Every Massachusetts city and town sets its own residential tax rate each fall, and the Division of Local Services (DLS) must approve it before the actual bills go out. This Massachusetts property tax calculator holds the approved fiscal 2026 Class One (residential) rate for all 351 municipalities plus Devens, and 50 entries that add a fire, water, or light district levy. It multiplies your assessment by that rate per $1,000. Rates run from $2.18 in Hancock to $20.50 in Wendell, and the middle community sits near $12.44. Enter the assessed value from your bill or the assessor’s online card; because Massachusetts assesses at full and fair cash value, that number should be close to what the house would sell for.
Proposition 2½: The Levy Comes First, the Rate Second
A Massachusetts tax rate is an output, not a choice. Town meeting or the city council adopts a budget, and the assessors work out how much of it must come from property tax. Chapter 59, section 21C, better known as Proposition 2½, then limits that levy two ways. The total may never exceed 2.5 percent of the community’s full and fair cash value, and the levy limit can grow each year only to 102.5 percent of the prior year’s limit, plus the tax on new construction and newly taxable property.
Massachusetts Property Tax Calculator (FY2026 Residential Rates)
Choose one of 351 cities and towns, Devens, or 50 fire, water, and light district entries, type the January 1 assessment, and see the fiscal year total, each half, a monthly escrow figure, and the combined residential rate. Every rate is the FY2026 Class One figure the Division of Local Services approved.
Planning estimate only. It multiplies the assessment you enter by the FY2026 residential rate, plus a district rate where you pick one, as published by the Massachusetts Division of Local Services. Not counted: the residential exemption, clause exemptions for seniors, veterans, surviving spouses, and blind owners, the Community Preservation Act surcharge of up to 3 percent, and water, sewer, or betterment charges added to the bill. FY2027 rates are approved community by community through fall and winter. The collector in your city or town hall has the exact amount due.
Voters can lift the limit with an override, which raises the base permanently, or a debt exclusion, which covers one borrowing until the bonds are repaid. The assessors then divide the levy by taxable value to get the rate. When values jump faster than the levy, the rate falls, yet your bill can still climb if your home gained more than the town average.
Split Rates: Why Boston Homes Pay $12.40 and Offices Pay $26.96
State law lets a community tax property classes at different rates. Under chapter 58, section 1A, and chapter 40, section 56, the select board or city council picks a residential factor each year. Choosing a factor below 1 shifts part of the burden from homes to commercial, industrial, and personal property, up to a cap of 175 percent of that class’s share of total value, with residential never falling below 50 percent of its share.
In fiscal 2026, 113 of the 352 rate-setting communities in the DLS table charged business property more than homes. Boston charges $12.40 per $1,000 on residential property and $26.96 on commercial, industrial, and personal property. Worcester set $13.28 against $29.06, Springfield $15.46 against $34.35. The calculator uses only the residential rate; owners of mixed-use buildings should read the other class rates from their bill.
FY2026 Residential Rates From Hancock to Wendell
The lowest figures belong to resort and island places where huge valuations carry modest budgets. Hancock leads at $2.18, then Chilmark at $2.28, Edgartown at $2.48, Nantucket at $3.12, Gosnold at $3.16, and Chatham at $3.67. Sixty-nine communities come in under $10.
The top of the table is western Massachusetts. Wendell charges $20.50, Westhampton $20.35, East Longmeadow $19.43, Heath $19.39, and Longmeadow $19.32. Fifty-eight communities sit at $15 or more, among them Pittsfield at $17.50 and Holyoke at $17.43. Closer to Boston, Cambridge is $6.67, Newton $9.69, Somerville $10.98, and Lowell $11.35. The straight average of all 352 municipal rates is $12.18.
A low rate is not automatically a small bill. A $2,000,000 house in Chilmark at $2.28 owes $4,560.00, about what a $295,000 house owes in Springfield at $15.46.
Fire and Water Districts: The Line Some Bills Add
Some Massachusetts villages fund firefighting, water supply, or street lighting through districts that levy their own tax on top of the town’s. DLS certifies these rates separately, and the calculator lists 50 of them under the host town, for example “Barnstable: Hyannis Fire District.”
Barnstable matters most. The whole town is divided among five fire districts, and each adds a residential rate: $1.15 in Centerville-Osterville-Marstons Mills, $2.07 in Cotuit, $2.40 in Hyannis, $2.66 in West Barnstable, and $2.81 in the Barnstable Fire District. On a town rate of $6.80, that is an increase of 17 to 41 percent. Wareham, Dartmouth, Palmer, Montague, Bourne, and Sandwich also carry districts. If your village sits in two districts, such as South Deerfield’s fire and water districts, add the second rate yourself.
Worked Bills: Boston With and Without the Residential Exemption
Take a Boston single-family home assessed at $750,000. At $12.40 per $1,000, the gross fiscal 2026 tax is $9,300.00. If the owner lived there on January 1 and filed for Boston’s residential exemption, the city removes $351,108 of value, 35 percent of the average residential assessment and the most section 5C allows. Enter $398,892 instead and the estimate falls to $4,946.26, a saving of $4,353.74, or $412.19 a month in escrow.
Now put a $600,000 house in five places. In Hancock it would owe $1,308.00 a year. In Hyannis the town share is $4,080.00 and the fire district adds $1,440.00, so $5,520.00 in total. Worcester comes to $7,968.00, Springfield $9,276.00, and Wendell $12,300.00, more than nine times the Hancock figure for the same value.
In the DLS tables, the residential rate sits well above residential levy divided by residential value in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Malden, Waltham, Watertown, Chelsea, Everett, Brookline, Barnstable, and several Cape and Islands towns. That gap is the footprint of an exemption shifting tax onto non-exempt parcels, so in those places an owner-occupant who has not filed is paying for neighbors who have. Check with your assessors whether your community offers it.
Personal Exemptions and the Senior Circuit Breaker
Chapter 59, section 5 lists exemptions by clause, mostly fixed dollar cuts. Clause 17D takes $175 off (or $2,000 of value, whichever saves more) for a surviving spouse, a minor with a deceased parent, or an owner over 70 with limited assets. Clause 41C gives qualifying owners 70 or older $500 (or $4,000 of value) if they meet income and asset limits. Qualifying veterans receive $400 (or $2,000 of value) under Clause 22, and a veteran rated 100 percent disabled in the line of duty receives $1,000 (or $6,000 of value) under Clause 22E. Blind owners receive $500 under Clause 37A. Communities that accept Clause 22J can double the veteran amounts.
The senior circuit breaker credit refunds property tax above 10 percent of income for residents 65 and older. The Legislature doubled its base in 2023 (chapter 50 of the Acts of 2023, effective for tax year 2023), and after indexing the maximum for tax year 2025 is $2,820, with income limits of $75,000 for a single filer, $94,000 for a head of household, and $112,000 for a joint return. It is claimed on Schedule CB with the state income tax return.
Some communities also add a Community Preservation Act surcharge of up to 3 percent of the real estate tax, which sits outside Proposition 2½ and is not in the calculator.
Abatement: Beat the First Actual Bill Deadline
Values are set as of January 1 for the fiscal year that starts the following July. If yours looks too high, file an abatement application with the board of assessors on or before the due date of the first installment of the actual tax bill, which is February 1 in quarterly communities. Keep paying meanwhile: for a tax over $5,000, late payment can sink a later appeal.
The assessors have three months to act, or the application is deemed denied. From the decision or deemed denial, you have three months to appeal to the Appellate Tax Board under section 65.
Payment Schedule, Tax Taking, and the FY2027 Refresh
Communities billing quarterly under section 57C send preliminary bills due August 1 and November 1, then the actual bill, figured once DLS approves the new rate, due February 1 and May 1. Semiannual communities under that section set October 1 and April 1. Late amounts carry 14 percent annual interest. After a demand and 14 days’ notice, mailed, posted on the house, and put on the municipal website, the collector can take the property into tax title. The owner can still redeem; after 12 months the town can petition the Land Court to foreclose. Section 64A of chapter 60 now lets a former owner claim the equity left after the town recovers what it is owed.
Fiscal 2027 rates are approved one community at a time. When this page was built in September 2026, only 15 had them, including Yarmouth at $7.28, up from $6.97, and Windsor at $11.02, up from $9.43. The calculator moves to FY2027 once the DLS table fills in.
Sources: Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services, Municipal Databank, FY2026 Tax Rates by Class and District Tax Rates by Class; Massachusetts General Laws chapters 40, 58, 59, 60, and 62; City of Boston Assessing Department. For the exact amount due, contact the collector at your city or town hall.