Best PlacesMattapan, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mattapan, 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.
Mattapan ranks 1,938th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mattapan
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.
Mattapan's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mattapan ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of cities
- BikingBetter than 95% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of cities
Where Mattapan ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of cities
- Cheap childcare$2,304 a month, better than only 1% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 2% of cities
- Short commute37.5 minutes each way, better than only 2% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Mattapan
A household needs to earn about $146,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mattapan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,035, 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 Mattapan's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Mattapan
Mattapan runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Mattapan.
Who works in Mattapan, and how
Work in Mattapan centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 56%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 28%
Life in Mattapan
Mattapan has more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 14 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Mattapan and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mattapan, month by month
Mattapan sees roughly 68 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 Mattapan
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 7 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 Mattapan
Schools across Mattapan average an F, better than 1% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Cunningham SchoolA · 64% proficient
- TuckerB · 49% proficient
- Chittick Elementary SchoolD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Charles S Pierce MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Milton HighA · 76% proficient
- Boston Community Leadership AcademyD+ · 25% proficient
- Burke High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mattapan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mattapan 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 Mattapan against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Mattapan suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Mattapan
Is Mattapan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mattapan ranks 1,938th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on transit, low property taxes, and walkability, and lowest on the schools and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mattapan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $586,727. The overall cost of living runs about 28% above the national average. Set against a $72,035 median income, cost of living beats 2% of cities.
Is Mattapan safe?
Mattapan is safer than 21% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $408 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Mattapan?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 42 with lows near 25. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 21% of cities.
Is Mattapan good for families?
Schools beat 0% of cities, crime safety beats 21%, and childcare runs $2,304 a month.
Compare Mattapan with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mattapan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mattapan 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.
Mattapan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mattapan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mattapan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mattapan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mattapan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mattapan 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.