Best PlacesJamaica Plain, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Jamaica Plain, 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.
Jamaica Plain ranks 437th 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 Jamaica Plain
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 Jamaica Plain
The parts of Jamaica Plain, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Forest Hills
Roxbury
Fenway-Kenmore
Jamaica Plain shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 11% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Jamaica Plain's strengths and weaknesses
Where Jamaica Plain ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of cities
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 95% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of cities
Where Jamaica Plain ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,304 a month, better than only 1% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 5% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 13% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 18% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 20% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Jamaica Plain
A household needs to earn about $213,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jamaica Plain home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $124,032, 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 Jamaica Plain's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Jamaica Plain
Jamaica Plain 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 Jamaica Plain.
Who works in Jamaica Plain, and how
Work in Jamaica Plain centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 31%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 45%
Life in Jamaica Plain
Jamaica Plain has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of cities and more parkland per resident than 97% of cities. The coast is about 12 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jamaica Plain and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Jamaica Plain, month by month
Jamaica Plain 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 Jamaica Plain
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 Jamaica Plain
Schools across Jamaica Plain average a D+, better than 13% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- PierceA · 72% proficient
- LawrenceA · 71% proficient
- William H LincolnA · 66% proficient
Top high schools
- Brookline HighA+ · 81% proficient
- Boston Latin SchoolA · 77% proficient
- O'bryant School Of Math & ScienceA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jamaica Plain school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jamaica Plain 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 Jamaica Plain against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Jamaica Plain suits
Common questions about living in Jamaica Plain
Is Jamaica Plain a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jamaica Plain ranks 437th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on transit, walkability, 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 Jamaica Plain expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $839,267. The overall cost of living runs about 47% above the national average. Set against a $124,032 median income, cost of living beats 39% of cities.
Is Jamaica Plain safe?
Jamaica Plain is safer than 33% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $347 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Jamaica Plain?
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 Jamaica Plain?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Forest Hills, Roxbury, and Fenway-Kenmore. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Jamaica Plain with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jamaica Plain. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jamaica Plain 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.
Jamaica Plain detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jamaica Plain: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jamaica Plain: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jamaica Plain: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jamaica Plain: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jamaica Plain 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.