Massachusetts
Buying Land in Nantucket County, Massachusetts
Nantucket is unlike every other county in this project's Massachusetts coverage: it isn't a collection of towns sitting under (or without) a county government -- it IS a single town, consolidated with the county into one government since the island's earliest history. That means the Town's own Planning & Land Use Services office genuinely is the county's zoning authority. It also means the Nantucket Islands Land Bank, the first of its kind in the nation, funded by a 2% real estate transfer fee, has permanently protected nearly half the island. This page covers that structure and the island's inland conservation land-use picture -- for beach and seasonal-rental market coverage, see usbeachlife.com.
A consolidated town-and-county government -- the only one in Massachusetts
Every other county covered in this project's Massachusetts research either has its own county government sitting above a collection of separately incorporated towns, or had that government abolished, leaving towns to operate entirely on their own under state statute. Nantucket is neither. Nantucket Island, together with the smaller islands of Muskeget and Tuckernuck, is coterminous with a single municipality, the Town of Nantucket, and the two are combined into one government known formally as the "Town and County of Nantucket." There is no separate county bureaucracy layered above the town: the elected Select Board doubles as the county commissioners, and county-level administrative functions are simply folded into the town's own government rather than existing as an independent structure the way they do in, say, Norfolk or Plymouth County.
For a land buyer, this consolidation is the single most important structural fact about Nantucket. In most of Massachusetts, "the county doesn't zone land, the town does" is the operative rule precisely because county and town are separate layers. On Nantucket, that separation doesn't exist at all -- so the Town's own Planning & Land Use Services (PLUS) department, which consolidated the former Code Enforcement Department with the Planning and Zoning offices in fiscal year 2012, and the Town's Zoning Board of Appeals, genuinely are the real, functioning zoning and permitting authority for this "county." Any question about permitted uses, zoning-district requirements, subdivision review, or a variance on Nantucket goes to PLUS directly, not to a separate county office that doesn't exist and not to a distant town office you'd need a different county to explain.
The Nantucket Islands Land Bank: the nation's first, and one of its most consequential
Nantucket's other genuinely distinctive land-use fact is the Nantucket Islands Land Bank -- created by a special act of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1983 after being conceived by Nantucket's own Planning Commission and adopted by island voters. It was the first land bank of its kind in the United States, funded primarily by a 2% real estate transfer fee levied on most property sales on the island, and it has since become a model program studied and replicated by conservation-minded communities across the country (including, close to home, Martha's Vineyard's Land Bank). This is not a minor local curiosity -- it is one of the most consequential land-use facts a Nantucket land buyer can know, both because the transfer fee applies to most purchases and because the Land Bank has permanently taken a very large share of the island's remaining acreage out of the developable market.
Given how well-documented, concrete, and directly relevant this program is to anyone buying land on Nantucket -- the transfer fee itself, what triggers or exempts it, how the Land Bank acquires and manages property, and what its holdings mean for available inventory -- this page develops it into a dedicated conservation-easements standalone rather than only summarizing it here. See the link below for the full picture, including current acreage and revenue figures.
Registry of Deeds, land records, and beyond the beach-market framing
Nantucket's own Registry of Deeds holds land records dating back to 1659 and, consistent with the island's consolidated structure, is part of the county government housed within the Town's own operations. Deed and title research for a Nantucket parcel starts there, or through the statewide Massachusetts Land Records portal for digitized records.
Nationally, Nantucket is best known as a high-end beach and seasonal-rental destination, and that market -- coastal home values, short-term-rental dynamics, seasonal demand -- is genuinely real and genuinely significant, but it's covered on this project's sister site, usbeachlife.com, rather than duplicated here. What this page focuses on instead is the structural and conservation picture: a genuinely unique consolidated government, and a land-banking program that has permanently protected a very large share of the island's inland and open-space acreage, both of which matter to a buyer regardless of whether the specific parcel in question sits near the water or well inland.
Who to Call Before Buying Land in Nantucket County
Because Nantucket is a consolidated town-and-county government, the contacts above are Town of Nantucket departments -- there is no separate county office layer to distinguish from the town here, unlike every other county in this project's Massachusetts coverage.
Planning & Zoning
Town of Nantucket Planning & Land Use Services (PLUS)
Zoning-district requirements, permitted uses, subdivision review, and permitting -- the genuine county-level zoning authority here given Nantucket's consolidated town-and-county government.
Other
Nantucket Islands Land Bank
Confirming whether the 2% real estate transfer fee applies to a specific transaction, and understanding the Land Bank's current holdings and acquisition priorities on a given parcel or nearby land.
Recorder / Clerk / Land Records
Nantucket County Registry of Deeds
Recorded deeds, easements, mortgages, and plats for Nantucket County parcels, with records dating back to 1659.
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Get local guidanceTopics Specific to Nantucket County
Sources
- Nantucket — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09)
- Nantucket County Government — Cape Cod Civics Guide (accessed 2026-09)
- Government — Town of Nantucket, MA (accessed 2026-09)
- Planning & Land Use Services (PLUS) — Town of Nantucket, MA (accessed 2026-09)
- Zoning Board of Appeals — Town of Nantucket, MA (accessed 2026-09)
- Establishment — Nantucket Islands Land Bank (accessed 2026-09)
- About — Nantucket Islands Land Bank (accessed 2026-09)
- Registry of Deeds — Town of Nantucket, MA (accessed 2026-09)
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Nantucket town, Nantucket County, Massachusetts — U.S. Census Bureau (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09