Best PlacesCharlestown, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Charlestown, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Charlestown ranks 1,565th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Charlestown
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.
Charlestown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Charlestown ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$157,468 median, better than 98% of towns
Where Charlestown ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,304 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 19% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Charlestown
A household needs to earn about $247,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Charlestown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $157,468, 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 Charlestown's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 Charlestown
Charlestown 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 Charlestown.
Who works in Charlestown, and how
Work in Charlestown centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 34%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 39%
Life in Charlestown
Charlestown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 7 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Charlestown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Charlestown, month by month
Charlestown 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 Charlestown
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 3 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 Charlestown
Schools across Charlestown average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Eliot K-8 Innovation SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Amigos SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Warren-prescott K-8 SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Putnam Avenue Upper SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Cambridge Rindge And LatinA− · 65% proficient
- Somerville HighB+ · 51% proficient
- Everett HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Charlestown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Charlestown 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 Charlestown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Charlestown
Is Charlestown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Charlestown ranks 1,565th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and transit, 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 Charlestown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $963,976. The overall cost of living runs about 61% above the national average. Set against a $157,468 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Charlestown safe?
Charlestown is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $367 per resident a year.
Compare Charlestown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Charlestown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Charlestown 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.
Charlestown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Charlestown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Charlestown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Charlestown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Charlestown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Charlestown 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.