Essex County, MA

What LandBenchmark can tell you about a parcel in Essex County — and, just as importantly, what it can't.

Land area
492.5
sq mi
Water area
336
sq mi
County FIPS
25009
Center
42.643, -70.865

Area and center from the US Census Bureau 2023 Gazetteer.

Measured terrain around the Essex County centroid

Centroid elevation
19
m (62 ft)
Terrain relief
79
m spread (p95−p5, ~20–40 km window)

The county center sits at about 19 m above sea level. Elevation across the sampled window spreads 79 m — gently rolling terrain by our banding (flat <30 m · gently rolling 30–100 m · hilly 100–300 m · mountainous >300 m). Water covers about 41% of the county's area (Census Gazetteer). These are county-scale context, not parcel measurements — a specific parcel gets its own slope, flood and usable-acreage readings when analyzed.

Elevation measured 2026-07-21 from the AWS Terrain Tiles (terrarium encoding, z10).

Data available for Essex County

  • Owner of record, parcel number, assessed value and the county's parcel boundaryMassachusetts publishes these as open data (MassGIS — Level 3 Standardized Assessor Parcels). LandBenchmark reads them directly.
  • No township/range legal description. Massachusetts is a metes-and-bounds state with no PLSS grid.
  • FEMA flood zones, wetlands, soil survey and NCCPI soil productivity — the federal layers, all free and all available here.
  • 56 measured signals from satellite imagery and public records — slope and usable acreage, observed surface water, vegetation trend, wildfire and seismic hazard, access and neighboring land use. Each one cites its method, its source, and the date it was observed.

LandBenchmark has no listings and does not know what is for sale in Essex County. It analyses a parcel you point it at. It is an automated Phase-1 desk screen, not a survey, a flood determination, or a substitute for on-site inspection.

Common questions about land in Essex County

Can I see who owns a parcel in Essex County?

Yes — Massachusetts publishes parcel ownership as open data (MassGIS — Level 3 Standardized Assessor Parcels), so a LandBenchmark report on a Essex County parcel shows the owner of record, parcel number and assessed value, cited to the state dataset.

How hilly is Essex County?

Around the county center, measured elevation spreads 79 m across a ~20–40 km window — gently rolling terrain by our banding. Individual parcels vary: a report measures the actual slope and usable acreage of the parcel you point it at.

What can LandBenchmark measure for a parcel in Essex County?

56 measured signals, each cited with source and observation date: FEMA flood zone plus surface water observed in multi-year imagery, USFWS wetlands, USDA soil survey and productivity, slope and usable acreage, wildfire and seismic hazard, access and surroundings. What a satellite cannot verify — title, zoning, perc results, water rights — goes on a human-verify checklist naming the Essex County offices that can.

Nearest neighboring counties