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Chelmsford, Massachusetts - 8 schools
An equity score of 16/100 ranks Chelmsford #346 of 362 districts in Massachusetts (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $17,638 per pupil, Chelmsford ranks #350 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending (Massachusetts districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
5,114
Total Enrollment
8
Schools
$17,638
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Chelmsford operates 8 public schools serving 5,114 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Massachusetts. The school portfolio breaks down into 6 elementary, 1 high, 1 combined 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 $17,638 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the lower half of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending. See how Massachusetts compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 67.8% local, 25.7% state, and 6.5% 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 16/100, ranked #346 of 362 in Massachusetts against a state average of 38, notably less even than the typical district in the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 8 schools offering Advanced Placement (22 AP courses district-wide), a 361.8:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 15.5% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 61.8% White, 19.0% Asian, 9.6% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Community Education Center, with a diversity index of 62.6/100.
Its largest campus is Chelmsford High, enrolling 1,402 students (28% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Community Education Center, at 158 students, a 9x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Chelmsford High accounts for 27.4% of all Chelmsford student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Chelmsford-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.
Chelmsford school enrollment varies 8.9× across entities
Chelmsford school enrollment ranges from 158 students (lowest) to 1,402 students (highest), a spread of 1,244 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.
Chelmsford student-counselor ratio is 362:1 — 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.
Chelmsford chronic absenteeism rate is 15.5% — 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 Chelmsford is typically wider than the Chelmsford-aggregate figure suggests.