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Wellesley, Massachusetts - 10 schools
An equity score of 36/100 ranks Wellesley #197 of 362 districts in Massachusetts (state average 38). Derived live from how evenly resources are distributed across the district's schools.
At $27,059 per pupil, Wellesley ranks #54 of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending (Massachusetts districts). NCES F-33 finance data.
4,219
Total Enrollment
10
Schools
$27,059
Per-Pupil Spending
Elementary, High
School Types
District-Level NCES Analysis
Wellesley operates 10 public schools serving 4,219 students, placing it among the smaller districts in Massachusetts. The school portfolio breaks down into 7 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 Norfolk County.
Per-pupil expenditure runs $27,059 according to the NCES F-33 School District Finance Survey, in the upper half of 396 Massachusetts districts by per-pupil spending. See how Massachusetts compares in our national per-pupil spending analysis. The funding mix is 76.2% local, 21.3% state, and 2.5% 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 36/100, ranked #197 of 362 in Massachusetts against a state average of 38, in line with the typical spread seen across the state for how evenly funding reaches its schools.
Academic infrastructure includes 1 of 10 schools offering Advanced Placement (21 AP courses district-wide), a 130.6:1 student-counselor ratio, that meets the ASCA-recommended benchmark, and 10.0% chronic absenteeism from the 2021-22 Civil Rights Data Collection. Demographically, the student body averages 61.2% White, 18.7% Asian, 8.8% Hispanic or Latino across the district's schools. Its most demographically mixed campus is Preschool at Wellesley Schools, with a diversity index of 66.0/100.
Its largest campus is Wellesley Sr High, enrolling 1,262 students (30% of the district's total enrollment). Its smallest is Preschool at Wellesley Schools, at 87 students, a 15x enrollment spread across the district's campuses.
Wellesley Sr High accounts for 29.9% of all Wellesley student enrollment
That dominant concentration means Wellesley-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.
Wellesley school enrollment varies 15× across entities
Wellesley school enrollment ranges from 87 students (lowest) to 1,262 students (highest), a spread of 1,175 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.
Wellesley student-counselor ratio is 131:1 — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 Values this far below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
Wellesley chronic absenteeism rate is 10.0% — low (typically associated with lower-than-average attendance disruption; districts in this range often have attendance interventions, robust transportation, or smaller catchments that reduce barriers)
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 Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.