Ludlow, MA Homes for Rent

The people who keep Ludlow, Massachusetts, ticking often don’t do it for a paycheck. For example, the local senior center’s staff of six people is supplemented year-round by more than 100 volunteers. Youth sports programs in the soccer-obsessed town are usually volunteer-led. Volunteers from churches and civic groups are typically the ones who make community events happen. “This town is pretty much run by volunteers,” says Pamela Hayes, a lifelong resident and secretary of the Ludlow Cultural Council, an all-volunteer organization. Like nearby Springfield, Ludlow thrived in the 1800s thanks to its textile mills. Industrial jobs attracted immigrants from Portugal, Poland, Ireland and Italy. Over the years these communities intermingled and intermarried, creating a mishmash of cultures that define the town of 21,000 people today. The mill jobs are gone, and Ludlow now serves as a bedroom community for Springfield. However, locals’ connections to sports, churches and cultural communities have kept many in Ludlow their entire lives and kept their families there for generations. Single-family houses are the most common type of home, with a median price of around $360,000. That’s more