Gardner, MA
Tracking 7,163 properties across Gardner, Massachusetts — a community where the median home dates to 1948 and the oldest to 1670. Every parcel mapped with building characteristics, environmental exposure, hazard risk, and ownership history assembled from 140+ sources.
Gardner, MAInc. 1764
Gardner is known as the "Chair City" for its furniture manufacturing heritage — the massive chair sculpture downtown is the town's most recognized landmark. The city's industrial past built a compact downtown with mill buildings and surrounding residential neighborhoods of multi-family and single-family homes. Gardner's economy has diversified, but the built environment still reflects its manufacturing roots.
For property professionals, Gardner is one of the more affordable markets in Worcester County, with a dense, older housing stock in the center and suburban development on the periphery. Building condition varies significantly, and the industrial heritage brings environmental screening considerations for some parcels.
Risk Profile
FEMA flood zones, fire protection grades, radon — parcel by parcel
FEMA Flood Zones
177 properties (2%) are in FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas, where flood insurance is required for federally-backed mortgages.
Fire Protection Grades
Fire protection grades reflect proximity to fire stations and hydrant infrastructure. Grade affects insurance pricing in every New England state.
The Property Landscape
7,163 properties · Median year built 1948 · Avg 2,402 sf
Property Types
Construction by Era
Architectural Styles
Market Activity
Recorded transactions from Worcester County Registry of Deeds
NE Provenance tracks recorded deeds, mortgages, and liens for 97% of Gardner properties. Ownership intelligence includes transaction history, entity detection, portfolio identification, and lien analysis — assembled from public registry records into a single property-level profile.
Building Permits & Maintenance
30,316 municipal building permits on file · 69% of properties
NE Provenance tracks 30,316 building permits across 4,924 Gardner properties — 69% coverage. 3,872 properties have permit activity in the last five years.
Each permit record reveals maintenance decisions: roof replacements, electrical upgrades, kitchen renovations, solar installations. For insurance, lending, and appraisal professionals, permit history is the most objective evidence of property condition available from public records.
Living in Gardner
Worcester County · Massachusetts
Gardner covers 23.0 square miles in Worcester County, Massachusetts. The median assessed property value is $304K.
Single-family homes account for 4,086 of Gardner's 7,163 properties and 1,626 multi-family buildings. There are 292 commercial properties and 425 parcels of vacant land. About 64% of properties are owner-occupied, and 3% are owned by someone out of state.
Assessed values range widely — the middle 50% of properties fall between $235K and $377K, with the highest assessed property at $94.2M. For professionals working in this market, the value spread tells you a lot about what you'll encounter door to door.
Most of Gardner (88%) is on municipal sewer, and 89% have public water service. Electric service is provided by FITCHBURG GAS & ELEC LIGHT CO. 634 properties have identified commercial activity — restaurants, retail, professional offices, and services that give Gardner its character. 109 properties have swimming pools.
Environmental note: Gardner has an average EPA lead paint indicator at the 56th percentile nationally, consistent with 576 properties built before 1900 when lead paint was standard. 928 properties exceed at least one EPA environmental justice threshold — a factor in lending compliance and environmental due diligence.
What Gardner Property Intelligence Means for Professionals
Insurance & Underwriting
Gardner's fire protection grade distribution (841 Grade A, 3,069 Grade B) directly affects premium calculation. Parcel-level hazard data provides the granularity that ZIP-level aggregation misses.
Insurance solutionsReal Estate & Appraisal
Gardner's 10 property types, spanning construction from 1670 to present, require local market knowledge for accurate comparable selection and valuation. NEP assembles building characteristics, environmental exposure, and condition signals into a single property profile.
Real estate solutionsLending & Title
Collateral assessment requires flood zone verification, environmental screening, and ownership chain validation. 2% of Gardner properties are in SFHAs where flood insurance is a federal lending requirement. NEP provides property-level compliance data from public records.
Lending solutionsInspection & Property Services
30,316 permits across 69% of properties means most Gardner inspection assignments can start with documented renovation and system history, not a blank slate.
Inspection solutionsExplore Gardner property intelligence.
7,163 Gardner properties — each with risk profiles, building data, permit history, and ownership analysis from 140+ sources. Open any property and see the full picture.
Source: NE Provenance, “Professional Property Intelligence for New England,” neprovenance.com/insights/town/gardner-ma. For references or attribution, please link back to this page or neprovenance.com. Thank you, we appreciate it.