed (now Johnson & Johnson), Medtronic, and American Renal. Those companies attract talent that needs to relocate here. And no offense against Danvers, but if you’re going to give yourself a choice, I don’t think Danvers wins on many attributes to buy a home in.

Beverly Airport.

Let’s face it, not too many people can afford to fly private. Admittedly, if a homeowner flies private, they probably aren’t a typical mortgage client for GoldCoast. But if you did have means (Ferris Bueller says from behind the wheel of a Ferrar 250 GT) , well Beverly Airport would be simply way too convenient. Also if you are a private flyer or have a plane, you’d certainly be willing to pay quite a bit more for that proximity. However small a factor that may be – it’s still a bigger draw than CVS.

Summary:  Why is Beverly the Hottest Zip Code?

Let’s say the Townies, College Alumni (and their ex’s), Move-Uppers, Banking Execs and Corporate Recruits create a vacuum effect on demand. The remaining bidders really need to act aggressively to secure a home in Beverly. Want to be part of the hottest zip code in the United States? Read here to find out if you can afford to buy a home in Beverly.

To do this they need to pay more money, close quicker and act faster. That race would probably cause the metrics to show Beverly as a red-hot market. More so than other nearby towns?

I dunno.

As someone born and raised in Beverly, who also works full-time in the real estate industry (for over a quarter century) and who does the majority of our business here in Beverly, do I fully understand the logic behind this list?

No not really.