Massachusetts town data, as data
The tables behind this site, downloadable as CSV. Free to use with attribution.
npm run datasets. Figures marked as estimates in the methodology are estimates in the CSV too — the column notes say which.Massachusetts property tax rates and estimated bills
FY2026 residential property tax rates for the Massachusetts municipalities we cover, joined to the estimated annual bill on each town's own median 4BR house. The bill is what a rate table cannot show you.
Download ma-property-tax-rates-bills.csv · 223 rows · 9.2 KB · updated
Data dictionary — 7 fields
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
town | Municipality name |
slug | URL identifier on matownfinder.com |
residential_rate_per_1000 | FY2026 residential rate, dollars per $1,000 of assessed value |
median_4br_estimate | Modeled median 4-bedroom house price, USD (estimate, not an appraisal) |
estimated_annual_bill | rate x median_4br_estimate / 1000, USD |
school_tier | Editorial school tier, 1 best to 4 |
preliminary | yes = price and rate still pending verification |
MBTA scheduled commute times to five Boston destinations
Scheduled station-to-station MBTA journey times from every station-served Massachusetts town to Kendall Square, Longwood Medical Area, the Seaport, Back Bay and downtown Boston, computed by a RAPTOR search over the published GTFS feed for morning-peak arrivals. Excludes travel to the origin station and the walk at the far end.
Download ma-mbta-commute-times.csv · 405 rows · 17.1 KB · updated
Data dictionary — 8 fields
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
town | Municipality name |
destination | kendall | longwood | seaport | backbay | downtown |
typical_minutes | Median scheduled journey across peak departures |
fastest_minutes | Quickest single scheduled journey |
via_station | Origin station the time is measured from |
peak_departures | Boardings inside the arrival window |
limited_service | yes = fewer than 3 peak departures; not a commute |
contains_destination | yes = the town contains the destination, so there is no journey |
Massachusetts school district measures by town
State DESE measures mapped to each town's resident-serving district — MCAS achievement percentile, student growth, graduation rate and accountability — alongside publisher ranks and our editorial tier. Regional districts share one record across member towns.
Download ma-school-district-measures.csv · 223 rows · 12.7 KB · updated
Data dictionary — 7 fields
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
town | Municipality name |
school_tier | Editorial tier, 1 best to 4 |
mcas_percentile | District statewide percentile, % meeting or exceeding (DESE) |
growth_percentile | Mean student growth percentile (DESE) |
graduation_rate | Four-year cohort graduation rate, % (DESE) |
niche_rank | Niche 2026 district rank, of 236 |
accountability | DESE progress-toward-targets classification |
Massachusetts town character scores, six dimensions
A 1-10 editorial read of six dimensions of town character — energy, compact town centre, family amenities, culture, visitor presence and gathering places — with each town's primary archetype. Scores describe intensity and character, not quality or desirability, and are never inputs to ranking.
Download ma-town-character-scores.csv · 223 rows · 10.3 KB · updated
Data dictionary — 8 fields
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
town | Municipality name |
archetype | Primary archetype |
energy | Commercial density and evening activity, 1-10 |
compact_town_center | How compact and town-centered the built environment is, 1-10. Not a walkability audit. |
family_amenities | Public recreation infrastructure, 1-10 |
culture | Cultural venues and programming, 1-10 |
visitor_presence | Visitor and tourist activity, 1-10 |
gathering_places | Cafés, bookshops, libraries and third places, 1-10 |
Massachusetts town housing prices and Boston commute
Modeled median prices for a 4BR house, 3BR townhouse and 2BR condo, HUD Small Area Fair Market Rents, and door-to-door commute to downtown Boston. Rail legs come from the MBTA timetable where a town has service; driving is modeled from distance.
Download ma-town-housing-commute.csv · 223 rows · 11.9 KB · updated
Data dictionary — 11 fields
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
town | Municipality name |
median_4br | Modeled median 4BR house price, USD |
median_3br_townhouse | Modeled median 3BR townhouse price, USD |
median_2br_condo | Modeled median 2BR condo price, USD |
hud_3br_rent | HUD FY2026 Small Area FMR, 3BR, USD per month |
commute_minutes | Best door-to-door peak commute to downtown Boston |
drive_minutes | Modeled peak drive time |
rail_minutes | Scheduled rail time to a downtown terminal, blank where there is no rail |
rail_mode | T = rapid transit, CR = commuter rail |
rail_timetable_verified | yes = rail time is a real MBTA scheduled journey |
straight_line_miles_to_boston | Great-circle miles to downtown, not road miles |
Massachusetts college enrolment and campus housing by town
Every degree-granting institution in the IPEDS 2023 directory placed inside the Massachusetts municipality whose boundary contains it, with enrolment, dormitory capacity and the two ratios that decide what a college does to a town: students against residents, and beds against students. A town with high enrolment and no beds is a commuter campus.
Download ma-college-enrollment-by-town.csv · 49 rows · 5.5 KB · updated
Data dictionary — 11 fields
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
town | Municipality name |
slug | URL identifier on matownfinder.com |
institutions | Count of degree-granting institutions with campus inside the town |
institution_names | Semicolon-separated IPEDS institution names |
total_enrollment | IPEDS 2023 total enrolment, counted at the campus not the student address |
undergraduate | IPEDS 2023 undergraduate headcount |
graduate | IPEDS 2023 graduate and professional headcount |
campus_beds | Dormitory capacity; 0 where the institution reports no housing |
town_population | Town population, the same figure used for density on the town page |
students_per_100_residents | Enrolment as a percentage of residents; exceeds 100 where commuters outnumber the resident base |
pct_enrollment_housed | Dormitory capacity as a percentage of enrolment. Read as the residential/commuter split, but it can exceed 100 where an institution reports more beds than current students |
Massachusetts coastal towns
Which Massachusetts municipalities the ocean actually reaches, derived from the Census TIGER/Line coastline together with its bay and estuary polygons rather than from a town's description. The coastline alone runs across the mouth of a bay, which reads Quincy and Hingham as inland; the water areas correct that.
Download ma-coastal-towns.csv · 44 rows · 1.0 KB · updated
Data dictionary — 3 fields
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
town | Municipality name |
slug | URL identifier on matownfinder.com |
shoreline_vertices | Internal sampling count: shoreline points falling inside the town boundary. Indicates relative exposure only — it double-counts where the coastline and bay polygons overlap, so it is not a shoreline length and does not convert to one |
Using these
- Attribution: credit MA Town Finder and link to matownfinder.com. CC BY 4.0.
- Estimates are labelled. Prices are modeled medians calibrated to Zillow ZHVI and Redfin, not appraisals. Tax rates are sourced from municipal pages. Rail times are real MBTA scheduled journeys; driving is modeled. The data dictionary marks which is which, and the methodology explains how each is built.
- Coverage is 223 municipalities, not all 351 in the state — the largest by population plus everything inside I-495.
Demographic fields are deliberately absent from every download. They appear on town pages as neutral census fact and are never inputs to ranking or filtering — publishing them as a sortable column would invite exactly the use the fair-housing policy rules out.
