East Longmeadow, MA Tier 3

Tier 3 · solid schools · 80 miles from downtown Boston, about 118 minutes door-to-door at peak · 84% of households own their home.

East Longmeadow, Massachusetts
East Longmeadow · photo via Wikipedia
4BR house
$500k
$385k townhouse · $285k condo
Cheaper than 86% of MA towns
Property tax
$7,800/yr
$15.50 per $1,000 on that house
Lower than 67% of MA towns
To downtown Boston
118 min
No MBTA rail
Further than 93% of MA towns
Schools
57th pct
growth 54th · 97% graduate
Ahead of 57% of MA districts

marks the Massachusetts median of $750k for a 4BR, $9,100 in tax and 62 min to Boston. Prices and the tax bill are estimates, not appraisals.

About East Longmeadow

East Longmeadow is a middle-tier school district in the Pioneer Valley, about 80 miles from downtown Boston as the crow flies and 118 minutes door-to-door at peak, and one of the more affordable markets we cover: roughly $500k for a 4BR house and $285k for a 2BR condo. The residential rate is $15.50 per $1,000, high for Massachusetts, which on a $500k house works out to about $7,800 a year. There is no MBTA rail here, so the commute is by car. The district sits in the 57th percentile statewide on MCAS, and Niche ranks it 118th of 236. A rotary-famous town center and solid schools.

The good, the bad, the ugly

From the data
Good

Among the cheapest housing we track — 27th of 241 at about $500k for a 4BR.

Bad

About 118 minutes to downtown at peak, and no rail to escape it.

Ugly

That $15.50 rate is 37th-highest of 241: about $8k a year, every year, forever.

Schools and child caresolid schools · 57th MCAS · 4 schools

Public elementary & middle schools

4 public schools in East Longmeadow — 3 elementary and 1 middle
ElementaryPK–2 · 465 students
Elementary3–5 · 296 students
Elementary3–5 · 255 students
Middle6–8 · 592 students

These are assigned by address, not chosen. A regional district’s schools appear on every member town’s page. Charters are public but allocated by lottery, and are listed separately below.

DESE 2025–26 enrolment report

Before kindergarten

Licensed programs 11 center-based · 7 family child care18
Licensed places, all ages The ceiling these programs may operate to718
Places in centers Commercial premises, licensed room by room652
Places in family child care A provider’s own home, mixed ages together66
Infant & toddler places in centers Age bands ending under three; family programs are not broken down97
Preschool places in centers Roughly 33 months to kindergarten263

Licensed capacity is not availability. These are places programs may operate, not vacancies. The age split covers centers only — family programs report no breakdown, so 97 is a floor on infant care here, not a count of it.

MA Dept. of Early Education and Care, pulled 2026-08-02 · search current openings

Public School Rankings

Publisher rankingResult
Niche 2026 · Best School Districts#118 of 236 MA districts · B
SchoolDigger 2025 · City/locality test-score rank#158 of 361 MA localities
Official Massachusetts data (DESE)Result
MCAS achievement57th percentile statewide
Student growth (SGP)54th percentile
4-year graduation rate97.2%
DESE accountabilitySubstantial progress toward targets

Each publisher ranks a different thing. A district, a locality, or one high school, each by its own method — shown separately, never blended.

MCAS percentile is the district’s statewide rank on % Meeting/Exceeding expectations, ELA + Math.

Latest school building project: A replacement East Longmeadow High School is an active project with a total project budget of about $177.5 million and planned opening for the 2026–27 school year. MSBA project list.

Charter School Options

6 charter schools near East Longmeadow
Adjacent town · SpringfieldTuition-free · lottery6–12 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 34th pct · 86% graduate · Moderate progress toward targets · $23k/pupil
Adjacent town · SpringfieldTuition-free · lottery6–12 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 70th pct · 85.1% graduate · Substantial progress toward targets · $19k/pupil
Adjacent town · SpringfieldTuition-free · lotteryK–5 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 50th pct · Substantial progress toward targets · $20k/pupil
Adjacent town · SpringfieldTuition-free · lottery9–12 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · 7.5% graduate · Insufficient data · $29k/pupil
Adjacent town · SpringfieldTuition-free · lotteryK–12 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 41st pct · 94.4% graduate · Moderate progress toward targets · $17k/pupil
Adjacent town · SpringfieldTuition-free · lotteryK–8 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 56th pct · Substantial progress toward targets · $20k/pupil

Admission is by lottery, not address — a seat is never guaranteed. Some charters here are alternative or recovery high schools enrolling students already off-track, so their MCAS and graduation figures are not comparable with a traditional school’s.

Public and tuition-free; results from DESE

Available Private School Options

12 private schools in East Longmeadow and within 12 miles
Adjacent town · LongmeadowPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 267 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · LongmeadowPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 81 students · ~$22k–$36k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · LongmeadowPK–11 + SP · Specialized / placement · 70 students · 4.5:1 student-teacher · placement/specialized
Adjacent town · LongmeadowK–12 + SP · Specialized / placement · 35 students · placement/specialized
Adjacent town · Springfield6–12 · Middle / high · ~$40k–$52k/yr (est.) · ~$70k/yr boarding
Adjacent town · SpringfieldPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 407 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · SpringfieldPK–12 · PK/K–12 · 95 students · ~$10k–$20k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · SpringfieldAISNE accreditedPK–6 · Elementary / middle · 85 students · ~$18k–$30k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · SpringfieldAISNE accreditedPK–7 · Elementary / middle · 54 students · ~$16k–$32k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Springfield2–12 · PK/K–12 · 48 students · ~$28k–$44k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Springfield3–12 · PK/K–12 · 13 students · ~$28k–$44k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Springfield4–9 · PK/K–12 · 4 students · ~$28k–$44k/yr (est.)

Tuition is an estimated range by school type, not school-published pricing — a parochial school and an independent day school are priced very differently. Private schools sit no MCAS, so no figure here is a state measure.

How to read this list

Schools within 12 miles of East Longmeadow, from the MA DESE 2025–26 non-public enrollment report plus the Niche ranking of Massachusetts private high schools. Tuition shown as an estimated range by school type, grades and region — not school-published pricing. A parochial school and an independent day school are priced very differently, so treat these as a starting point and confirm with the school. Niche ranks private high schools only, so an elementary school never carries a number; where one shows a letter instead, that is Niche’s own overall grade, which reaches schools no ranked list does. Neither is a state measure — private schools sit no MCAS and report no results to Massachusetts. That Niche extract is also partial, so a school showing neither was not judged and found wanting; it may simply not have been in it. Student numbers are the figure schools do report, from the same DESE return. Where a student-teacher ratio is shown it is students over full-time-equivalent teachers in the federal Private School Universe Survey, 2021–22, the most recent published — a rough guide to class size, not a class size, and not a ranking either. It is shown only where that survey and the state agree on how many pupils the school has, which is why many schools here have none. Accreditation comes from the AISNE member directory, which records whether a school holds AISNE or NEASC accreditation — the two split the work by age rather than compete, AISNE taking the elementary and middle schools and NEASC the secondary ones. It means an outside body has reviewed the school against published standards on a ten-year cycle. It is not a measure of results, and its absence is not a mark against a school: plenty are not members at all. That directory is also where the schools marked files no enrolment with the state come from. They are real schools that simply make no return to Massachusetts, so the state holds no size for them and this page can show none — and for those, the grade range is read off AISNE’s age bands rather than taken from the school, so treat it as approximate and confirm with the school.

The vibe of East Longmeadow

Compact suburbs & town centersmedium confidence

Moderate energy, town-centered/mixed, and well provided with recreation programs, playgrounds and athletic fields; mixed in housing stock, from multifamily properties and smaller condos to higher-priced single-family homes, with moderate cultural scene, some visitor activity, and strong gathering-place network.

Energy6
Compact town center6
Family amenities2
Culture6
Visitor presence4
Public gathering places7

Six 1–10 scales for the intensity of each quality, not a score of how good the place is. Higher just means more of that thing. Family amenities counts public recreation infrastructure, not who lives here; these never use race, ethnicity or other protected characteristics, and never measure safety. See the methodology.

What it takes to live here$500k 4BR · ≈$7,800 tax
To buyMedian price (est.)
4BR / 2BA detached house$500k
3BR / 2BA townhouse$385k
2BR condo$285k
Property taxes (FY2026)$15.50 per $1,000 (1.55%)

These are modeled estimates, not listings. Each row opens the real Redfin market in ZIP 01028, and the two will not match.

To rentPer month (est.)
4 bedrooms$2,483/mo
3 bedrooms$2,303/mo
2 bedrooms$1,877/mo
1 bedroom$1,497/mo

These are benchmark rents, not asking rents. HUD sets them at the 40th percentile of standard-quality units, so a nice single-family will ask more — which is why the links are not capped at the figure beside them.

HUD FY2026 Small Area Fair Market Rents for East Longmeadow’s ZIP codes

Home values over the last decade

East Longmeadow home values, 2016–2026Zillow Home Value Index for East Longmeadow, 2016 to 2026: $253k to $437k, up 72 per cent.$231k$345k$459k20162026
East Longmeadow, 2016 to 2026: $253k to $437k, up 72% in 10 years — 5.6% a year compounded.
If a $500k house grew at…5 yrs10 yrs15 yrs30 yrs
5.6% — East Longmeadow’s own last decade$657k$862k$1.13M$2.56M
3% — inflation, holding its real value$580k$672k$779k$1.21M

These are not forecasts. They are what $500k becomes at a fixed rate, shown for two rates because nobody can tell you which one the next thirty years will bring. The last decade included a period of unusually fast growth across Massachusetts; repeating it for thirty years would be a strong assumption. The inflation row is the conservative case — a house that holds its value and earns nothing beyond it. History from the Zillow Home Value Index, a whole-town index that sits at a different level from the 4BR estimate above and is used here for the trend.

What’s around East Longmeadow

suburban1,270 people per square mile across 12.9 sq mi suburban — 500–2,000 per square mile

What’s hereCount
Cafés and coffee shops
See the list
1
Bookshops0
Museums, theatres and galleries0
Colleges and universities0
Public libraryEast Longmeadow Public Library

Density is Census population over land area. Café, bookshop and culture counts are what is mapped in OpenStreetMap — a volunteer map, so a well-mapped town looks busier than a thinly-mapped one. Read a low count as “little mapped here”, not “nothing here”. Colleges are active degree-granting institutions in the federal IPEDS directory; enrolment and campus housing capacity are its 2023 figures. The public library comes from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, which lists library systems rather than every branch. These figures describe places, never the people in them — see our methodology.

Census snapshot
ACS 2019–2023 (via MAPC DataCommon)Share
Homeowner households84%
White (non-Hispanic)86%
Asian (non-Hispanic)2.0%
Latino / Hispanic6.0%
African American (non-Hispanic)2.0%
These figures are neutral census facts, shown for every town equally. They are never used to filter, rank, or recommend towns — see our methodology and the federal Fair Housing Act.

Town spending & civic data

East LongmeadowFigure
Residents16,430
Municipal budgetFY2025, DLS Schedule A$70.3M
School district spending$53.2M
Spending per pupil DESE, total expenditures$20,454
School spending per resident$3,237
Affordable housing units (Ch. 40B inventory)721

Budget: FY2025 General Fund total expenditures, DLS Schedule A · Schools: DESE Per Pupil Expenditure · Affordable units: state Subsidized Housing Inventory. Never used to rank or filter towns.

Realistic alternatives to East Longmeadow

AgawamTier 3
Also Tier 3, about $75k cheaper
EasthamptonTier 3
Also Tier 3, about $50k cheaper
South HadleyTier 3
Also Tier 3, about $50k cheaper
LudlowTier 3
Also Tier 3, about $80k cheaper
WestfieldTier 3
Also Tier 3, about $60k cheaper
AmherstTier 3
Also Tier 3, about $175k more expensive

Surprisingly similar in character

MansfieldTier 3
Both social · $275k dearer, 62 min closer in
TauntonTier 4
Both social · 49 min closer in
BellinghamTier 3
Both social · $175k dearer, 53 min closer in
ChelmsfordTier 2
Both social · $275k dearer, 61 min closer in

Read next

Private school is not a plan B for a weak school district
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A genuinely active center and a 4BR under $1M — a combination only seventeen towns in the state manage.
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A low property tax rate does not mean a low tax bill
84th percentile on the tax rate at $15.50 per $1,000, but only 32nd on the bill — about $7,800. The rate is not the thing to compare.
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A paid-off condo and private school, or a mortgage in a better district?
A condo here is $285k against $500k for the house — the gap that pays for a lot of tuition, worked through in full.
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Data statusSome figures preliminary · reviewed August 14, 2026
FigureStatus
Home pricesCalibrated to the Zillow Home Value Index and Redfin market pages. For comparison, not appraisal.Preliminary
Property tax rateFY2026 residential rate per $1,000, from municipal assessor and treasurer pages.Preliminary
RentsHUD FY2026 Small Area Fair Market Rents, by ZIP.Sourced
School dataDESE published state reports. Publisher ranks carry their own edition and denominator. The school tier is editorial.Sourced
CommuteRail times for the 75 towns we could verify against the MBTA's published timetable are real scheduled journeys, transfers included. Where a town has rail but no verified journey, its rail time is modeled too, and the town page says so. Driving is modeled from distance with corridor adjustments, and station access is a flat allowance. Not measured by a routing API.Measured + modeled

This community was added after the original hundred, so its prices and tax rate are preliminary estimates pending verification against municipal and census records. Data last reviewed . Full detail on every source is in the methodology.

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