Massachusetts · NCES CCD 2024-25

Best School Districts in Massachusetts

Top 50 districts ranked by average school quality score, based on student-teacher ratios, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance.

Reviewed by PlainSchools Editorial, K12 Schools Editorial Team · June 10, 2026

The ranking in one line

Dover-Sherborn in Dover leads Massachusetts's districts with an average school quality score of 58.5/100 across 2 schools.

58.5/100
top district score (grade C): 2
schools in Dover-Sherborn: 1,180
students in the top district: 52/100
average across the top 50

#	District	Grade	Students	Schools	Avg S:T	Per-Pupil $	Avg Quality
1	Dover-Sherborn Dover	C	1,180	2	11.4:1	$24,989	58.5
2	Bedford Bedford	C	2,575	4	11.2:1	$23,058	58.3
3	Ipswich Ipswich	C	1,624	4	9.8:1	$22,408	57.5
4	Monson Monson	C	835	3	10.2:1	$22,045	56.3
5	Wayland Wayland	C	2,783	6	12.2:1	$23,554	56
6	Millis Millis	C	1,221	4	10.1:1	$22,361	55.5
7	Weston Weston	C-	2,022	5	12.9:1	$31,787	54.6
8	Cohasset Cohasset	C-	1,420	4	11.8:1	$22,164	54.5
9	Winchester Winchester	C-	4,392	7	11.9:1	$19,114	54.1
10	Masconomet Boxford	C-	1,610	2	11.8:1	$22,987	54
11	Rockport Rockport	C-	748	3	8:1	$28,560	54
12	Canton Canton	C-	3,273	6	12.8:1	$19,938	53.8
13	Amherst Amherst	C-	1,054	3	9.6:1	$30,337	53.7
14	Granby Granby	C-	723	2	11.9:1	$20,148	53.5
15	Wellesley Wellesley	C-	4,219	10	11.8:1	$27,059	52.7
16	Hamilton-Wenham Wenham	C-	1,694	5	11.9:1	$22,611	52
17	Manchester Essex Regional Manchester	C-	1,243	4	10.2:1	$25,494	52
18	Newburyport Newburyport	C-	2,191	4	10.1:1	$22,629	51.8
19	Westford Westford	C-	4,762	9	12.7:1	$22,747	51.7
20	Walpole Walpole	C-	3,683	8	12.1:1	$20,901	51.6
21	Burlington Burlington	C-	3,486	6	10.7:1	$26,147	51.3
22	Maynard Maynard	C-	1,210	3	10.1:1	$25,367	51.3
23	Marblehead Marblehead	C-	2,672	5	10.7:1	$22,691	51.2
24	Seekonk Seekonk	C-	2,094	5	10.7:1	$19,534	51.2
25	Needham Needham	C-	5,594	8	13.1:1	$23,810	51
26	West Boylston West Boylston	C-	877	2	11.1:1	$20,514	51
27	Hull Hull	C-	787	3	9.7:1	$29,201	51
28	Waltham Waltham	C-	5,703	10	10.5:1	$26,713	50.8
29	East Longmeadow East Longmeadow	C-	2,573	5	12.1:1	$18,806	50.8
30	Marshfield Marshfield	C-	3,799	7	11.8:1	$17,009	50.4
31	Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District Southwick	C-	1,330	3	10.9:1	$19,133	50.3
32	Hampden-Wilbraham Wilbraham	C-	2,887	6	13.6:1	$19,136	50.2
33	Westwood Westwood	C-	2,914	8	12.6:1	$24,589	50
34	Lee Lee	C-	671	2	9.3:1	$23,667	50
35	Milton Milton	D	4,370	6	13.4:1	$18,787	49.8
36	Southborough Southborough	D	1,279	4	12.3:1	$23,551	49.8
37	Scituate Scituate	D	2,789	6	12.1:1	$20,021	49.7
38	Duxbury Duxbury	D	2,834	4	13.1:1	$19,688	49.5
39	Easthampton Easthampton	D	1,426	2	11.9:1	$18,506	49.5
40	Amherst-Pelham Amherst	D	1,242	2	9.9:1	$26,425	49.5
41	Natick Natick	D	5,410	8	12.2:1	$18,991	49.4
42	Reading Reading	D	3,899	9	12.5:1	$18,744	49.3
43	Hingham Hingham	D	3,837	6	12.4:1	$20,707	49.3
44	Longmeadow Longmeadow	D	2,811	6	11.3:1	$18,643	49.3
45	Stoneham Stoneham	D	2,309	5	11.9:1	$20,429	49.2
46	Medway Medway	D	2,142	4	14.2:1	$20,028	49
47	Wrentham Wrentham	D	953	2	11.9:1	$20,357	49
48	Lenox Lenox	D	772	2	11.3:1	$24,906	49
49	Watertown Watertown	D	2,699	5	9.8:1	$27,743	48.8
50	Franklin Franklin	D	4,781	10	12.2:1	$18,630	48.7

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best school districts in Massachusetts? ▼

The top-ranked district in Massachusetts is Dover-Sherborn in Dover with 1,180 students across 2 schools. Average quality score: 58.5/100. Rankings are based on average school quality scores from NCES data.

How are district rankings calculated? ▼

Districts are ranked by the average quality score of their schools. Quality scores (0-100) are computed from NCES data: student-teacher ratio, counselor availability, gifted program access, and chronic absenteeism. Districts must have at least 500 students and 2+ schools to be ranked.

How many school districts are in Massachusetts? ▼

Massachusetts has 50+ school districts serving 918,103 students. The statewide average student-teacher ratio is 12.1:1.

Explore More for Massachusetts

All Schools → Best Schools → Highest Spending → Funding Equity → Absenteeism Data →

Methodology

Districts are ranked by the average quality score of their schools. Quality scores (0-100) are computed from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 metrics: student-teacher ratio, school counselor availability, gifted program access, and chronic absenteeism rates. Districts must have at least 500 students and 2+ schools to be included. This measures school-level resources, not test scores. Higher average scores indicate districts where schools generally have smaller classes, better counselor access, and lower absenteeism.

Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.