Swampscott, MA Coastal Erosion Rate
Shoreline change 0.9 miles northwest of Swampscott, MA
Good news, and an honest one: USGS's data can't distinguish this stretch, 0.9 miles northwest of Swampscott, MA, from a flat trend. Whatever small movement it measured here is statistical noise, not a reliable direction, so none is claimed.
What this reading actually covers
USGS surveys the coast in transects spaced a few hundred feet apart; this page groups the nearest ones into a single ~3.5-mile reading for the stretch closest to Swampscott, MA, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 42.48, -70.90. The survey behind it runs to 2007-2009, in USGS's New England / Mid-Atlantic assessment, using the LRR method. Shoreline surveys aren't repeated every year, so this is the most recent long-term measurement USGS has published for this coast, not a live reading.
Where this fits nationally
Averaging 31 separate transects produced this segment's rate, with 94% individually reading as erosion, rather than relying on any single survey line. Uncertainty on this specific number: 0.11 ft/yr either side. The unadjusted figure here, -0.11 ft/yr, would place it 631 of 1211 if ranked directly - but an unreliable rank isn't a useful one, which is exactly why "no significant trend" is the headline instead. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2010-1119. For scale: Costa Mesa, CA, 2598 miles away, ranks 1140 of 1211 nationally for growth, 1.48 ft/yr. 0.7 miles up the coast, Swampscott, MA shows the same lack of a significant trend.
Not this whole stretch, just Swampscott itself: the Coastal Change Hazards Portal is USGS's own live version of this data.