Best PlacesBrookline, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brookline, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Brookline ranks 30th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Brookline
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.
The best areas in Brookline
The parts of Brookline, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Fenway-Kenmore
Coolidge Corner & Allston-Brighton
Brookline Village Commercial District
Washington Square
North Brookline & Longwood
Brookline Village
Scores across Brookline run from about the 52nd to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Brookline's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brookline ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 99% of cities
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of cities
Where Brookline ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,403 a month, better than only 1% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 7% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 27% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 28% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 34% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Brookline
A household needs to earn about $323,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brookline home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $150,865, 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 Brookline's effective rate of 0.78%, 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 Brookline
Brookline 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 Brookline.
Who works in Brookline, and how
Work in Brookline centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 28%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 42%
Life in Brookline
Brookline has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brookline and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brookline, month by month
Brookline 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 Brookline
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 6 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 Brookline
Schools across Brookline average an A, better than 95% of cities.
Top high schools
- Brookline HighA+ · 81% proficient
- Boston Latin SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Brighton High SchoolF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brookline school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brookline 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 Brookline against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Brookline suits
Common questions about living in Brookline
Is Brookline a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brookline ranks 30th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and biking, 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 Brookline expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,239,907. The overall cost of living runs about 64% above the national average. Set against a $150,865 median income, cost of living beats 54% of cities.
Is Brookline safe?
Brookline is safer than 42% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $321 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brookline?
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 28% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Brookline?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Fenway-Kenmore, Coolidge Corner & Allston-Brighton, and Brookline Village Commercial District. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Brookline with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brookline. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brookline 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.
Brookline detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brookline: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brookline: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brookline: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brookline: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brookline 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.