Best PlacesWaltham, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waltham, 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.
Waltham ranks 281st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Waltham
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 Waltham
The parts of Waltham, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Brandeis, Angleside & Cedarwoods
South Side
Lakeview & The Lanes
Waltham Highlands & West End
North Waltham & Piety Corner
Bank Square
Warrendale & Bleachery
Scores across Waltham run from about the 50th to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Waltham's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waltham ranks high
- BikingBetter than 95% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of cities
Where Waltham ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,897 a month, better than only 4% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 13% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 16% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 32% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Waltham
A household needs to earn about $193,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waltham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $123,796, 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 Waltham's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Waltham
Waltham 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 Waltham.
Who works in Waltham, and how
Work in Waltham centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Waltham
Waltham has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of cities and more parkland per resident than 86% of cities. The coast is about 20 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Waltham and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Waltham, month by month
Waltham sees roughly 63 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 Waltham
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 Waltham
Schools across Waltham average a C+, better than 39% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Lincoln SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Douglas Macarthur Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- James Fitzgerald Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- John F Kennedy MiddleB · 43% proficient
- John W. Mcdevitt Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Lexington HighA+ · 92% proficient
- Waltham Sr HighB · 46% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waltham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waltham 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 Waltham against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Waltham suits
Families
Schools land around the 39th percentile and crime safety beats 89%.
Common questions about living in Waltham
Is Waltham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waltham ranks 281st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and clean air, and lowest on childcare costs and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waltham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $747,038. The overall cost of living runs about 28% above the national average. Set against a $123,796 median income, cost of living beats 54% of cities.
Is Waltham safe?
Yes, Waltham is safer than 89% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $191 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Waltham?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 20. That works out to about 63 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Waltham?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Brandeis, Angleside & Cedarwoods, South Side, and Lakeview & The Lanes. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Waltham with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waltham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waltham 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.
Waltham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waltham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waltham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waltham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waltham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waltham 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.