Medway, MA Tier 2

Tier 2 · strong schools · 25 miles from downtown Boston, about 60 minutes door-to-door at peak · 87% of households own their home.

Medway, Massachusetts
Medway · photo via Wikipedia
4BR house
$850k
$650k townhouse · $480k condo
Dearer than 62% of MA towns
Property tax
$12,300/yr
$14.50 per $1,000 on that house
Higher than 77% of MA towns
To downtown Boston
60 min
No MBTA rail
Closer than 52% of MA towns
Schools
82nd pct
growth 48th · 93% graduate
Ahead of 82% 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 Medway

Medway is a strong school district south-west of Boston, about 25 miles from downtown Boston as the crow flies and 60 minutes door-to-door at peak, and moderately priced by Massachusetts standards: roughly $850k for a 4BR house and $480k for a 2BR condo. The residential rate is $14.50 per $1,000, on the high side for Massachusetts, which on a $850k 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 82nd percentile statewide on MCAS, and Niche ranks it 34th of 236. Sidewalk neighborhoods in the 495 belt.

The good, the bad, the ugly

From the data
Good

Schools are the draw: a Tier 2 district, and only 23 towns rate higher.

Bad

About 60 minutes to downtown at peak, and no rail to escape it.

Ugly

About $12k a year in property tax — the one housing bill that never amortises, never refinances and never ends.

Schools and child carestrong schools · 82nd MCAS · 3 schools

Public elementary & middle schools

3 public schools in Medway — 2 elementary and 1 middle
Elementary2–4 · 517 students
ElementaryPK–1 · 345 students
Elementary / middle5–8 · 678 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 12 center-based · 6 family child care18
Licensed places, all ages The ceiling these programs may operate to732
Places in centers Commercial premises, licensed room by room680
Places in family child care A provider’s own home, mixed ages together52
Infant & toddler places in centers Age bands ending under three; family programs are not broken down126
Preschool places in centers Roughly 33 months to kindergarten319
Head Start programs Federally funded, income-eligible1

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 126 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#34 of 236 MA districts · A
SchoolDigger 2025 · City/locality test-score rank#54 of 361 MA localities
U.S. News 2025-26 · Assigned high school#62 of 366 MA · Medway High School
Boston Magazine 2025 · Greater Boston high school#61 of 135 · Medway High School
Official Massachusetts data (DESE)Result
MCAS achievement82nd percentile statewide
Student growth (SGP)48th percentile
4-year graduation rate93.2%
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: Medway Middle School's major project had a total project budget of about $22.1 million; a reliable completion date was not displayed in the reviewed project record. MSBA project list.

Charter School Options

1 charter school near Medway
Adjacent town · FranklinTuition-free · lotteryK–8 · Charter (public, tuition-free) · growth 53rd pct · Substantial progress toward targets · $18k/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

17 private schools in Medway and within 12 miles
Adjacent town · MilfordK–12 + SP · Specialized / placement · 103 students · 1.5:1 student-teacher · placement/specialized
Adjacent town · Milford9–12 · Specialized / placement · 7 students · placement/specialized
Montrose SchoolNiche #60 · A+
Adjacent town · MedfieldNEASC accreditedK–12 · PK/K–12 · files no enrolment with the state
Adjacent town · MendonPK–12 · PK/K–12 · 171 students · ~$10k–$20k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · AshlandPK · Early childhood · 17 students · ~$18k–$30k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · DoverAISNE accreditedPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 190 students · 4.9:1 student-teacher · ~$32k–$45k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · WalpolePK–8 · Elementary / middle · 341 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Walpole1–12 + SP · Specialized / placement · 103 students · placement/specialized
Adjacent town · Walpole7–12 · Middle / high · 44 students · ~$38k–$50k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · NatickAISNE accreditedPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 195 students · ~$32k–$45k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · Natick3–12 · PK/K–12 · 54 students · ~$38k–$50k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · NatickK–12 + SP · Specialized / placement · 28 students · placement/specialized
Adjacent town · NatickAISNE accredited9–12 · High school · files no enrolment with the state
Adjacent town · FraminghamPK–8 · Elementary / middle · 214 students · ~$8k–$15k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · FraminghamPK–12 + SP · Specialized / placement · 126 students · placement/specialized
Adjacent town · FraminghamAISNE accreditedPK–6 · Elementary / middle · 125 students · ~$18k–$30k/yr (est.)
Adjacent town · FraminghamPK–6 · Elementary / middle · 68 students · ~$32k–$45k/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 Medway, 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 Medway

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 amenities7
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$850k 4BR · ≈$12,300 tax
To buyMedian price (est.)
4BR / 2BA detached house$850k
3BR / 2BA townhouse$650k
2BR condo$480k
Property taxes (FY2026)$14.50 per $1,000 (1.45%)

These are modeled estimates, not listings. Each row opens the real Redfin market in ZIP 02053, and the two will not match.

To rentPer month (est.)
4 bedrooms$3,400/mo
3 bedrooms$3,083/mo
2 bedrooms$2,567/mo
1 bedroom$2,163/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 Medway’s ZIP codes

Home values over the last decade

Medway home values, 2016–2026Zillow Home Value Index for Medway, 2016 to 2026: $433k to $733k, up 69 per cent.$397k$583k$769k20162026
Medway, 2016 to 2026: $433k to $733k, up 69% in 10 years — 5.4% a year compounded.
If a $850k house grew at…5 yrs10 yrs15 yrs30 yrs
5.4% — Medway’s own last decade$1.11M$1.44M$1.87M$4.12M
3% — inflation, holding its real value$985k$1.14M$1.32M$2.06M

These are not forecasts. They are what $850k 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 Medway

suburban1,137 people per square mile across 11.5 sq mi suburban — 500–2,000 per square mile

What’s hereCount
Cafés and coffee shops
See the list
2
Bookshops0
Museums, theatres and galleries0
Colleges and universities0
Public libraryMedway 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 households87%
White (non-Hispanic)88%
Asian (non-Hispanic)4.0%
Latino / Hispanic4.0%
African American (non-Hispanic)1.0%
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

MedwayFigure
Residents13,115
Municipal budgetFY2025, DLS Schedule A$68.1M
School district spending$43.6M
Spending per pupil DESE, total expenditures$19,109
School spending per resident$3,327
Affordable housing units (Ch. 40B inventory)576

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 Medway

LittletonTier 2
Also Tier 2, $900k for a 4BR and 63 min to Boston
StowTier 2
Also Tier 2, about $100k more expensive
FranklinTier 2
Also Tier 2, lower tax at $11.42 per $1,000
WrenthamTier 2
Also Tier 2, lower tax at $12.50 per $1,000
NorfolkTier 2
Also Tier 2, about $100k more expensive
HollistonTier 2
Also Tier 2, $900k for a 4BR and 55 min to Boston

Read next

Test scores tell you who moved in. Growth tells you what the school did.
Scores in the 82nd 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 $19,109 per pupil — 20th percentile for money, 82nd for results. The two barely track each other statewide.
7 min read
How much income do you need to buy in a good Massachusetts school district?
A 4BR here needs roughly $236k of household income. That is what a Tier 2 district costs to buy into.
7 min read
The best Massachusetts towns if you don’t commute to Boston
Tier 2 schools 60 minutes out. If you do not commute to Boston, that distance is a discount on the same school tier rather than a cost.
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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