Groveland, MA Tier 3

Tier 3 · solid schools · 28 miles from downtown Boston, about 65 minutes door-to-door at peak · 90% of households own their home.

Groveland, Massachusetts
Groveland · photo via Wikipedia
4BR house
$750k est.
$580k townhouse · $430k condo
Dearer than 49% of MA towns
Property tax
$9,700/yr
$12.98 per $1,000 on that house
Higher than 60% of MA towns
To downtown Boston
65 min
No MBTA rail
Further than 53% of MA towns
Schools
64th pct
growth 48th · 98% graduate
Ahead of 64% of MA districts

marks the Massachusetts median of $750k for a 4BR, $8,800 in tax and 62 min to Boston. Prices and the tax bill are estimates, not appraisals, and Groveland’s prices are preliminary: not yet checked against sales.

About Groveland

Groveland is a middle-tier school district north of Boston, about 28 miles from downtown Boston as the crow flies and 65 minutes door-to-door at peak, and moderately priced by Massachusetts standards: roughly $750k for a 4BR house and $430k for a 2BR condo. The residential rate is $12.98 per $1,000, on the high side for Massachusetts, which on a $750k house works out to about $9,700 a year. There is no MBTA rail here, so the commute is by car. The district sits in the 64th percentile statewide on MCAS, and Niche ranks it 94th of 236. Merrimack riverbank quiet in the Pentucket district.

The good, the bad, the ugly

From the data
Good

About $750k for a 4BR, under the $750k median of our set.

Bad

About 65 minutes to downtown at peak, and no rail to escape it.

Ugly

About $10k a year in property tax — the one housing bill that never amortises, never refinances and never ends.

Schools and child caresolid schools · 64th MCAS · 5 schools

Public elementary & middle schools

5 public schools in Groveland — 4 elementary and 1 middle
ElementaryPK–2 · 216 students
ElementaryPK–6 · 535 students
ElementaryPK–6 · 345 students
Elementary3–6 · 261 students
Middle7–8 · 363 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 2 center-based · 2 family child care4
Licensed places, all ages The ceiling these programs may operate to118
Places in centers Commercial premises, licensed room by room98
Places in family child care A provider’s own home, mixed ages together20
Infant & toddler places in centers Age bands ending under three; family programs are not broken down34
Preschool places in centers Roughly 33 months to kindergarten64

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 34 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#94 of 236 MA districts · B+
U.S. News 2026-27 · Assigned high school#110 of 353 MA · Pentucket Regional Senior High School
Boston Magazine 2026 · Greater Boston high school#55 of 148 · Pentucket Regional High School
Official Massachusetts data (DESE)Result
MCAS achievement64th percentile statewide
Student growth (SGP)48th percentile
4-year graduation rate98.1%
DESE accountabilityModerate 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.

School building projects: No major full-school construction or comprehensive rebuild with a published total project budget was located in the live MSBA, municipal, school-project, contractor, and local-news review completed in July 2026. This does not mean no school capital work occurred.

Charter School Options

5 charter schools near Groveland
Adjacent town · HaverhillTuition-free · lotteryK–8 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 52nd pct · In need of focused/targeted support · $17k/pupil
Adjacent town · NewburyportTuition-free · lotteryK–8 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 59th pct · Substantial progress toward targets · $18k/pupil
Adjacent town · LawrenceTuition-free · lotteryPK–8 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 52nd pct · Moderate progress toward targets · $21k/pupil
Adjacent town · LawrenceTuition-free · lotteryPK–8 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 50th pct · Substantial progress toward targets · $20k/pupil
Adjacent town · LawrenceTuition-free · lottery9–12 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · 1.9% graduate · Insufficient data · $32k/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

13 of the 23 private schools in Groveland and within 12 miles
Adjacent town · HaverhillK–12 · PK/K–12 · 175 students · 6.7:1 student-teacher · ~$10k–$20k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · BoxfordPK–10 · PK/K–12 · 53 students · ~$18k–$28k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Merrimac6–12 + SP · Specialized / placement · 19 students · placement/specialized
BrooksNiche #15 · A+
Adjacent town · North AndoverNEASC accredited9–12 · High school · 362 students · 7:1 student-teacher · ~$40k–$52k/yr (est.) · ~$70k/yr boarding
Adjacent town · North AndoverPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 519 students · 17:1 student-teacher · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · NewburyNEASC accredited9–12 · High school · ~$40k–$52k/yr (est.) · ~$70k/yr boarding
Adjacent town · NewburyPK–4 · Elementary · ~$18k–$30k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · NewburyportPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 198 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Central Catholic HighNiche #80 · A-
Adjacent town · Lawrence9–12 · High school · 1,217 students · ~$18k–$28k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · LawrencePK–8 · Elementary / middle · 535 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Lawrence9–12 · High school · 269 students · ~$18k–$28k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · LawrenceNEASC accredited5–8 · Elementary / middle · 96 students · 12.1:1 student-teacher · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · LawrenceAISNE accredited6–8 · Middle school · files no enrolment with the state

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 Groveland, 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 Groveland

Residential suburbs & small townsmedium confidence

Low-key, lower-density, 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 limited cultural offerings, mostly residential, and moderate gathering options.

Energy4
Compact town center4
Family amenities4
Culture4
Visitor presence2
Public gathering places6

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$750k 4BR · ≈$9,700 tax
To buyMedian price (est.)
4BR / 2BA detached house$750k
3BR / 2BA townhouse$580k
2BR condo$430k
Property taxes (FY2026)$12.98 per $1,000 (1.30%)

These are modeled estimates, not listings. Each row opens the real Redfin market in ZIP 01834, and the two will not match.

By bedroom countMedian value (Zillow)
3BR home$702k

Not the same kind of number as the table above. These are Zillow’s observed medians for the middle third of the market at that bedroom count, as of July 2026; the prices above are this site’s estimates for one particular property. They are measuring different things and will not agree. Zillow publishes the bedroom split for houses and condos together, so a “3BR home” here blends both, where each estimate above prices one building type and says which. And 5+ BR means five bedrooms or more: Zillow’s buckets stop at five, so that figure carries the largest houses in Groveland and sits above what a plain five-bedroom median would be.

To rentPer month (est.)
4 bedrooms$3,550/mo
3 bedrooms$3,220/mo
2 bedrooms$2,700/mo
1 bedroom$2,063/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 FY2027 Small Area Fair Market Rents for Groveland’s ZIP codes

Home values over the last decade

Groveland home values, 2016–2026Zillow Home Value Index for Groveland, 2016 to 2026: $397k to $729k, up 84 per cent.$357k$563k$769k20162026
Groveland, 2016 to 2026: $397k to $729k, up 84% in 10 years — 6.3% a year compounded.
If a $750k house grew at…5 yrs10 yrs15 yrs30 yrs
6.3% — Groveland’s own last decade$1.02M$1.38M$1.88M$4.69M
3% — inflation, holding its real value$869k$1.01M$1.17M$1.82M

These are not forecasts. They are what $750k 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 Groveland

suburban760 people per square mile across 8.9 sq mi suburban — 500–2,000 per square mile

What’s hereCount
Cafés and coffee shops0
Bookshops0
Museums, theatres and galleries0
Colleges and universities0
Public libraryGroveland, Langley Adams 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 2020–2024, US Census BureauShare
Homeowner households90%
White (non-Hispanic)91%
Asian (non-Hispanic)2.2%
Latino / Hispanic4.2%
African American (non-Hispanic)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

GrovelandFigure
Residents6,752
Municipal budgetFY2025, DLS Schedule A$22.8M
School district spendingPentucket district$49.1M
Spending per pupil DESE, total expenditures$20,723
Subsidized housing (Ch. 40B)239 units on the state inventory, of 2,582 year-round homes9.26%below the state’s 10% threshold

Pentucket is a regional district, so the school spend covers every member town, not just this one, and is not divided per resident here.

Budget: FY2025 General Fund total expenditures, DLS Schedule A · Schools: DESE Per Pupil Expenditure · Subsidized housing: Ch. 40B Subsidized Housing Inventory, EOHLC, as of 30 September 2025; the percentage is over year-round housing units counted in the 2020 Census. Never used to rank or filter towns.

Realistic alternatives to Groveland

GeorgetownTier 3
Also Tier 3, $800k for a 4BR and 62 min to Boston
TyngsboroughTier 3
Also Tier 3, $700k for a 4BR and 66 min to Boston
RowleyTier 3
Also Tier 3, $800k for a 4BR and 63 min to Boston
MerrimacTier 3
Also Tier 3, about $75k cheaper
DracutTier 3
Also Tier 3, about $125k cheaper
West NewburyTier 3
Also Tier 3, about $200k more expensive

Surprisingly similar in character

MedfieldTier 1
Both quiet and spread out · $600k dearer, Tier 1 schools

More on Groveland

Read next

The same schools cost $520,000 more in the next town over
Shares Pentucket with Merrimac, where the identical schools come with a typical three-bedroom home $216k cheaper.
7 min read
Test scores tell you who moved in. Growth tells you what the school did.
Scores in the 64th percentile but moves children in the 48th — the intake flatters this district.
7 min read
Your town is, more than anything else, a school system
64% of this town's budget is education, against about half statewide — one of the most school-dominated budgets in Massachusetts.
6 min read
Your town’s tax rate tells you almost nothing about what it spends
About $3,381 of municipal spending per resident at a $12.98 tax rate — the two have almost nothing to do with each other statewide.
6 min read
Data statusPrices preliminary · data updated September 11, 2026
FigureStatus
Home pricesCalibrated to the Zillow Home Value Index and Redfin market pages. For comparison, not appraisal.Preliminary
Median value by bedroom countZillow Home Value Index by bedroom count, July 2026, houses and condos together — Zillow publishes no single-family-only bedroom split. Observed medians, so they will not match the modeled prices above. The top bucket is five bedrooms OR MORE, because Zillow’s buckets stop at five: it carries a town’s largest houses and runs well above a true 5BR median, which is why it is labelled 5+ everywhere. Absent for Boston’s 18 neighborhoods, which are not cities and have no series, and for the smaller towns at the top bucket.Sourced
Property tax rateFY2026 residential rate per $1,000, from the Division of Local Services’ Tax Rates by Class, for every municipality. Towns with a residential exemption bill owner-occupied homes less than this.Sourced
Census shares and homeownershipAmerican Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates, US Census Bureau, for every municipality. The survey does not report Boston’s neighborhoods, so none are shown for them. Never used to rank, filter or recommend.Sourced
RentsHUD FY2027 Small Area Fair Market Rents, by ZIP, in effect from 1 October 2026.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 are preliminary estimates, not yet checked against sales. Its tax rate, like every town’s, is the state’s certified FY2026 figure. Data last updated . Full detail on every source is in the methodology.

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