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Melrose, Massachusetts - 8 schools
An equity score of 15/100 ranks Melrose #347 of 362 districts in Massachusetts (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $16,762 per pupil, Melrose ranks #374 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending (Massachusetts districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
3,895
Total Enrollment
8
Schools
$16,762
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Melrose operates 8 public schools serving 3,895 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Massachusetts. The school portfolio breaks down into 5 elementary, 1 high, 1 middle, 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 $16,762 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, among the bottom 40 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending. See how Massachusetts compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 64.2% local, 28.0% state, and 7.8% 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 15/100, ranked #347 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 (24 AP courses district-wide), a 359.4:1 student-counselor ratio, well above the ASCA benchmark though still under the roughly 408:1 national average, and 15.2% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 74.6% White, 7.4% Asian, 7.1% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Lincoln, with a diversity index of 59.9/100.
Its largest campus is Melrose High, enrolling 967 students (25% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Early Childhood Center, at 246 students, a 4x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Melrose High accounts for 24.8% of all Melrose student enrollment
That concentration means Melrose-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.
Melrose school enrollment varies 3.9× across entities
Melrose school enrollment ranges from 246 students (lowest) to 967 students (highest), a spread of 721 students. That relatively narrow ratio reflects an unusually homogeneous campus portfolio, most districts have a wider mix of school sizes. Per-school staffing ratios, programme availability, and capital-renovation cycles often diverge inside the same district based on enrollment shape.
Melrose student-counselor ratio is 359:1 — 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.
Melrose chronic absenteeism rate is 15.2% — 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 Melrose is typically wider than the Melrose-aggregate figure suggests.