Reading
1 high school and 5 elementary schools in our rankings · serves Reading
Ranks #32 of 328 Massachusetts school districts — top 10%.
MCAS is the share of students meeting or exceeding expectations in 2026, grades 3–10 combined. Spending is total per-pupil expenditure in FY2024.
Reading is a suburban town in Middlesex County, located about 12 miles north of Boston along the Route 128 corridor. Its single-family assessed value and per capita income both sit above the Massachusetts median, reflecting its established residential character. The town is known for its tree-lined streets and its historic town center, and it is one of the communities with a long history of civic life dating to its settlement in the 17th century. Reading Memorial High School serves as the district's high school.
How it compares
- Strongest area: Attendance, in the top 12% of districts. Students attend 95.2% of school days, vs 93.7% for the average MA district.
- Top school: Joshua Eaton, #7 of 895 Massachusetts elementary schools.
- Trend: Math MCAS is up 6.6 points since 2023 (57.3589% to 63.9967%).
- Trend: Chronic absence has fallen from 13% in 2022 to 8.1% 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 Reading
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 (Reading Memorial High). "MA avg" is the average of all Massachusetts districts with high school data.
Students & classrooms
47.1% female · 52.8% male · 0.1% 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 298 full-time-equivalent teachers.
Attendance
8.4 days absent per student (MA avg 11) · 1.4% missed 20% or more of school days
About Reading
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 Reading with nearby districts
Side by side: test scores, spending, class size, home values and taxes. Distance is between district centers. Compare with any district