Longmeadow, MA Tier 2

Tier 2 · strong schools · 82 miles from downtown Boston, about 120 minutes door-to-door at peak · 86% of households own their home.

Longmeadow, Massachusetts
Longmeadow · photo via Wikipedia
4BR house
$600k
$460k townhouse · $340k condo
Cheaper than 72% of MA towns
Property tax
$12,300/yr
$20.50 per $1,000 on that house
Higher than 76% of MA towns
To downtown Boston
120 min
No MBTA rail
Further than 94% of MA towns
Schools
85th pct
growth 48th · 97% graduate
Ahead of 85% 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 Longmeadow

Longmeadow is a strong school district in the Pioneer Valley, about 82 miles from downtown Boston as the crow flies and 120 minutes door-to-door at peak, and moderately priced by Massachusetts standards: roughly $600k for a 4BR house and $340k for a 2BR condo. The residential rate is $20.50 per $1,000, high for Massachusetts, which on a $600k house works out to about $12,300 a year. There is no MBTA rail here, so the commute is by car. The district sits in the 85th percentile statewide on MCAS, and Niche ranks it 30th of 236. Springfield's classic streetcar suburb — stately streets, strong schools, famously high tax rate.

The good, the bad, the ugly

Editorial
Good

Springfield's classic streetcar suburb — stately streets and strong schools.

Bad

A $20.50 tax rate, the highest in our set.

Ugly

Almost entirely residential, so homeowners fund everything.

Schools and child carestrong schools · 85th MCAS · 5 schools

Public elementary & middle schools

5 public schools in Longmeadow — 3 elementary and 2 middle
ElementaryPK–5 · 411 students
ElementaryK–5 · 387 students
ElementaryK–5 · 385 students
Middle6–8 · 338 students
Middle6–8 · 313 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 8 center-based · 4 family child care12
Licensed places, all ages The ceiling these programs may operate to522
Places in centers Commercial premises, licensed room by room490
Places in family child care A provider’s own home, mixed ages together32
Infant & toddler places in centers Age bands ending under three; family programs are not broken down68
Preschool places in centers Roughly 33 months to kindergarten218

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 68 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#30 of 236 MA districts · A
SchoolDigger 2025 · City/locality test-score rank#57 of 361 MA localities
U.S. News 2025-26 · Assigned high school#63 of 366 MA · Longmeadow High School
Official Massachusetts data (DESE)Result
MCAS achievement85th percentile statewide
Student growth (SGP)48th percentile
4-year graduation rate96.6%
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: Longmeadow High School was completed in January 2013; total project budget was about $78.4 million. A newer Glenbrook Middle School project was active but not completed in the July 2026 review. MSBA project list.

Charter School Options

6 charter schools near 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 Longmeadow and within 12 miles
In LongmeadowPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 267 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
In LongmeadowPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 81 students · ~$22k–$36k/yr (est.)
In LongmeadowPK–11 + SP · Specialized / placement · 70 students · 4.5:1 student-teacher · placement/specialized
In 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 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 Longmeadow

High-cost suburbsCollege presencemedium confidence

Moderate energy, town-centered/mixed, and extensively provided with recreation programs, playgrounds and athletic fields; higher-cost in housing and well-maintained in public spaces, with moderate cultural scene, some visitor activity, and strong gathering-place network.

Energy6
Compact town center6
Family amenities7
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$600k 4BR · ≈$12,300 tax
To buyMedian price (est.)
4BR / 2BA detached house$600k
3BR / 2BA townhouse$460k
2BR condo$340k
Property taxes (FY2026)$20.50 per $1,000 (2.05%)

These are modeled estimates, not listings. Each row opens the real Redfin market in ZIP 01106, and the two will not match.

To rentPer month (est.)
4 bedrooms$2,763/mo
3 bedrooms$2,560/mo
2 bedrooms$2,087/mo
1 bedroom$1,660/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 Longmeadow’s ZIP codes

Home values over the last decade

Longmeadow home values, 2016–2026Zillow Home Value Index for Longmeadow, 2016 to 2026: $325k to $551k, up 70 per cent.$297k$438k$578k20162026
Longmeadow, 2016 to 2026: $325k to $551k, up 70% in 10 years — 5.4% a year compounded.
If a $600k house grew at…5 yrs10 yrs15 yrs30 yrs
5.4% — Longmeadow’s own last decade$780k$1.02M$1.32M$2.91M
3% — inflation, holding its real value$696k$806k$935k$1.46M

These are not forecasts. They are what $600k 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 Longmeadow

suburban1,744 people per square mile across 9.1 sq mi suburban — 500–2,000 per square mile

What’s hereCount
Cafés and coffee shops
See the list
1
Bookshops0
Museums, theatres and galleries
See the list
1
Colleges and universities
See the list
1
Public libraryLongmeadow, Richard Salter Storrs Library

2,643 students — 17% of Longmeadow’s population. 15% of them have a place in campus housing, about 3% of everyone living here. Enrolment is counted at the campus, so students who commute from elsewhere are included here.

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 households86%
White (non-Hispanic)82%
Asian (non-Hispanic)7.0%
Latino / Hispanic5.0%
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

LongmeadowFigure
Residents15,853
Municipal budgetFY2025, DLS Schedule A$81.4M
School district spending$53.5M
Spending per pupil DESE, total expenditures$18,939
School spending per resident$3,377
Affordable housing units (Ch. 40B inventory)696

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 Longmeadow

WilbrahamTier 2
Also Tier 2, 8 min closer to Boston
EasthamptonTier 3
Tier 3, about $150k cheaper
East LongmeadowTier 3
Tier 3, about $100k cheaper
South HadleyTier 3
Tier 3, about $150k cheaper
NorthamptonTier 3
Tier 3, about $100k more expensive
AmherstTier 3
Tier 3, about $75k more expensive

Surprisingly similar in character

StoughtonTier 3
Both social · 73 min closer in
CantonTier 3
Both social · $225k dearer, 79 min closer in
GraftonTier 3
Both social · 48 min closer in
BedfordTier 2
Both well-equipped for recreation and social · $550k dearer, 78 min closer in

Read next

Test scores tell you who moved in. Growth tells you what the school did.
Scores in the 85th percentile but moves children in the 48th — the intake flatters this district.
7 min read
The district spending the most per pupil is not the best one
Spends $18,939 per pupil — 17th percentile for money, 85th for results. The two barely track each other statewide.
7 min read
Private school is not a plan B for a weak school district
Only 2 accredited private schools within twelve miles, which is the thin end of the state's supply.
7 min read
How much income do you need to buy in a good Massachusetts school district?
A 4BR here needs roughly $181k of household income. That is what a Tier 2 district costs to buy into.
7 min read
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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