Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Boxborough is one of the best-graded places in America: an A+, 31st of 282 graded towns in Massachusetts. It is among the healthiest towns in the country on CDC estimates, its schools outperform 92% of the state's, and the median household earns $145K. The exception is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $707K, 6.1 years of the Boston metro’s $116K median household income. 81% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Boxborough, against 47% in Massachusetts’ towns and 29% across U.S. towns. Only 20 of Massachusetts’ 325 towns score higher on hazard risk. Boxborough's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) is stronger than in 97% of U.S. towns.
Where Boxborough beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Boxborough | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 2.7% | 5.2% |
Census counts: 412 in 1790, 5,506 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1889 and 8 maps from 1887 on.
2 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Massachusetts), ordered by how far Boxborough is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Boxborough. Close and well known come first.
Big draw24 mi Stadium & arenaFenway Park
Big draw30 mi Stadium & arenaGillette Stadium
Big draw35 mi LakeLake Chaubunagungamaug
10 mi LakeWalden Pond
Big draw24 mi MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum
25 mi AttractionFreedom TrailFenway Park: Gatorfan252525, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gillette Stadium: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Lake Chaubunagungamaug: Bree from Worcester, MA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Walden Pond: Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Sean Dungan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Freedom Trail: Ingfbruno, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Boxborough, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Boxborough.
Boxborough has less no health insurance than most of Massachusetts and pairs an A for schools with high home prices, but it reports more crime than Littleton and its other graded neighbors.
The biggest place to walk is Patch Hill Conservation Area, 234 acres with 4.3 miles of trail. There are 34 miles of trail across 27 parks and preserves. Boxborough’s concentration of trails stands at 3.3 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Patch Hill Conservation Area | 4.3 mi | 234 |
| 2. Steele Farm | 2.8 mi | 100 |
| 3. Have Not Pond Conservation Area | 2.2 mi | 68 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
That grade comes with a C− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $707K.
The public schools here belong to the Acton-Boxborough school district. Its one school is below. The town’s only public school teaches 469 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blanchard Memorial SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–6 | Grades K–6 | 469 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
Its widest gap with Massachusetts is no health insurance: 2.7% of those 18–64 have no health insurance, against 5.2% statewide.
Boxborough: just over one in ten adults say their health is fair or poor. Two figures for adults here: 9% report frequent physical distress, 13% report frequent mental distress.
| Boxborough | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 28% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9% | 12% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 16% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 7.5% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Boxborough | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 2.7% | 5.2% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 6.7% | 12.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Federal aid has come to Boxborough households in 12 declared disasters; the latest was in 2018. Compared with 90% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage here is lower. Of the losses FEMA expects in the town, 66% come from inland flooding and 12% from hurricanes.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Boxborough is safe by national standards, yet each of the 4 graded towns on its borders reports less crime per resident, from Littleton (A) to Harvard (A). Violent crime is rare: 5 reported in 2025, 0.9 per 1,000 residents.
Boxborough’s property crime rate is 3.6 per 1,000 residents. Its level of violent crime stands at 0.9 per 1,000 residents.
| Boxborough | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.6 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.9 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expect July afternoons of 84° and January nights of 16°, with about 59 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Among working residents in Boxborough, 4.9% work locally. Since 2013, Boxborough has lost 409 jobs, to 3,398 in 2023. Also worth knowing: the average trip to work for Boxborough comes to 30 minutes. Half of commuters travel less than 17 miles.
| Boxborough | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $145,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 3.8% | 6% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 30 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.9% | 9.9% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
For Boxborough, the going rate for rent is $1,887 a month. In Boxborough, 50% of sales closed above the list price. On the market in the town: a median 14 days to sell.
| Boxborough | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,887 a month | $1,682 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 73% | 79% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
4 within 15 miles of the center of Boxborough
About 6 of every 100 Boxborough residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
18.3% of the town is conserved land, across 27 parks and preserves.
2 places in Boxborough on the National Register of Historic Places.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Boxborough is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. The town name is often simplified to "Boxboro" on highway signs and official documents.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
4 towns share a border with Boxborough.
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boxborough | #31 | A+ | C− | A− | A | A+ |
| Littleton | #43 | A+ | C− | A | A− | A+ |
| Harvard | #11 | A+ | C+ | A | A+ | A |
| Acton | #20 | A+ | D | A | A | A+ |
| Stow | #30 | A+ | C− | A | A− | A+ |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Boxborough grades A+ overall, better than 97% of U.S. towns and #31 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades A+ for health, A− for safety and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $707,000, 8% above the Massachusetts typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
