CHICOPEE — The Family Destinations Guide recently named Chicopee one of the most affordable cities in which to live in Massachusetts.
The guide, which tracks affordable hidden gems across the nation, says Chicopee — along with a few other Western Massachusetts municipalities — are very reasonably priced.
The average cost of a home in Chicopee is about $300,000 less than the state’s average, according to Zillow, a virtual real estate agent.
This news comes on the heels of the city’s newest affordable housing offering: The Belcher Apartments, which opened last month. The apartments offer 22 affordable units and three at market rate. There are two one-bedrooms, 17 two-bedrooms and six three-bedrooms.
The city is also a fiscal 2026 recipient of a $450,000 grant from the MassWorks Infrastructure Program, which provides financial support to municipalities to help them build long-term sustainability.
Through this funding, the city will be redeveloping the Uniroyal mills, according to the office of state Sen. Jake Oliveira, D-Ludlow.
The project, which will be called the RiverMills at Chicopee Falls, will create up to 500 housing units, an emailed statement from Oliveira’s office said.
The city has completed a brownfields assessment and cleanup of the former mill property, and it is working with J. Jeffers and Co., a Wisconsin real estate development and investment firm, to build the housing.
The city said it couldn’t comment more on the project, as the details are being finalized.
The project has been a massive undertaking for the city, costing it more than $40 million to clean up and tear down about 20 buildings on the Uniroyal and Facemate properties, and to remove contaminated soils underneath.
The buildings were contaminated with a variety of hazardous waste, including asbestos, lead, PCBs and other substances. The city has received multiple state and federal grants to help with the cleanup.
The other cities cited by Family Destinations Guide include Holyoke, Springfield and Westfield.