Watertown
1 high school and 3 elementary schools in our rankings · serves Watertown
Ranks #102 of 328 Massachusetts school districts — top 32%.
MCAS is the share of students meeting or exceeding expectations in 2026, grades 3–10 combined. Spending is total per-pupil expenditure in FY2024.
Watertown is a suburban community about 8 miles west of downtown Boston, bordered by Cambridge, Newton, Waltham, and Belmont. The Watertown Public Schools district serves the town and operates Watertown High School. Residents' per capita income is above the Massachusetts median, and the town's single-family homes are assessed near the state median. Watertown is home to the Perkins School for the Blind and the historic Armenian Museum of America, and it sits along the Charles River near the Charles River Reservation.
How it compares
- Strongest area: AP results, in the top 36% of districts. 79% of AP exams at its high schools scored 3 or higher, vs 69% for the average MA district.
- Area to watch: Graduation rate ranks in the bottom 18% of districts.
- Trend: Chronic absence has fallen from 20.2% in 2022 to 15.6% 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 Watertown
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 (Watertown High). "MA avg" is the average of all Massachusetts districts with high school data.
Students & classrooms
47.9% female · 51.9% male · 0.2% 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 265 full-time-equivalent teachers.
Attendance
11 days absent per student (MA avg 11) · 4.3% missed 20% or more of school days
About Watertown
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 Watertown with nearby districts
Side by side: test scores, spending, class size, home values and taxes. Distance is between district centers. Compare with any district