Melrose
1 high school and 5 elementary schools in our rankings · serves Melrose
Ranks #24 of 328 Massachusetts school districts — top 8%.
MCAS is the share of students meeting or exceeding expectations in 2026, grades 3–10 combined. Spending is total per-pupil expenditure in FY2024.
Melrose is a suburban community about 9 miles north of Boston, in Middlesex County, and its public school district serves the town's students through Melrose High School. The town is known for its tree-lined residential neighborhoods and its proximity to Boston via the Orange Line and commuter rail corridor. Average single-family assessed values and per capita income in Melrose are high relative to the rest of the state, reflecting the town's established suburban character. Melrose is also home to the Melrose Historical Society and the historic Ell Pond area, and the town has long been recognized for its community-oriented downtown.
How it compares
- Strongest area: ELA MCAS, in the top 12% of districts. 64% of students in grades 3–10 met or exceeded expectations in 2026, vs 41% statewide in the same grades.
- Top school: Horace Mann, #25 of 895 Massachusetts elementary schools.
- Trend: Chronic absence has fallen from 17.7% in 2022 to 10.6% 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 Melrose
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 (Melrose High). "MA avg" is the average of all Massachusetts districts with high school data.
Students & classrooms
49.6% female · 50% male · 0.4% nonbinary
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 284 full-time-equivalent teachers.
Attendance
9.2 days absent per student (MA avg 11) · 2.2% missed 20% or more of school days
About Melrose
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 Melrose with nearby districts
Side by side: test scores, spending, class size, home values and taxes. Distance is between district centers. Compare with any district