Best PlacesBrighton, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brighton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Brighton ranks 951st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Brighton
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Brighton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brighton ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- BikingBetter than 98% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of cities
Where Brighton ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,304 a month, better than only 1% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 3% of cities
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of cities
- Short commute31.8 minutes each way, better than only 15% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Brighton
A household needs to earn about $175,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brighton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $92,165, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Brighton's effective rate of 0.64%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Brighton
Brighton runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Brighton.
Who works in Brighton, and how
Work in Brighton centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 41%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 38%
Life in Brighton
Brighton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of cities and more parkland per resident than 78% of cities. The coast is about 13 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brighton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brighton, month by month
Brighton sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 60° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 67° |
| October | 67° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Brighton
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 8 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 21.1 million passengers in 2025, with 199 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Brighton
Schools across Brighton average a D, better than 5% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- HeathA · 72% proficient
- John D RunkleA · 69% proficient
- Michael DriscollA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bigelow MiddleA · 64% proficient
- Putnam Avenue Upper SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Cambridge Rindge And LatinA− · 65% proficient
- Lyon High SchoolD− · 16% proficient
- Brighton High SchoolF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brighton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brighton measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Brighton against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Brighton suits
Common questions about living in Brighton
Is Brighton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brighton ranks 951st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on transit, population health, and walkability, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brighton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $684,996. The overall cost of living runs about 50% above the national average. Set against a $92,165 median income, cost of living beats 6% of cities.
Is Brighton safe?
Brighton is safer than 46% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $309 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brighton?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 42 with lows near 25. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 27% of cities.
Is Brighton good for families?
Schools beat 5% of cities, crime safety beats 46%, and childcare runs $2,304 a month.
Compare Brighton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brighton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brighton represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Brighton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brighton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brighton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brighton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brighton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brighton detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.