Barnstable County, MA

What LandBenchmark can tell you about a parcel in Barnstable County — and, just as importantly, what it can't.

Land area
394.2
sq mi
Water area
911.3
sq mi
County FIPS
25001
Center
41.706, -70.165

Area and center from the US Census Bureau 2023 Gazetteer.

Measured terrain around the Barnstable County centroid

Centroid elevation
17
m (56 ft)
Terrain relief
38
m spread (p95−p5, ~20–40 km window)

The county center sits at about 17 m above sea level. Elevation across the sampled window spreads 38 m — gently rolling terrain by our banding (flat <30 m · gently rolling 30–100 m · hilly 100–300 m · mountainous >300 m). Water covers about 70% of the county's area (Census Gazetteer). These are county-scale context, not parcel measurements — a specific parcel gets its own slope, flood and usable-acreage readings when analyzed.

Elevation measured 2026-07-21 from the AWS Terrain Tiles (terrarium encoding, z10).

Data available for Barnstable County

  • Owner of record, parcel number, assessed value and the county's parcel boundaryMassachusetts publishes these as open data (MassGIS — Level 3 Standardized Assessor Parcels). LandBenchmark reads them directly.
  • No township/range legal description. Massachusetts is a metes-and-bounds state with no PLSS grid.
  • FEMA flood zones, wetlands, soil survey and NCCPI soil productivity — the federal layers, all free and all available here.
  • 56 measured signals from satellite imagery and public records — slope and usable acreage, observed surface water, vegetation trend, wildfire and seismic hazard, access and neighboring land use. Each one cites its method, its source, and the date it was observed.

LandBenchmark has no listings and does not know what is for sale in Barnstable County. It analyses a parcel you point it at. It is an automated Phase-1 desk screen, not a survey, a flood determination, or a substitute for on-site inspection.

Common questions about land in Barnstable County

Can I see who owns a parcel in Barnstable County?

Yes — Massachusetts publishes parcel ownership as open data (MassGIS — Level 3 Standardized Assessor Parcels), so a LandBenchmark report on a Barnstable County parcel shows the owner of record, parcel number and assessed value, cited to the state dataset.

How hilly is Barnstable County?

Around the county center, measured elevation spreads 38 m across a ~20–40 km window — gently rolling terrain by our banding. Individual parcels vary: a report measures the actual slope and usable acreage of the parcel you point it at.

What can LandBenchmark measure for a parcel in Barnstable County?

56 measured signals, each cited with source and observation date: FEMA flood zone plus surface water observed in multi-year imagery, USFWS wetlands, USDA soil survey and productivity, slope and usable acreage, wildfire and seismic hazard, access and surroundings. What a satellite cannot verify — title, zoning, perc results, water rights — goes on a human-verify checklist naming the Barnstable County offices that can.

Nearest neighboring counties