The Bay State’s best beach towns: New ranking names the Top 25 places to summer in Massachusetts

Massachusetts has long been considered a premier summer getaway. But with so many beaches and bays, it can be hard to decide where to set down your beach chair. Stacker.com has assembled a ranking of the best beach towns in Massachusetts.

The ranking factored in the number of beaches monitored by the EPA, the total amount of shoreline, access to beach-related businesses and nearby home prices.

Eastham, already considered one of Cape Cod’s crown jewels, took home the top spot. With over 10 miles of beachfront spread across 14 beaches, there’s no shortage of options to take the kids for a day on the beach. Eastham also is known as the Gateway to the Cape Cod National Seashore following President John F Kennedy’s 1961 proclamation to protect the Cape’s coast from erosion and overpopulation.

Just south of Boston, Quincy finished in second. Although the city boasts twenty times the population of Eastham, Quincy’s 19 beaches give families and beachgoers plenty of retreats from the hustle and bustle of Boston.

Martha’s Vineyard’s Edgartown rounds out the podium placement. With a population that balloons from 15,000 to 105,000 in the summer months, it’s no secret that the island sands are a much-desired locale. The median home price in Edgartown is $1, 682, 055 according to Stacker.

The full Top 25 list is as follows:

1. Eastham

2. Quincy

3. Edgartown

4. Brewster

5. Falmouth

6. Winthrop

7. Chilmark

8. Hull

9. East Sandwich

10. Provincetown

11. Wellfleet

12. Mattapoisett

13. Wareham

14. Mashpee

15. Scituate

16. Revere

17. Fairhaven

18. Nantucket

19. Ipswich

20. Chatham

21. North Falmouth

22. Harwich Port

23. New Bedford

24. Plymouth

25. Gloucester

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