North Shore Property Taxes: What a $700,000 Home Costs to Carry in Each Town

Your tax bill is assessed value times tax rate. The assessor sets an assessed value for your property, the town adopts a rate every year expressed in dollars per $1,000, and the two multiply into your bill. Rates run on the fiscal year, which in Massachusetts starts July 1.

Two things surprise most buyers. First, the assessed value is often not the purchase price, especially near the coast where sales run hot. Second, an assessment can change after a sale as the assessor weighs the new evidence, so the bill in year one is not always the bill in year three. Ask about the town's revaluation cycle before you budget.

As adopted for FY2026: Beverly $10.81, Salem $10.78, Newburyport $9.26, and Gloucester $9.31, all per $1,000 of assessed value. Rates are re-adopted each year and can move, so treat these figures as a snapshot, not a promise.

Overall, Massachusetts towns sit at the higher end of the country, and these four land in the middle of the state pack. The number that matters is the one on your town's assessor page in the year you buy.

The math for a quick feel: at Beverly's $10.81 per $1,000, a $700,000 assessed value carries about $7,570 a year; Salem's $10.78 comes to roughly $7,550; Newburyport's $9.26 to about $6,480; and Gloucester's $9.31 to about $6,520.

Towns also offer exemptions and abatements in different forms, for seniors, veterans, and others, each with its own rules, so your actual bill can sit below the headline rate. The assessor's office in each town is the right place to ask what applies to you.

A tax rate alone should not pick your town; it is one line in a budget that also includes closing costs, insurance, utilities, commuting, and what the neighborhood gives back. Newburyport's lower rate arrives with a higher purchase price, and the affordability answer plus the neighborhood checklist help you see the whole picture.

Sellers feel taxes too, in what a buyer can afford to pay, which is why every listing conversation I have includes the taxes-when-selling talk.