Best PlacesReading, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Reading, 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.
Reading ranks 112th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Reading
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.
Reading's strengths and weaknesses
Where Reading ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 97% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of cities
Where Reading ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 4% of cities
- Short commute30.9 minutes each way, better than only 20% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 23% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Reading
A household needs to earn about $226,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Reading home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $165,423, 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 Reading's effective rate of 1.15%, 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 Reading
Reading runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Reading.
Who works in Reading, and how
Work in Reading 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 63%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Reading
Reading has more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 17 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Reading and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Reading, month by month
Reading sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 30° | 20° |
| April | 62° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Reading
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 12 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 Reading
Schools across Reading average an A−, better than 90% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Joshua EatonA · 65% proficient
- Alice M BarrowsA · 63% proficient
- Wood End Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Reading MiddleA · 65% proficient
- Lynnfield Middle SchoolA · 62% proficient
- Arthur W Coolidge MiddleA− · 58% proficient
Top high schools
- Reading Memorial HighA · 79% proficient
- North Reading HighA · 73% proficient
- Stoneham HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Reading school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Reading 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 Reading against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Reading suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 85% of cities and 29% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Reading
Is Reading a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Reading ranks 112th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low crime, health care access, and tree cover, 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 Reading expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $825,706. The overall cost of living runs about 29% above the national average. Set against a $165,423 median income, cost of living beats 85% of cities.
Is Reading safe?
Yes, Reading is safer than 98% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $149 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Reading?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 20. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 23% of cities.
Is Reading good for families?
Schools beat 90% of cities, crime safety beats 98%, and childcare runs $1,897 a month.
Compare Reading with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Reading. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Reading 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.
Reading detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Reading: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Reading: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Reading: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Reading: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Reading 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.