Amesbury
1 high school and 1 elementary school in our rankings · serves Amesbury
Ranks #106 of 328 Massachusetts school districts — top 33%.
MCAS is the share of students meeting or exceeding expectations in 2026, grades 3–10 combined. Spending is total per-pupil expenditure in FY2024.
Amesbury is a town in Essex County on the Merrimack River, roughly 10 miles north of Lawrence and about 40 miles north of Boston. The Amesbury Public Schools district serves the town and is anchored by Amesbury High School. The town has a mix of residential neighborhoods, historic village areas, and proximity to the Merrimack River and nearby coastal communities. Amesbury is known historically for its carriage-making industry, which was once a major local economic driver. Its single-family home values and per capita income place it among the more affluent communities in the Merrimack Valley region.
How it compares
- Strongest area: AP results, in the top 18% of districts. 87% of AP exams at its high schools scored 3 or higher, vs 69% for the average MA district.
- Area to watch: Attendance ranks in the bottom 21% of districts.
- Trend: Math MCAS is down 9.6 points since 2023 (45.0755% to 35.427%).
- Trend: Chronic absence has fallen from 22.7% in 2022 to 19.6% in 2025.
A district's overall rank is the average statewide percentile of its ranked schools, with a 10% discount for single-school districts. Category standings compare the average of each district's ranked schools and count only districts with data. How we rank
Schools in Amesbury
We rank high schools that report SAT results and elementary schools with grade 3 MCAS results, so some of the district's schools (middle schools, for example) aren't listed. Elementary ELA and Math are 2024–2026 averages of grade 3 results.
MCAS results
Share of students meeting or exceeding expectations, compared with the state. Statewide 10th-grade results dropped after 2024, when passing the MCAS stopped being a graduation requirement. There was no test in 2020.
High school results
Averages of the district's ranked high schools (Amesbury High). "MA avg" is the average of all Massachusetts districts with high school data.
Students & classrooms
46.9% female · 53.1% male
Spending & teachers
Spending is total per-pupil expenditure from all sources. Dollar figures aren't adjusted for inflation. "MA median" is the middle district in each year; small districts can spend far more per student, so the median is a fairer yardstick than the average. Salary is the average across 169 full-time-equivalent teachers.
Attendance
11.8 days absent per student (MA avg 11) · 4.4% missed 20% or more of school days
About Amesbury
What could you afford here? · All towns A–Z
Town figures are FY2026 averages for single-family homes from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Assessed values usually run below recent sale prices. "MA median" is the median of the state's 351 towns.
Compare Amesbury with nearby districts
Side by side: test scores, spending, class size, home values and taxes. Distance is between district centers. Compare with any district