Best PlacesBoston, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Boston area, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by shonar, Public domain, via unsplash
Boston ranks 10th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $128,868, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, noise, and long commutes.
The best neighborhoods in the Boston metro
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 Boston
The parts of Boston, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Waltham, Marlborough & Lexington
Framingham, Natick & Franklin Town
Downtown Boston
Lowell, Derry & Dracut
Beverly, Peabody & Dover
Quincy, Plymouth & Weymouth Town
Lawrence, Haverhill & North Andover
Brockton, Hyde Park & Randolph
Lynn, Revere & Salem
Boston shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Boston's strengths and weaknesses
Boston ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Walkability, high incomes, and an educated workforce are the strongest pieces.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, noise, and long commutes hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Boston ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Household income$128,868 median, better than 99% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of metro areas
Where Boston ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,947 a month, better than only 1% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Short commute30.3 minutes each way, better than only 4% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 20% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 21% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Boston
A household needs to earn about $193,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Boston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $128,868, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment and a 6.8% 30-year fixed rate. The rate updates weekly from Freddie Mac; property tax uses Boston's effective rate against the median home value.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first ten 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 Boston
Boston'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 Boston.
Who works in Boston, and how
Work in Boston centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Boston
The coast is about 18 minutes away. The map and measures below show how they vary by area.
Is Boston growing, and who is moving in?
Boston has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Boston go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Boston, month by month
Boston sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 25. Spring and fall carry most of the comfortable stretch.
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 Boston
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 4 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 Boston
Schools across Boston average a B, better than 68% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Maude H. Trefethen SchoolA+ · 90% proficient
- Rye Elementary SchoolA+ · 88% proficient
- Hildreth Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marshwood Middle SchoolA+ · 92% proficient
- Shapleigh SchoolA+ · 87% proficient
- Wm Diamond MiddleA+ · 78% proficient
Top high schools
- Robert W Traip AcademyA+ · 98% proficient
- Dover-sherborn Regional HighA+ · 94% proficient
- Lexington HighA+ · 92% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Boston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Boston 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 Boston against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Boston suits
Families
Schools beat 68% of the country and crime runs low. Compare neighborhoods on the map for the best fit.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 80% of metro areas and 21% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Boston
Is Boston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Boston ranks 10th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on walkability, high incomes, and an educated workforce, 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 Boston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $705,701. The overall cost of living runs about 31% above the national average. Set against a $128,868 median income, cost of living beats 80% of metro areas.
Is Boston safe?
Yes, Boston is safer than 91% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $227 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Boston?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 42 with lows near 25. The area gets its pleasant stretches in spring and fall.
What are the best neighborhoods in Boston?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Waltham, Marlborough & Lexington, Framingham, Natick & Franklin Town, and Downtown Boston. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Boston good for families?
Schools beat 68% of metro areas, and safety is best away from the urban core. Home prices are usually the catch in the strongest school areas.
Is Boston good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 80% of metro areas, and internet is widely advertised, so a big-employer salary stretches further here.
Compare Boston with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Boston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Boston 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.
Boston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Boston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Boston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Boston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Boston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Boston 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.