Best PlacesCambridge, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cambridge, 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.
Cambridge ranks 20th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Its strengths are biking and walkability. The cost shows up in noise, childcare costs, and internet speeds.
The best neighborhoods in Cambridge
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 Cambridge
The parts of Cambridge, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Aggasiz-Harvard
Tree cover is thicker, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Cambridgeport & Riverside
Fewer homes sit empty, though fewer households have young kids.
North Cambridge, Avon Hill & Neighborhood Nine
More residents vote.
Mid-Cambridge
Streets are more walkable.
East Cambridge & Wellington-Harrington
Scores close to Mid-Cambridge, except that commutes are longer here.
MIT & Area IV
Health care is harder to reach and crime runs higher.
Scores across Cambridge run from about the 46th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Cambridge's strengths and weaknesses
Cambridge ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Biking is the standout, in the top 1% of cities. Walkability and an educated workforce follow.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Childcare costs and internet speeds also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Cambridge ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of cities
- TransitBetter than 97% of cities
Where Cambridge ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 5% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 19% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 22% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Cambridge
A household needs to earn about $288,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cambridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $130,191, 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 Cambridge's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 Cambridge
Cambridge 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 Cambridge.
Who works in Cambridge, and how
Work in Cambridge centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 22%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 47%
Life in Cambridge
Cambridge has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. The coast is about 11 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Cambridge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cambridge, month by month
Cambridge 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 Cambridge
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 Cambridge
Schools across Cambridge average a B+, better than 80% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Martin Luther King Jr.A · 65% proficient
- Maria L. BaldwinA · 63% proficient
- John M TobinA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rindge Avenue Upper SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
- Vassal Lane Upper SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Putnam Avenue Upper SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Boston Latin SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Cambridge Rindge And LatinA− · 65% proficient
- Community Charter School Of CambridgeC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cambridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cambridge 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 Cambridge against the other 444 cities.
Who Cambridge suits
Common questions about living in Cambridge
Is Cambridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cambridge ranks 20th of 445 cities. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and an educated workforce, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cambridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,142,000. The overall cost of living runs about 69% above the national average. Set against a $130,191 median income, cost of living beats 29% of cities.
Is Cambridge safe?
Cambridge is safer than 48% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $379 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cambridge?
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 22% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cambridge?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Aggasiz-Harvard, Cambridgeport & Riverside, and North Cambridge, Avon Hill & Neighborhood Nine. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cambridge good for families?
Schools beat 80% of cities, crime safety beats 48%, and childcare runs $1,897 a month.
Is Cambridge good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 29% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 7% of cities. About 31% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cambridge with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cambridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cambridge 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.
Cambridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cambridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cambridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cambridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cambridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cambridge 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.