If you weight school quality at 25%+ of your RAAM score, Lexington will likely top your rankings in MetroWest. Lexington High School and the elementary cluster consistently score in the top tier statewide. Unlike Newton, Lexington is small enough that the school you're zoned for matters less — the whole district performs well — which simplifies the search.
The tradeoff is commute and condition. Lexington is further out than Newton or Belmont — 15 miles to downtown by Route 2 or I-95. There is no rail option, only express bus. If your commute is a few days a week to Cambridge or Burlington, that works; for a five-day downtown commute it can compound.
Lexington's housing stock skews to mid-century capes and ranches, with a layer of 1990s-2010s teardown-rebuilds. The home-age and condition-and-systems factors in RAAM are the ones to watch — original-condition 1950s ranches get marketed as 'mid-century charm' but often need full systems work. Newer construction is concentrated on specific streets and carries a premium.
Lot sizes are the quiet advantage. The 12,000-15,000 square-foot lot is common in Lexington, larger than most Newton or Brookline equivalents. If you weight lot size and light highly — for a remote worker who wants outdoor space, or a family that values yard over square footage — Lexington over-delivers.
Value-for-money in Lexington is straightforward but rarely cheap. Top-decile school scores get priced in. The opportunity is properties that score 65-75 on value-for-money but 85+ on the factors you actually weight highest — those are the listings that beat the city's median in your personal RAAM score even when they don't look cheap on Zillow.