Mass. Towns Report Card: Did Lexington Make the Grade?

LEXINGTON, MA — This is one heck of a report card. Niche has come out with its new 2017 rankings of the "Best Places to Live" in Massachusetts, but it took a bit of a unique approach: The consumer rankings service assigned a grade, on an A+-to-D- scale, to almost every city and town and many neighborhoods around the state.

Sixty-three towns received A+ grades. None received a grade less than a C, though several did receive an "incomplete" of sorts.

Lexington was among over 80 towns and neighborhoods to receive an A+.

To arrive at the rankings, Niche.com took several factors into consideration, such as the quality of local schools, crime rates, housing trends, employment statistics and access to amenities.

Niche created a standardized score for each factor, and after weighting each factor, an overall score was calculated, which was again given a new standardized score.

Finally, Niche.com created a numerical ranking and assigned grades for each place. Click here to read more about the methodology.

Click here for the full list.

Story by Tom Davis, Patch staff

Photo Credit: David Maroney (Lexington Green Battle reenactment taken April 20, 2015.)