• Beginning with the admissions cycle for the 2022-23 school year, exam school invitations are distributed across eight tiers of census tracts grouped together based on socioeconomic factors.  

    City-wide census tracts are redrawn every 10 years. The previous 2021 exam school tiers were calculated with 2010 census tracts which counted about 181 tracts in Boston.  The updated 2022 exam school tiers relies on 2020 Boston census data which has 207 tracts. In addition, census tracts can be split, combined, or involve boundary corrections, essentially redrawn every ten (10) years.

    In total, there are 98 census tracts that have the same tier from 2021 to 2022, and 59 tracts that are included in 2022 that were not included in 2021 given the census data described above. Fifty (50) tracts have changed from one tier to another from 2021 to 2022; however, these shifts were mostly to one tier above or below, with only five (5) tracts shifting two (2) tiers.

  • What is a tier?

  • What is a census tract?

  • How are tiers calculated?

  • How does the admissions process work?

  • How do I know what tier I live in?