Certified FY2026 residential and commercial rates for 24 Greater Boston communities — with the five-year change and which towns cut owner-occupants a break. Every number verified against the town’s official filing.
A Massachusetts property tax rate is quoted per $1,000 of assessed value: a $9.00 rate on a $600,000 home is $5,400 a year. Each community sets its own rate by dividing the tax levy it is allowed to raise by its total assessed value, and Proposition 2½ caps how fast that levy can grow — 2.5% a year plus new construction, unless voters approve an override or debt exclusion. Towns that adopt classification tax commercial, industrial, and personal property (CIP) at a higher rate than homes, which is why 19 of these 24 towns publish two rates (a “split” rate) and the rest publish one (a “single” rate). FY2026 runs July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026.
Rates are dollars per $1,000 of assessed value. The five-year change compares the FY2026 residential rate with FY2022. “Res. exemption” flags towns that lower the effective bill for owner-occupants.
| Town | Residential | Commercial (CIP) | 5-yr change | Res. exemption |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arlington Middlesex County | $10.67 | Single rate | −6.6% from $11.42 | — |
| Belmont Middlesex County | $11.51 | Single rate | −0.4% from $11.56 | — |
| Boston Suffolk County | $12.40 | $26.96 | +14.0% from $10.88 | Yes |
| Brookline Norfolk County | $10.24 | $17.16 | +0.5% from $10.19 | Yes |
| Cambridge Middlesex County | $6.67 | $14.07 | +12.7% from $5.92 | Yes |
| Everett† Middlesex County | $12.62 | $25.19 | +21.8% from $10.36 | Yes |
| Lexington Middlesex County | $12.31 | $24.18 | −10.8% from $13.80 | — |
| Malden Middlesex County | $11.40 | $17.08 | −7.7% from $12.35 | Yes |
| Medford Middlesex County | $8.63 | $16.68 | −4.2% from $9.01 | — |
| Melrose Middlesex County | $11.47 | $20.61 | +8.5% from $10.57 | — |
| Milton Norfolk County | $11.81 | $18.12 | −5.3% from $12.47 | — |
| Needham Norfolk County | $10.83 | $21.09 | −19.0% from $13.37 | — |
| Newton Middlesex County | $9.69 | $18.06 | −7.9% from $10.52 | — |
| Quincy Norfolk County | $11.78 | $23.53 | −1.7% from $11.98 | — |
| Reading Middlesex County | $10.96 | $12.55 | −17.8% from $13.33 | — |
| Somerville Middlesex County | $10.98 | $18.94 | +7.9% from $10.18 | Yes |
| Stoneham Middlesex County | $10.06 | $19.15 | −3.4% from $10.41 | — |
| Wakefield Middlesex County | $11.74 | $22.40 | −4.7% from $12.32 | — |
| Waltham† Middlesex County | $10.32 | $22.18 | −7.4% from $11.14 | Yes |
| Watertown Middlesex County | $12.20 | $23.47 | −7.9% from $13.25 | Yes |
| Wellesley Norfolk County | $10.17 | Single rate | −12.9% from $11.68 | — |
| Weston Middlesex County | $10.88 | Single rate | −15.1% from $12.81 | — |
| Winchester† Middlesex County | $11.08 | $10.56 | −11.4% from $12.51 | — |
| Woburn Middlesex County | $9.15 | $21.43 | −2.0% from $9.34 | — |
† Everett: Everett’s figures are published on the city’s official assessment database (Patriot Properties WebPro), which also states the FY2026 owner-occupant exemption: taxable value reduced by $204,651, a savings of $2,582.70.
† Waltham: Verified on the MA DLS databank; the City of Waltham assessor site was mid-migration at retrieval, so the DLS FY2026 record is cited here.
† Winchester: Winchester does not classify (one rate for all classes since 1984); the residential rate sits $0.52 above the CIP rate because a special-act (Chapter 110) charge is added to the residential class only, not because of a classification shift.
Free to cite or reproduce with attribution and a link to this page.
Cambridge’s $6.67 residential rate is the lowest of the 24 towns — a huge commercial base and the residential exemption let it raise its levy on a very low rate. Everett’s $12.62 is the highest. That is a 1.9× spread in the headline rate across towns a short drive apart.
Among the split-rate towns, Boston has the widest gap: homes at $12.40 but commercial, industrial, and personal property at $26.96 — roughly 2.2× the residential rate. Single-rate towns — Arlington, Weston, Wellesley, Belmont — tax every class the same.
18 of the 24 towns have a lower residential rate than in FY2022, because rising assessed values let a town raise its capped levy on a smaller rate. Needham fell the most (−19.0%, from $13.37 to $10.83). The exceptions rose: Everett climbed the most (+21.8%), a pattern concentrated in the residential-exemption cities where the headline rate is raised to fund the exemption.
Malden, Cambridge, Somerville, Boston, Brookline, Watertown, Waltham, Everett have adopted the residential exemption for FY2026 — the published rate overstates what a resident owner actually pays on a modest home in those towns. Everywhere else in the table, the headline residential rate is the rate an owner-occupant pays.
To get an annual tax, multiply the assessed value by the rate and divide by 1,000. On a $750,000 assessment (near the FY2026 statewide average single-family value), the same house costs very different amounts town to town:
| Scenario | Rate | Annual tax |
|---|---|---|
| Home in Cambridge (lowest rate) | $6.67 | $5,003 |
| Home in Everett (highest rate) | $12.62 | $9,465 |
| Commercial building in Boston (CIP rate) | $26.96 | $20,220 |
Two more caveats. First, assessed value is not sale price — it is the town’s estimate as of the prior January 1, and it can lag the market by a year or more. Second, in the 8 residential-exemption towns above, an owner-occupant’s taxable value is reduced by a fixed dollar amount before the rate applies, so the effective rate on a resident-owned home is lower than the headline rate; check the town’s assessor page for the current exemption amount.
Rates are the certified FY2026 figures each town filed on its Tax Rate Recapitulation with the Massachusetts Division of Local Services (DLS). Each number was verified against the town’s own official assessor or tax-classification page (linked per town below) on July 6, 2026. The DLS Municipal Databank “Tax Rates by Class” report is the statewide aggregator of the same certified rates. Free to cite or reproduce with attribution and a link to this page.
Retrieved July 6, 2026. Each town’s figures were confirmed against its own official assessor or tax-classification page (or the FY2026 Tax Rate Recapitulation it filed with the state); the Massachusetts Division of Local Services (DLS) Municipal Databank is the statewide source for the same certified rates. Where a town’s live page was unavailable to automated retrieval, its own page as published during the relevant fiscal year was used. Official source used per town:
This is general reference data, not tax advice or a guarantee for any specific parcel — confirm the current figure and any exemptions with the town assessor before relying on it.
Each city or town divides the total tax levy it is allowed to raise by the total assessed value of taxable property; the result, expressed per $1,000 of value, is the tax rate. The levy itself is capped by Proposition 2½, which limits how much the total levy can grow year to year (2.5% plus new growth, unless voters pass an override or debt exclusion). Communities that adopt classification can shift more of the burden onto commercial, industrial, and personal property, producing a lower residential rate and a higher CIP rate. Every rate is certified by the Massachusetts Division of Local Services before bills go out.
Because the bill is the rate times the assessed value, and assessed values vary enormously. Cambridge has the lowest headline residential rate in this table at $6.67, but its home values are among the highest in the state, so bills are not proportionally low. Cambridge is also one of the 8 towns here that adopt the residential exemption, which deducts a fixed slice of assessed value for owner-occupants before the rate is applied — lowering the effective owner-occupied rate below the published one. Compare the rate and the assessment together, not the rate alone.
A split, or classified, rate taxes commercial, industrial, and personal property (CIP) at a higher rate than residential property. Massachusetts lets communities shift part of the residential burden onto business property within state limits. 19 of the 24 towns in this table use a split rate; the rest apply one rate to every class. Boston has the widest gap here — $12.40 residential versus $26.96 on CIP property.
FY2026 covers July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026. The next year's rates are certified around November–December 2026 (FY2027), after each community holds its tax classification hearing in the late fall. This page carries FY2026 numbers and is refreshed in place when the new rates are certified, so the URL keeps its history.
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