Georgetown, MA

Learn More About Georgetown, MA

Georgetown is predominantly residential and family-oriented community with a semi-rural, small town identity. Through careful land use planning, the Town has retained much of the visual character of its rural heritage of fields and woods balanced by a lively historic downtown and a small sector of clean industry. Georgetown has an involved, civic-minded population and an excellent school system. The Town has been successful in shaping change to protect its livability and natural beauty while accommodating growth and reflecting the community’s essential values.

Georgetown’s residential neighborhoods are primarily of single family homes. In recent years the Town has made efforts to accommodate a greater variety of housing choices, including condominiums and rental apartments. The town, now with a population of 8,183, experienced a 17% population increase from 2000 to 2010; a growth rate is five times the average rate of all communities in Essex County.  Most town residents are educated professionals with moderately-high incomes.  Median household income has also increased by 100% over the last two decades, reaching an estimated $101,060 in 2010.The town continues to achieve State goals for affordable housing through housing development that complements Georgetown’s character. Zoning standards and guidelines ensure that new construction is sensitive to the surrounding landscape and neighborhood.

A mixture of small-scale shops, offices, housing, and town services brings more vitality to the town center. Apartment dwellers living over shops thrive and keep an eye on the downtown activities that include new family-style restaurants, a bakery and other businesses organized in a downtown business association.  Antique shops have grown in number and have become a stable tourist attraction for the town. Patrons park in landscaped parking lots located behind buildings. The downtown is safe and appealing to pedestrians, with streetscape improvements and traffic controls to enhance walkability. Growth is attributed to excellent highway access, proximity to major employment centers and the local school system.  A Town Economic Development committee has been successful in identifying and attracting new light industry to the industrially-zoned lands near I-95, enhancing Georgetown’s tax base.

Georgetown has protected its natural resources, especially its water resources, and its semi-rural character through permanent protection of critical open spaces, creative cluster development, and public understanding of how to manage private landscapes to avoid pollution of rivers, streams and ponds. The Town’s well fields and aquifers are well protected and water quality and quantity has improved significantly from only a few decades ago. Public parks are well-maintained and a pedestrian network of trails and sidewalks links all neighborhoods with open space, town facilities, schools and the town center. The Town’s most important historic resources have been identified and given landmark protection.

The Town has built a state-of-the-art school combined with a community center serving all ages of town residents. New or upgraded town buildings for the library and public safety departments have been completed. A comprehensive wastewater management program is being implemented.

Through wise stewardship and community commitment, Georgetown is shaping change by careful planning, protection of the Town’s resources and natural environment, effective regulation, and incentives to enhance quality of life and opportunity for everyone who lives in Georgetown.