Appealing a property assessment in Massachusetts

The steps

1. Abatement application to the assessors. The application goes to the city or town's board of assessors. "Generally, the due date of the abatement application is February 1 in municipalities that bill quarterly"; where bills are mailed after December 31 it is May 1, or 30 days after mailing if later, and in municipalities that bill twice a year it is generally 30 days after the bill is mailed (the DLS module: usually November 1, or 30 days after mailing if later). An owner does not have to pay any of the tax before applying.

2. Assessors decide. "Assessors have three months to act on an abatement application." If they do not, "the application is deemed denied after three calendar months", and they must send written notice within ten days of that deadline.

3. Appeal to the Appellate Tax Board. "A taxpayer must file an appeal with the ATB within three months of the date of the assessors' action", or of the date the application was deemed denied. "All tax installments must be timely paid, with no interest charges, for the ATB to have jurisdiction over an appeal"; the DLS module notes that no payment is required where the real estate tax is $5,000 or less, and that the Board can waive the requirement on petition (G.L. c. 59 § 65B).

What the assessment is measured against

Massachusetts assesses at value: for an appeal "the property must be valued as of January 1 preceding the fiscal year at issue", and the measure is fair cash value, the price a willing buyer and a willing seller would agree on in an arm's-length sale with neither under compulsion. Cities and towns may tax residential, open space, commercial, industrial and personal property at different rates, which is why the Division of Local Services publishes rates by class. (Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board, Real Estate Tax Appeals: A Helpful Guide for Taxpayers and Assessors (last revised March 20, 2024))

Because a Massachusetts assessment is meant to be the property's fair cash value on January 1, the arithmetic of an appeal is direct: each dollar by which the assessment exceeds that value is taxed at the city or town's rate. On the median FY 2026 residential rate of $12.44, every $10,000 of over-assessment costs $124.40 a year; in Wendell, the highest at $20.50, it costs $205.00. 112 cities and towns tax commercial property at a higher rate, so the same error costs a business owner more there: at the median commercial rate of $14.29 it is $142.90.

Municipalities above the Massachusetts median

The rate does not show an over-assessment, but in high-rate towns each dollar of excess assessment costs more. Municipalities above the $12.44 per $1,000 median for FY 2026, highest first:

Wendell $20.50 · Westhampton $20.35 · East Longmeadow $19.43 · Heath $19.39 · Longmeadow $19.32 · Pelham $18.79 · Greenfield $18.64 · Russell $18.42 · Bolton $18.07 · Chester $18.06 · Stow $17.87 · Colrain $17.82 · Plainfield $17.56 · Pittsfield $17.50 · Wilbraham $17.45 · Holyoke $17.43 · Lanesborough $17.29 · Sharon $17.15 · Amherst $16.91 · Lancaster $16.90 · Middlefield $16.88 · Dalton $16.87 · Charlemont $16.81 · Buckland $16.74 · Palmer $16.66 · Maynard $16.62 · Orange $16.60 · Warwick $16.54 · Hopedale $16.25 · Acton $16.23 · Shutesbury $16.21 · Hawley $16.20 · Peru $16.09 · Ludlow $16.01 · Williamsburg $16.01 · Wenham $15.99 · North Adams $15.97 · Westborough $15.93 · Harvard $15.87 · Hampden $15.78 · Ashby $15.76 · Leverett $15.70 · Sherborn $15.66 · Topsfield $15.66 · Adams $15.63 · Sturbridge $15.60 · Springfield $15.46 · Boxborough $15.39 · Millis $15.31 · Chesterfield $15.26 · Plympton $15.26 · Chicopee $15.24 · Bernardston $15.20 · Paxton $15.17 · Belchertown $15.13 · Montague $15.13 · Amesbury $15.05 · Hamilton $15.04 · New Braintree $14.97 · Westfield $14.93 · Gill $14.91 · Southbridge $14.89 · Ashburnham $14.87 · Norfolk $14.87 · Granby $14.85 · Wayland $14.83 · Northborough $14.82 · Groton $14.78 · Huntington $14.77 · Blackstone $14.74 · Warren $14.74 · Leyden $14.69 · Hatfield $14.67 · Brookfield $14.62 · West Boylston $14.53 · Savoy $14.52 · Ware $14.49 · Southwick $14.42 · Lunenburg $14.39 · Southborough $14.36 · Monson $14.30 · Holliston $14.29 · Conway $14.28 · Sudbury $14.27 · Auburn $14.24 · Petersham $14.24 · Ashfield $14.23 · Williamstown $14.20 · Hudson $14.14 · Wales $14.13 · Agawam $14.10 · Hopkinton $14.10 · Halifax $14.08 · Berlin $14.06 · Littleton $14.02 · West Springfield $14.02 · Granville $14.00 · Medway $14.00 · Worthington $13.93 · Rockland $13.87 · Rutland $13.87 · Washington $13.82 · Pepperell $13.78 · Gardner $13.77 · Georgetown $13.76 · Townsend $13.75 · East Bridgewater $13.69 · Grafton $13.69 · Northampton $13.67 · Leominster $13.66 · New Salem $13.62 · Carver $13.61 · West Bridgewater $13.61 · Boylston $13.58 · Boxford $13.54 · Medfield $13.52 · South Hadley $13.52 · Goshen $13.50 · Holden $13.48 · Deerfield $13.45 · Princeton $13.44 · Dunstable $13.39 · Brimfield $13.38 · Avon $13.35 · Barre $13.35 · Easthampton $13.29 · Fitchburg $13.29 · Whitman $13.29 · Northfield $13.28 · Worcester $13.28 · Chelmsford $13.27 · Mendon $13.26 · Great Barrington $13.24 · Merrimac $13.19 · Middleborough $13.12 · Southampton $13.11 · Westford $13.11 · Mansfield $13.09 · Upton $13.08 · Whately $13.07 · Hanson $13.06 · Concord $13.05 · Essex $13.04 · Norton $13.03 · North Reading $13.02 · Foxborough $13.00 · Tyngsborough $12.99 · Clinton $12.98 · Groveland $12.98 · Somerset $12.93 · Millbury $12.87 · Westwood $12.87 · Norwell $12.83 · Carlisle $12.82 · Kingston $12.82 · Abington $12.81 · Shelburne $12.79 · Hardwick $12.74 · Ashland $12.71 · Milford $12.69 · Winchendon $12.69 · Uxbridge $12.68 · Athol $12.67 · Everett $12.62 · Easton $12.59 · Middleton $12.59 · Blandford $12.57 · Tewksbury $12.56 · Plymouth $12.55 · Sterling $12.55 · Bedford $12.49 · Cummington $12.49 · Hanover $12.47 · Dighton $12.45 · Walpole $12.45 ·

The full ranking is on the Massachusetts rates page.

Sources: Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board, Real Estate Tax Appeals: A Helpful Guide for Taxpayers and Assessors (last revised March 20, 2024); Massachusetts Division of Local Services, Assessment Administration: Law, Procedures and Valuation, Chapter 6, Property Tax Abatements (Rev. 01/26). Last checked October 26, 2026. This page summarises the official procedure; it is not legal advice, and the statutes and the boards' rules govern.