Best PlacesWestwood, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Westwood, 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.
Westwood ranks 147th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Westwood
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.
Westwood's strengths and weaknesses
Where Westwood ranks high
- Household income$208,925 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
Where Westwood ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,403 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 61 pleasant days a year, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Westwood
A household needs to earn about $284,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Westwood home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $208,925, 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 Westwood's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 Westwood
Westwood runs older 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 Westwood.
Who works in Westwood, and how
Work in Westwood 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 68%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Westwood
Westwood has more parkland per resident than 83% of towns. The coast is about 26 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Westwood and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Westwood, month by month
Westwood 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 Westwood
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 14 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 Westwood
Schools across Westwood average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- William E SheehanA+ · 77% proficient
- ChickeringA+ · 74% proficient
- Martha JonesA+ · 73% proficient
Top middle schools
- High Rock SchoolA · 67% proficient
- E W Thurston MiddleA · 62% proficient
- Eleanor N Johnson MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Needham HighA+ · 90% proficient
- Westwood HighA+ · 82% proficient
- Canton HighA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Westwood school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Westwood 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 Westwood against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Westwood
Is Westwood a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Westwood ranks 147th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, an educated workforce, and low crime, 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 Westwood expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,035,302. The overall cost of living runs about 43% above the national average. Set against a $208,925 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Westwood safe?
Yes, Westwood is safer than 98% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $124 per resident a year.
Compare Westwood with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Westwood. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Westwood 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.
Westwood detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Westwood: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Westwood: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Westwood: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Westwood: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Westwood 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.