Hampshire County, Massachusetts

Hampshire County is a county in Massachusetts, United States, in the Pioneer Valley about 20 miles north of Springfield. It had a population of 162,308 at the 2020 census, an estimated 164,065 by 2025, and covers 545 square miles (1,410 km2) centred near 42°20′N 72°40′W.

Northampton is the county seat; its postal code is 01060. Hampshire is one of a handful of Massachusetts counties with no working county government — the legislature dissolved it in 1999 and shifted courts, registries and roads to state and municipal control. The county holds 3 cities and 17 towns and no unincorporated territory at all: every acre of Hampshire sits inside one municipality or another. It runs on Eastern Time, and its FIPS code is 25015.

Towns & Villages in Hampshire County

Hampshire County has 20 municipalities on record: 3 cities and 17 towns. Unlike most US counties, Massachusetts has no unincorporated communities and no civil townships — a resident’s mail, taxes and local government all run through one of the 20 places below, so this list is complete by definition.

Westhampton and Pelham are the two municipalities with no ZIP of their own: Westhampton mail runs through Easthampton’s 01027, and Pelham’s through Amherst’s 01002. Several of the names people search for in Hampshire — Florence, Leeds and Haydenville within Northampton, South Hadley Falls within South Hadley, North Amherst within Amherst — are historic village names and USPS delivery points, not separate municipalities; they carry their own ZIPs but no local government distinct from their parent town.

ZIP Codes

• 01002, 01003, 01004 — Amherst (01002 also covers Pelham; 01003/01004 are UMass Amherst campus codes)
• 01059 — North Amherst
• 01060, 01061, 01063 — Northampton
• 01062 — Florence (part of Northampton)
• 01053 — Leeds (part of Northampton)
• 01039 — Haydenville (part of Northampton)
• 01075 — South Hadley
• 01027 — Easthampton (also covers Westhampton)
• 01007 — Belchertown
• 01082 — Ware
• 01073 — Southampton
• 01033 — Granby
• 01035 — Hadley
• 01038 — Hatfield
• 01066 — North Hatfield
• 01088 — West Hatfield
• 01096 — Williamsburg
• 01050 — Huntington
• 01098 — Worthington
• 01012 — Chesterfield
• 01084 — West Chesterfield
• 01032 — Goshen
• 01026 — Cummington
• 01070 — Plainfield
• 01243 — Middlefield

That is 25 ZIP codes serving 20 municipalities, since several larger towns and Northampton’s historic villages carry their own code while Westhampton and Pelham share their neighbours’.

Geography

Hampshire County sits in the Pioneer Valley, the stretch of the Connecticut River lowland that splits western Massachusetts from the Berkshire hills. Of its 545 square miles, 527 are land and 18 are water, about 3.3 percent. The Connecticut River runs the length of the county’s eastern-central section past Hadley, Hatfield and Northampton, and the volcanic ridge of the Holyoke Range, including Mount Tom, rises abruptly from the valley floor along the Hadley–Easthampton line. The county’s hill towns — Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Middlefield, Plainfield and Worthington — climb into the Berkshire foothills in the west, while Ware, in the county’s eastern corner, borders the Quabbin Reservoir, the state’s largest public water supply.

Franklin County lies to the north, Worcester County to the east, Hampden County to the south, and Berkshire County to the west; Hampshire is the only Massachusetts county bordered on every side by other counties rather than open coastline or another state. Franklin County, Worcester County, Hampden County and Berkshire County all border Hampshire directly.

Demographics

Hampshire County had a population of 162,308 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the county near 164,065 residents. Amherst and Northampton are the two largest communities, together holding more than 40 percent of the county’s population; Amherst’s count is inflated by roughly 30,000 students at UMass Amherst, Amherst College and Hampshire College who are counted where they live during the school year. Median household income runs $87,001 (Data USA, 2024), below Massachusetts’s statewide figure of $99,858 (2023 ACS) — a gap driven largely by the student population’s low reported income. Population density works out to roughly 308 people per square mile of land, concentrated in the valley towns and thin across the western hill towns.

Economy & Local Life

Educational services employ the most workers in the county, about 19,022 people, followed by health care and social assistance at 12,348 and retail trade at 8,418. The University of Massachusetts Amherst, the flagship of the state university system, anchors the county’s economy along with the four other members of the Five Colleges Consortium — Amherst College, Smith College and Hampshire College in Amherst and Northampton, and Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley. Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton and Baystate Health facilities in South Hadley and Ware are the county’s largest health care employers. Northampton’s downtown, built on a 20th-century arts and music revival, carries the county’s densest cluster of restaurants, galleries and independent shops. The county’s biggest annual event is Northampton Pride, held the first Saturday in May, one of the longest-running LGBTQ pride celebrations in the United States.

History

The Massachusetts General Court organized Hampshire County in 1662, taking territory west of Middlesex and Suffolk counties along the Connecticut River. It was named for the English county of Hampshire. The original county was enormous, covering nearly all of present-day western Massachusetts; the legislature carved Berkshire County out of it in 1761 and both Franklin and Hampden counties out of it in 1811, leaving Hampshire at roughly its current size.

Pelham was the home of Daniel Shays, the Revolutionary War veteran who led Shays’ Rebellion, an armed uprising of indebted farmers against courts and tax collectors that swept through the county in 1786 and 1787. In the 1930s the state disincorporated three Hampshire towns — Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott, along with Worcester County’s Dana — flooding their land to build the Quabbin Reservoir; Ware, on the reservoir’s eastern edge, absorbed part of the displaced population. County government itself ended in 1999, when Massachusetts dissolved Hampshire’s administrative functions along with several other county governments statewide, though the historic Hampshire County Courthouse still stands in Northampton.

Getting There

Interstate 91 runs north–south through the county’s Connecticut River towns, past Northampton, Hadley and Hatfield. US Route 5 parallels it along the river, and Massachusetts Routes 9, 10 and 202 cross the county east–west and north–south respectively; no interstate crosses the western hill towns.

• Springfield — about 20 miles south
• Holyoke — about 10 miles south
• Greenfield — about 15 miles north
• Worcester — about 50 miles east

Bradley International Airport, in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, roughly 30 miles south of Northampton, is the nearest major commercial airport. Northampton’s own airport handles general aviation only. Amtrak’s Vermonter and Valley Flyer trains stop at Northampton station, connecting to Springfield, Hartford and points north into Vermont.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Hampshire County located?
It sits in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, about 20 miles north of Springfield, bordered by Franklin, Worcester, Hampden and Berkshire counties.

What is the population of Hampshire County?
162,308 at the 2020 census, with a 2025 estimate near 164,065.

How big is Hampshire County?
545 square miles (1,410 km2), of which 527 square miles are land.

What is the county seat of Hampshire County?
Northampton is the county seat, though Amherst is the county’s most populous municipality.

How many towns and cities are in Hampshire County?
Twenty: three cities — Amherst, Northampton and Easthampton — and 17 towns, from South Hadley down to Middlefield.

What ZIP codes does Hampshire County use?
25 codes across the county’s municipalities and historic villages, from 01002 in Amherst to 01243 in Middlefield; Westhampton and Pelham share their neighbours’ codes.

Does Hampshire County have a county government?
No. Massachusetts dissolved Hampshire’s county government in 1999; courts, registries and roads now run through state and municipal agencies instead.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Massachusetts.