South Shore Towns, Compared
The coast from Quincy down toward Plymouth, plus the towns just inland of it — the Red Line ends at Braintree and commuter rail carries the rest.
Of the 13 South Shore towns we cover, Hingham has the strongest school tier and Braintree is closest to downtown Boston at about 33 minutes, and Holbrook is the cheapest at roughly $550k for a 4BR house. 6 of them have MBTA rail.
Every South Shore town
Sorted by school tier, then commute to Boston. Every column links through to the town’s own page.
| # | Town | Schools | 4BR house | Commute | Rail | Tax rate | Est. bill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hingham | strong schools · Niche 29thT2 | $1.65MT4 | 47 minT3 | Rail · 39 min | $10.47T2 | ≈$17,300 |
| 2 | Norwell | strong schools · Niche 32ndT2 | $1.2MT3 | 49 minT3 | None | $12.83T3 | ≈$15,400 |
| 3 | Cohasset | strong schools · Niche 47thT2 | $1.6MT4 | 50 minT3 | Rail · 47 min | $11.35T2 | ≈$18,200 |
| 4 | Hanover | strong schools · Niche 81stT2 | $950kT3 | 50 minT3 | None | $12.47T2 | ≈$11,800 |
| 5 | Scituate | strong schools · Niche 45thT2 | $1.1MT3 | 56 minT3 | Rail · 54 min | $9.83T1 | ≈$10,800 |
| 6 | Duxbury | strong schools · Niche 20thT2 | $1.4MT4 | 65 minT4 | None | $9.96T1 | ≈$13,900 |
| 7 | Braintree | solid schools · Niche 66thT3 | $875kT2 | 33 minT2 | T · 25 min | $10.06T2 | ≈$8,800 |
| 8 | Weymouth | solid schools · Niche 116thT3 | $725kT2 | 40 minT2 | Rail · 28 min | $10.12T2 | ≈$7,300 |
| 9 | Hull | solid schoolsT3 | $750kT2 | 44 minT2 | None | $10.81T2 | ≈$8,100 |
| 10 | Pembroke | solid schools · Niche 123rdT3 | $750kT2 | 58 minT3 | None | $11.78T2 | ≈$8,800 |
| 11 | Marshfield | solid schools · Niche 61stT3 | $825kT2 | 64 minT4 | None | $9.61T1 | ≈$7,900 |
| 12 | Holbrook | mixed schools · Niche 133rdT4 | $550kT1 | 44 minT2 | Rail · 36 min | $12.11T2 | ≈$6,700 |
| 13 | Rockland | mixed schools · Niche 122ndT4 | $600kT2 | 47 minT3 | None | $13.87T3 | ≈$8,300 |
How this region is defined: “South Shore” has no legal boundary, so we use the membership of the South Shore Coalition rather than drawing our own line. Data last reviewed . See the methodology for every source.
