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Cambridge, Massachusetts - 17 schools
An equity score of 52/100 ranks Cambridge #52 of 362 districts in Massachusetts (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $38,967 per pupil, Cambridge ranks #5 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending (Massachusetts districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
6,746
Total Enrollment
17
Schools
$38,967
Per-Pupil Spending
Combined, Middle
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Cambridge operates 17 public schools serving 6,746 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Massachusetts. The school portfolio breaks down into 12 combined, 4 middle, 1 high schools, a compact enough portfolio that families can compare every campus directly before they move, rent, or enrol. These enrollment and school figures come from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 release, and the district is based in Middlesex County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $38,967 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the top 40 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending. See how Massachusetts compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 78.2% local, 17.7% state, and 4.1% federal, a local-revenue-heavy mix that leaves the district more exposed to property-tax swings and local ballot measures than state-funded peers. The district's equity score is 52/100, ranked #52 of 362 in Massachusetts against a state average of 38, notably more even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 17 schools offering Advanced Placement (20 AP courses district-wide), a 403:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 21.8% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 34.4% White, 23.3% African American, 16.1% Asian across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Putnam Avenue Upper School, with a diversity index of 78.0/100.
Its largest campus is Cambridge Rindge and Latin, enrolling 2,072 students (29% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Kennedy-Longfellow, at 215 students, a 10x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Cambridge Rindge and Latin accounts for 29.5% of all Cambridge student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Cambridge-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. Grade band: high. A single dominant campus often anchors a district's program offerings and staffing patterns; the share helps explain why district-wide averages may not reflect the typical neighbourhood-school experience. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Cambridge school enrollment varies 9.6× across entities
Cambridge school enrollment ranges from 215 students (lowest) to 2,072 students (highest), a spread of 1,857 students. That spread reflects typical mixed-portfolio variation between specialty programs and large neighbourhood schools. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Cambridge student-counselor ratio is 403:1 — high (typically associated with staffing constraints that limit per-student counselor time; CRDC data shows higher ratios cluster in larger urban systems)
student-counselor ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE counselors against total enrollment, districts that contract intervention or social-emotional staff outside the counselor classification may be under-counted Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Cambridge chronic absenteeism rate is 21.8% — near the typical range (US average ~28) — aligned with the national post-pandemic baseline of roughly 28% chronic absenteeism
chronic absenteeism rate is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: a student is chronically absent if they miss ≥10% of enrolled days for any reason, illness, family obligations, or disengagement Variation between sub-units within Cambridge is typically wider than the Cambridge-aggregate figure suggests.