Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Wayland is one of the best-graded places in America: an A+, ranked 6th of 282 in Massachusetts. On CDC health estimates it is near the top nationally, the median household earns $224K, and its schools outperform 95% of the state's. Its lowest mark, a C, is in cost of living. 79% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Wayland, where Massachusetts’ towns sit at 47% and U.S. towns at 29%. On hazard risk, just 6 of Massachusetts’ 325 towns do better. Its National Register listings include Wayland Center Historic District and Noyes-Parris House.
Where Wayland beats most towns.
Wayland Center Historic District| Widest gap | Wayland | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 4.7% | 11.9% |
Census counts: 801 in 1790, 13,943 in 2020. The archive holds 2 old photos and papers and 7 maps from 1886 on.
6 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Massachusetts), ordered by how far Wayland is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Wayland. Close and well known come first.
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaFenway Park
Big draw19 mi Stadium & arenaGillette Stadium
6 mi LakeWalden Pond
Big draw14 mi MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Big draw33 mi LakeLake Chaubunagungamaug
12 mi Stadium & arenaHarvard StadiumFenway Park: Gatorfan252525, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gillette Stadium: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Walden Pond: Victorgrigas, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Sean Dungan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lake Chaubunagungamaug: Bree from Worcester, MA, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Harvard Stadium: Nick Allen, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wayland, 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 Wayland.
Wayland has schools in the top 5% of Massachusetts and keeps more of its land conserved than most of Massachusetts, but it has seen reported crime rise by about half.
Its 3,926 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 94% of Massachusetts towns.
57 miles of trail in 58 parks and preserves. The trail density in Wayland is 3.6 miles per square mile. Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, at 1,316 acres with 1.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Greenways Conservation Area | 3.7 mi | 117 |
| 2. Heard Farm | 3.5 mi | 86 |
| 3. Sedge Meadow Conservation Area | 3.4 mi | 96 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A+ ranks #11 of the 283 Massachusetts towns we grade for schools.
Its public schools are run by the Wayland school district. Three of its 7 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Wayland High School, with 803 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wayland Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 662 | A |
| Wayland High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 803 | A+ |
| Loker SchoolTop results in townGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 359 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
At 9.8 years of the Boston metro’s $116K median household income, the typical home (about $1.13M) costs more against local pay than in 91% of Massachusetts towns; that ratio is one input to its C for cost of living.
The typical Wayland home is worth about $1,133,000, up 1.5% in a year, 73% above the Massachusetts typical home. 88% of households own their home in Wayland.
| Wayland | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 88% | 79% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,475 a month | $1,683 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its widest gap with Massachusetts is tooth loss: 4.7% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 11.9% statewide.
12% of Wayland adults report frequent mental distress. Wayland beats the Massachusetts average on 22 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 2. 9.1% of Wayland adults report frequent physical distress.
| Wayland | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 16% | 17% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 22% | 28% | 35% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.1% | 12% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 6.5% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Wayland | MA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 4.7% | 11.9% |
| Fewer uninsured adults | 2.2% | 5.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 10.6% | 8.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Reported crimes rose from 33 to 55 over the last three FBI years, a rise beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 9 reported in 2025, 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
Wayland’s property crime rate is 3.3 per 1,000 residents.
| Wayland | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.3 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Only 6 of the 283 Massachusetts towns we compare have a lower FEMA risk score than Wayland. Since 1979, 26 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Wayland.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
35.1% of workers work from home, against 18.6% across Massachusetts.
Most working residents leave Wayland for work: only 6% work in town. Among 283 Massachusetts towns, just 9 have a higher share of workers working from home than Wayland. The top destinations are Boston (23%), Cambridge (8%) and Waltham (6%).
| Wayland | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 35% | 18% | 11% |
| Median household income | $224,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4.9% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Wayland has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 17° and about 46 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
42 within 15 miles of the center of Wayland
About 4 of every 100 Wayland residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
38.9% of the town is conserved land, across 58 parks and preserves.
6 places in Wayland on the National Register of Historic Places.
14 notable people were born in Wayland.
Town in Massachusetts, United States
Wayland is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town was founded in 1638, and incorporated in 1780 and was originally part of neighboring Sudbury (incorporated 1639). At the 2020 United States census, the population was 13,943. It contains the census-designated place of Cochituate.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
6 towns share a border with Wayland.
| Town | MA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wayland | #6 | A+ | C | A | A+ | A+ |
| Sudbury | #4 | A+ | C+ | A | A+ | A+ |
| Framingham | #235 | C | D | C+ | D | A− |
| Natick | #72 | A | D | B− | A | A+ |
| Cochituate | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Weston | #22 | A+ | D− | A | A+ | A+ |
| Lincoln | #35 | A+ | D− | A+ | A | A+ |
Cochituate isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Wayland with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Wayland grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #6 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades A+ for health, A for safety and A+ for schools.
That is 9.8 years of the area's median household income ($115,863 across the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C.
14 notable people were born here, including Josiah Johnson Hawes and Andrew Bachman.
