August 30th is National Beach Day, founded in 2014 by animal activist and lifestyle expert, Colleen Paige.
It’s a day to enjoy the beach but also a reminder to keep beaches clean and to do your part in picking up any trash or debris left behind.
Beach destinations are popular this year, according to a survey from vacation-rental platform Vacasa, and outdoor recreation remains a top priority. Not only are beaches a great place to unwind and create family bonding moments, but they also boost people’s mental health.
So what makes a good beach town? Access to a beach, of course, but also plenty of indoor and outdoor activities to keep kids entertained, warm weather, and a long beach season.
Stacker crunched the numbers to find the best beach towns in Massachusetts. To be considered a beach town, each city needed at least one beach on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National List of Beaches. The EPA list includes only beaches that are used recreationally and open to the public for free or for a fee; it has more than 6,000 beaches on the United States’ Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts and on the Great Lakes identified by states and tribes in response to the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of 2000. The act requires states to report water quality monitoring to an EPA database.
Rankings were determined by a number of factors weighted by importance in the following order from most to least important: number of beaches monitored through the BEACH Act, the total shoreline of those beaches, access to beach-related businesses based on Census Bureau County Business Patterns, and Zillow median home prices.
There are 434 beaches monitored by the EPA in Massachusetts, totaling 121.7 miles of shoreline.
Read on to get some vacation-planning inspo.
#25. Gloucester, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 9
– Length of listed beachfront: 1.8 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $642,998
#24. Plymouth, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 5
– Length of listed beachfront: 1.9 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 73 degrees
– Median home price: $548,617
#23. New Bedford, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 8
– Length of listed beachfront: 1.0 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 73 degrees
– Median home price: $362,787
#22. Harwich Port, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 13
– Length of listed beachfront: 1.0 miles
– Average swim season length: 98 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $951,359
#21. North Falmouth, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 9
– Length of listed beachfront: 1.5 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $888,160
#20. Chatham, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 8
– Length of listed beachfront: 1.9 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $1,096,267
#19. Ipswich, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 6
– Length of listed beachfront: 5.8 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $726,715
#18. Nantucket, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 16
– Length of listed beachfront: 3.4 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 69 degrees
– Median home price: $2,415,122
#17. Fairhaven, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 8
– Length of listed beachfront: 2.1 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 73 degrees
– Median home price: $428,918
#16. Revere, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 2
– Length of listed beachfront: 3.1 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 73 degrees
– Median home price: $537,805
#15. Scituate, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 7
– Length of listed beachfront: 5.0 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 73 degrees
– Median home price: $840,709
#14. Mashpee, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 8
– Length of listed beachfront: 2.5 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $639,241
#13. Wareham, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 9
– Length of listed beachfront: 2.0 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 73 degrees
– Median home price: $415,623
#12. Mattapoisett, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 17
– Length of listed beachfront: 2.1 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 73 degrees
– Median home price: $655,138
#11. Wellfleet, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 11
– Length of listed beachfront: 3.0 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $882,492
#10. Provincetown, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 17
– Length of listed beachfront: 2.3 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $880,451
#9. East Sandwich, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 5
– Length of listed beachfront: 8.5 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $737,326
#8. Hull, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 9
– Length of listed beachfront: 3.9 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 73 degrees
– Median home price: $596,325
#7. Chilmark, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 10
– Length of listed beachfront: 7.7 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $2,351,849
#6. Winthrop, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 7
– Length of listed beachfront: 2.2 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 73 degrees
– Median home price: $599,473
#5. Falmouth, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 24
– Length of listed beachfront: 3.1 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $941,302
#4. Brewster, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 16
– Length of listed beachfront: 3.1 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $703,065
#3. Edgartown, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 12
– Length of listed beachfront: 7.6 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $1,682,055
#2. Quincy, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 19
– Length of listed beachfront: 4.7 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 73 degrees
– Median home price: $599,690
#1. Eastham, Massachusetts
– Number of beaches: 14
– Length of listed beachfront: 10.3 miles
– Average swim season length: 97 days
– Average county summer temperature: 71 degrees
– Median home price: $738,907
