Lawrence, MA
Tracking 13,488 properties across Lawrence, Massachusetts — a community where the median home dates to 1920. Every parcel mapped with building characteristics, environmental exposure, hazard risk, and ownership history assembled from 140+ sources.
Lawrence, MAInc. 1655
Lawrence was purpose-built as a planned industrial city in 1845, designed from the start around the textile mills powered by the Merrimack River. The city's grid street pattern, its dense rows of worker housing, and its massive mill buildings all date to this industrial founding. Lawrence experienced the full arc of New England manufacturing — rapid growth through the late 1800s, the Bread and Roses Strike of 1912, steady decline through the mid-20th century, and ongoing reinvention since.
Today Lawrence has one of the youngest and most diverse populations in Massachusetts, and its housing stock reflects the city's industrial DNA: dense multi-family buildings, triple-deckers, and converted mill spaces dominate. Single-family homes are the minority. For property professionals, Lawrence presents urban density, older construction, and a housing stock where building condition varies enormously — a well-maintained triple-decker and a building with deferred maintenance can be side by side.
The Merrimack River creates flood exposure through the center of the city, and the September 2018 gas explosions in the Merrimack Valley affected Lawrence directly, highlighting the infrastructure risks in older urban housing stock. Fire protection, building condition assessment, and environmental compliance are all critical considerations for any property discipline operating in this market.
Risk Profile
FEMA flood zones, fire protection grades, radon — parcel by parcel
FEMA Flood Zones
1,192 properties (9%) 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
13,488 properties · Median year built 1920 · Avg 9,402 sf
Property Types
Construction by Era
Architectural Styles
Market Activity
Recorded transactions from Essex County Registry of Deeds
NE Provenance tracks recorded deeds, mortgages, and liens for 95% of Lawrence 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
14,691 municipal building permits on file · 27% of properties
NE Provenance tracks 14,691 building permits across 3,660 Lawrence properties — 27% coverage. 2,320 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 Lawrence
Essex County · Massachusetts
Lawrence covers 7.4 square miles in Essex County, Massachusetts. The median assessed property value is $439K.
Single-family homes account for 4,630 of Lawrence's 13,488 properties, with 538 condominiums and 6,198 multi-family buildings. There are 876 commercial properties. About 54% 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 $332K and $569K, with the highest assessed property at $118.5M. For professionals working in this market, the value spread tells you a lot about what you'll encounter door to door.
Most of Lawrence (100%) is on municipal sewer. Electric service is provided by National Grid (Massachusetts Electric). 2,158 properties have identified commercial activity — restaurants, retail, professional offices, and services that give Lawrence its character.
Environmental note: Lawrence has an average EPA lead paint indicator at the 81th percentile nationally, consistent with 813 properties built before 1900 when lead paint was standard. 13,487 properties exceed at least one EPA environmental justice threshold — a factor in lending compliance and environmental due diligence.
What Lawrence Property Intelligence Means for Professionals
Insurance & Underwriting
Lawrence's fire protection grade distribution (3,519 Grade A, 9,303 Grade B) directly affects premium calculation. Parcel-level hazard data provides the granularity that ZIP-level aggregation misses.
Insurance solutionsReal Estate & Appraisal
Lawrence's 10 property types, spanning construction from 1800 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. 9% of Lawrence 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
14,691 permits across 27% of properties means most Lawrence inspection assignments can start with documented renovation and system history, not a blank slate.
Inspection solutionsExplore Lawrence property intelligence.
13,488 Lawrence 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/lawrence-ma. For references or attribution, please link back to this page or neprovenance.com. Thank you, we appreciate it.