Lynn, MA Tier 4

Tier 4 · mixed schools · 9 miles from downtown Boston, about 40 minutes door-to-door at peak · 50% of households own their home.

Lynn, Massachusetts
Lynn · photo via Wikipedia
4BR house
$650k
$525k townhouse · $390k condo
Cheaper than 62% of MA towns
Property tax
$6,700/yr
$10.30 per $1,000 on that house
Lower than 79% of MA towns
To downtown Boston
40 min
Commuter rail · ~28 min to terminal
Closer than 86% of MA towns
Schools
2nd pct
growth 50th · 76% graduate
Behind 98% 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 Lynn

Lynn is a fourth-tier school district north-east of Boston, about 9 miles from downtown Boston as the crow flies and 40 minutes door-to-door at peak, and moderately priced by Massachusetts standards: roughly $650k for a 4BR house and $390k for a 2BR condo. The residential rate is $10.30 per $1,000, about average for Massachusetts, but on a $650k house that is still about $6,700 a year. Commuter rail runs downtown in about 28 minutes, against a 40-minute peak drive. The district sits in the 2nd percentile statewide on MCAS. 'The City of Sin' rebrand is underway: ocean frontage, art deco stock, trains straight downtown.

The good, the bad, the ugly

Editorial
Good

Ocean frontage, art-deco building stock, and a direct downtown train — the last close-in bargain.

Bad

Schools are among the lowest-scoring in our set.

Ugly

The Lynnway is a six-lane barrier between the city and its own waterfront.

Schools and child caremixed schools · 2nd MCAS · 24 schools

Public elementary & middle schools

24 public schools in Lynn — 19 elementary and 3 middle
ElementaryPK–5 · 685 students
ElementaryPK–5 · 631 students
ElementaryK–5 · 620 students
ElementaryK–5 · 558 students
ElementaryPK–5 · 553 students
ElementaryK–5 · 502 students
ElementaryK–5 · 453 students
ElementaryK–5 · 449 students
ElementaryPK–5 · 414 students
ElementaryK–5 · 410 students
ElementaryPK–5 · 384 students
ElementaryPK–5 · 363 students
ElementaryK–5 · 330 students
ElementaryK–5 · 256 students
ElementaryK–5 · 232 students
ElementaryPK–K · 207 students
ElementaryK–5 · 189 students
ElementaryK–5 · 172 students
ElementaryPK–5 · 26 students
K–12PK–12 · 1,538 students
K–12PK–11 · 22 students
Middle6–8 · 1,190 students
Middle6–8 · 1,160 students
Middle6–8 · 539 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 38 center-based · 224 family child care262
Licensed places, all ages The ceiling these programs may operate to4,913
Places in centers Commercial premises, licensed room by room3,055
Places in family child care A provider’s own home, mixed ages together1,858
Infant & toddler places in centers Age bands ending under three; family programs are not broken down343
Preschool places in centers Roughly 33 months to kindergarten1,001
Head Start programs Federally funded, income-eligible2

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 343 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
SchoolDigger 2025 · City/locality test-score rank#347 of 361 MA localities
Official Massachusetts data (DESE)Result
MCAS achievement2nd percentile statewide
Student growth (SGP)50th percentile
4-year graduation rate75.6%
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.

Latest school building project: A replacement Pickering Middle School had a preferred-schematic total project estimate of about $170.3 million; it was not completed in the July 2026 review. MSBA project list.

Charter School Options

4 charter schools near Lynn
In LynnTuition-free · lotteryK–12 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 49th pct · 97.6% graduate · Moderate progress toward targets · $21k/pupil
Adjacent town · SaugusTuition-free · lotteryK–12 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 70th pct · 93.2% graduate · Meeting or exceeding targets · $17k/pupil
Adjacent town · SalemTuition-free · lottery6–12 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 56th pct · 95.6% graduate · Substantial progress toward targets · $21k/pupil
Adjacent town · MaldenTuition-free · lotteryK–12 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 52nd pct · 96.1% graduate · Substantial progress toward targets · $15k/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

14 private schools in Lynn and within 12 miles
In LynnPK–12 · PK/K–12 · 862 students · ~$18k–$28k/yr (est.)
In LynnPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 300 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
In LynnPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 124 students · ~$10k–$20k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · SalemAISNE accreditedK–8 · Elementary / middle · 26 students · 8.7:1 student-teacher · ~$32k–$45k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · ReverePK–8 · Elementary / middle · 341 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · ReverePK–5 · Elementary · 61 students · ~$9k–$18k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Peabody9–12 · High school · 451 students · 12:1 student-teacher · ~$18k–$28k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · PeabodyPK–12 · PK/K–12 · 427 students · 9.4:1 student-teacher · ~$10k–$20k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · PeabodyPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 391 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · MelrosePK–8 · Elementary / middle · 191 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · LynnfieldPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 330 students · 12.1:1 student-teacher · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · WakefieldPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 262 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · WakefieldAISNE accreditedPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 46 students · 7.6:1 student-teacher · ~$32k–$45k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · MaldenPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 335 students · ~$8k–$15k/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 Lynn, 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 Lynn

Urban coresCoastalCompact centreRail-servedhigh confidence

Active, dense/walkable, and well provided with recreation programs, playgrounds and athletic fields; lower-cost and older in housing stock, with visible cultural identity, some visitor activity, and strong gathering-place network.

Energy7
Compact town center9
Family amenities5
Culture7
Visitor presence5
Public gathering places8

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$650k 4BR · ≈$6,700 tax
To buyMedian price (est.)
4BR / 2BA detached house$650k
3BR / 2BA townhouse$525k
2BR condo$390k
Property taxes (FY2026)$10.30 per $1,000 (1.03%)

These are modeled estimates, not listings. Each row opens the real Redfin market in ZIP 01905, one of 4 in Lynn, and the two will not match.

To rentPer month (est.)
4 bedrooms$3,390/mo
3 bedrooms$3,080/mo
2 bedrooms$2,560/mo
1 bedroom$2,160/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 Lynn’s ZIP codes

Home values over the last decade

Lynn home values, 2016–2026Zillow Home Value Index for Lynn, 2016 to 2026: $296k to $595k, up 101 per cent.$260k$446k$631k20162026
Lynn, 2016 to 2026: $296k to $595k, up 101% in 10 years — 7.2% a year compounded.
If a $650k house grew at…5 yrs10 yrs15 yrs30 yrs
7.2% — Lynn’s own last decade$920k$1.30M$1.84M$5.23M
3% — inflation, holding its real value$754k$874k$1.01M$1.58M

These are not forecasts. They are what $650k 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 Lynn

urban9,429 people per square mile across 10.7 sq mi city density — 5,000+ people per square mile

What’s hereCount
Cafés and coffee shops
See the list
5
Bookshops0
Museums, theatres and galleries
See the list

1 more is mapped without a name, so it cannot be listed.

7
Colleges and universities0
Public libraryLynn 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 households50%
White (non-Hispanic)36%
Asian (non-Hispanic)5.9%
Latino / Hispanic43%
African American (non-Hispanic)10%
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

LynnFigure
Residents101,253
Municipal budgetFY2025, DLS Schedule A$544.2M
School district spending$417.1M
Spending per pupil DESE, total expenditures$22,388
School spending per resident$4,119
Affordable housing units (Ch. 40B inventory)4,444

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 Lynn

EverettTier 4
Also Tier 4, 16 min closer to Boston
ChelseaTier 4
Also Tier 4, 16 min closer to Boston
RevereTier 4
Also Tier 4, 15 min closer to Boston
MaldenTier 4
Also Tier 4, 21 min closer to Boston
LawrenceTier 4
Also Tier 4, about $150k cheaper
PeabodyTier 3
Tier 3, about $85k more expensive

Surprisingly similar in character

SpringfieldTier 4
Both compact and social · $275k cheaper, 76 min further out

Read next

Test scores tell you who moved in. Growth tells you what the school did.
Scores in the 2nd percentile but moves children in the 50th — this district does more than its test scores suggest.
7 min read
The district spending the most per pupil is not the best one
Spends $22,388 per pupil — 63rd percentile for money, 2nd for results. The two barely track each other statewide.
7 min read
The cheap towns grew fastest. The expensive ones made far more money.
7.2% a year over the last decade, near the top of the state — and the towns that grew fastest in percentage terms started cheapest.
7 min read
A school rating is an average. Of how many schools?
That one school rating averages 24 elementary and middle schools, and they are not the same place.
6 min read
Data statusreviewed August 14, 2026
FigureStatus
Home pricesCalibrated to the Zillow Home Value Index and Redfin market pages. For comparison, not appraisal.Estimate
Property tax rateFY2026 residential rate per $1,000, from municipal assessor and treasurer pages.Sourced
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 town’s prices and tax rate are sourced as described in our methodology. Data last reviewed . Full detail on every source is in the methodology.

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