Best PlacesWellesley, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wellesley, 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.
Wellesley ranks 14th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wellesley
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.
Wellesley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wellesley ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 99% of cities
- Household income$229,164 median, better than 99% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of cities
Where Wellesley ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,403 a month, better than only 1% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 19% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Wellesley
A household needs to earn about $404,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wellesley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $229,164, 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 Wellesley's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Wellesley
Wellesley's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wellesley.
Who works in Wellesley, and how
Work in Wellesley centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 51%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 18%
Life in Wellesley
Wellesley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of cities and more parkland per resident than 89% of cities. The coast is about 23 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wellesley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wellesley, month by month
Wellesley sees roughly 61 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 62° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Wellesley
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 15 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 Wellesley
Schools across Wellesley average an A+, better than 97% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- HunnewellA+ · 80% proficient
- ChickeringA+ · 74% proficient
- Joseph E FiskeA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wellesley MiddleA · 66% proficient
Top high schools
- Wellesley Sr HighA+ · 91% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wellesley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wellesley 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 Wellesley against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Wellesley suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of cities and 31% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Wellesley
Is Wellesley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wellesley ranks 14th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on an educated workforce, tree cover, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wellesley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,520,027. The overall cost of living runs about 53% above the national average. Set against a $229,164 median income, cost of living beats 96% of cities.
Is Wellesley safe?
Yes, Wellesley is safer than 95% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $191 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wellesley?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 22. That works out to about 61 pleasant days a year, more than 8% of cities.
Is Wellesley good for families?
Schools beat 97% of cities, crime safety beats 95%, and childcare runs $2,403 a month.
Compare Wellesley with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wellesley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wellesley 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.
Wellesley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wellesley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wellesley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wellesley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wellesley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wellesley 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.