Paradise Valley in Western MA

The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of Northampton’s central neighborhoods, (excluding its outer, incorporated villages, Florence, Massachusetts and Leeds, Massachusetts,) was 28,549.

Northampton is home to prestigious Smith College and the renowned Clarke School for the Deaf. Smith students (along with those of the associated Five Colleges) contribute to Northampton’s “college town” atmosphere.

Today, Northampton is known as an artistic, musical, and counter-culture hub. It features a large and politically influential LGBT community, along with numerous alternative health and intellectual organizations.^[3] Based on U.S. Census demographics, election returns, and other criteria, the website Epodunk rates Northampton as the most politically liberal medium-sized city (population 25,000-99,000) in the United States.^[4]

Northampton is considered part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.