North Shore · comparison guide
North Shore Commuter Rail Towns Compared
Most people who start looking on the North Shore start with the train. The Newburyport/Rockport line runs from North Station out through Chelsea and Lynn, splits at Beverly, and carries on to Rockport one way and Newburyport the other. Living near a station changes what a commute costs in time and money, and it tends to change what a house costs too.
What the line does not do is make these towns interchangeable. The tax rate at one end is dollars per thousand away from the other. Median prices differ by multiples. Below is what the towns along the line actually look like on the numbers, before anyone tells you which one is "the up-and-coming one."
| Town | FY2026 tax rate per $1,000 | Avg. single-family bill FY2026 | Median sale price trailing 12 mo. | Days on market median | Active listings now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | $11.48 | $4,214 | $696,000 | 43 days | 8 |
| Lynn | $10.30 | $6,031 | $590,000 | 57 days | 143 |
| Swampscott | $12.00 | $11,478 | $872,500 | 62 days | 31 |
| Salem | $10.78 | $7,285 | $705,000 | 56 days | 44 |
| Beverly | $10.81 | $8,834 | $800,000 | 49 days | 74 |
| Gloucester | $9.31 | $9,502 | $777,500 | 59.5 days | 68 |
| Rockport | $8.46 | $8,548 | $1,007,434 | 68 days | 37 |
| Ipswich | $10.78 | $9,733 | $925,000 | 65 days | 38 |
Last verified 2026-07-31. Tax rates: Massachusetts Division of Local Services, Municipal Databank, FY2026 (verified 2026-07-31). Market figures from MLS via Lofty, as of August 4, 2026, covering the trailing twelve months. Every figure in this table is read from the same datasets the rest of the site uses — nothing here is typed by hand.
What this table does and doesn't tell you
Every figure here comes from the same two sources the rest of this site uses: tax rates from the state Division of Local Services, and market figures from MLS data refreshed daily. Nothing is typed in by hand, so nothing here can quietly drift out of date while the page keeps claiming to be current.
Three things the table cannot tell you, which matter as much as anything in it:
Travel time is not a function of distance. Trains from the outer stations make fewer stops, so a longer trip on the map is sometimes a shorter trip in practice. Schedules and headways change seasonally, and the only trustworthy source is the MBTA's own current timetable — check the Newburyport/Rockport schedule for the trips you would actually take, on the days you would actually take them.
A lower tax rate is not a lower tax bill. The rate is only half the calculation; the town's assessment of your particular house is the other half. A town with a low rate and high assessments can cost more than the reverse. The average single-family bill column is a better guide to what owners actually pay than the rate column is.
Station proximity varies enormously within a town. Gloucester and Ipswich are large; Swampscott is small. "In a commuter rail town" and "walkable to the platform" are different propositions with different prices, and the town-level median blends both together.
Reading the spread
The towns at the southern end of the line — Chelsea and Lynn — carry the lowest median prices on the list, and they are the two where the average tax bill is lowest in absolute dollars, largely because the housing stock is less expensive rather than because the rate is generous.
At the other end, Rockport and Gloucester show the pattern that surprises people most often: the two lowest tax rates in this group sit alongside some of its highest prices. Rockport runs the lowest residential rate of any North Shore town we track, and also the highest median sale price on this list — which is the clearest possible demonstration that a low rate is not a low cost of ownership.
Ipswich makes the same point from the other direction. Its rate sits mid-pack — the same $10.78 as Salem — yet its average single-family bill is the second highest here, behind only Swampscott's. Same rate, very different bill, because the assessments behind it are higher.
Beverly and Salem sit in the middle on nearly every measure, which is part of why they absorb so much of the demand from buyers priced out of Cambridge and Somerville. Both are split-rate cities, meaning commercial property is taxed separately from residential — worth knowing if you are looking at a mixed-use building rather than a house.
Days on market is the column most worth watching over time. It moves faster than prices do, and a town where the median has held steady while days on market has doubled is a town where the next few months of pricing are likely to look different from the last few.
FAQ
Which North Shore towns are on the commuter rail?
The Newburyport/Rockport line serves Chelsea, Lynn, Swampscott, Salem, Beverly, and then splits — the Rockport branch continues through Manchester-by-the-Sea and Gloucester to Rockport, while the Newburyport branch runs through Hamilton/ Wenham, Ipswich, and Rowley to Newburyport. The towns in the table above are the ones we track full market and tax data for.
Does living near a commuter rail station raise home prices?
Station proximity generally supports value, but it is one factor among many and it is not uniform. A house a short walk from a station with frequent service behaves differently from one two miles from a station with a handful of trips a day. Look at the specific station's schedule, not just the presence of a station in the town.
Which commuter rail town has the lowest property taxes?
The table above shows current rates for the towns we track, ordered from the southern end of the line outward. Compare the average single-family bill rather than the rate alone — that column reflects both the rate and what houses are actually assessed at.
How long does the train take to North Station?
Travel times depend on which station, which trip, and whether the train runs express through the inner stops. Because schedules change seasonally, we do not publish fixed times here — check the current MBTA timetable for the trips you would use.
Are these figures current?
Tax rates are verified against the state Division of Local Services and refresh when towns certify new rates each December. Market figures refresh daily from MLS data. Both carry their own date stamp above the table.