The Top 15 Places to Live in Greater Boston for 2025
The top-performing Greater Boston communities in our comprehensive, debate-worthy ranking of 141 cities and towns.
For the full list, head here. / Illustration by Benjamin Purvis
For decades, we’ve been writing about the top places to live in Greater Boston. Now, we’re taking it to the next level with our very first ranking. So how, exactly, do you quantify what makes a really great city or town? Well, most people want to buy in a place where home values keep rising. They want to live somewhere safe, with easy access to shops, restaurants, and healthcare. They want to settle in an area with a diverse range of people and perspectives. And if they have kids, they definitely want those school ratings to shine.
So we did our homework—a lot of it. We partnered with the research and publishing platform DataJoe, whose CityScore system analyzed every metric that matters in 141 cities and towns within, or partially within, Massachusetts’ I-495 boundary. They scored each town across eight critical categories, from housing and safety to entertainment and education, before assigning each place an overall score and corresponding ranking. (Head here for the full rankings, and see here for more on DataJoe’s methodology.)
Will everyone agree with these rankings? No—what would be the fun in that? After all, the secret sauce of what makes a town desirable depends on whether you’re a restaurant-hopping young professional or a soccer parent seeking that A+ school system (and, let’s be real, what you can afford). That’s why we’ve broken out category-by-category scores for the top 15, so you can see how they stack up in the metrics that are most important to you. Now go find your perfect spot.
Top Places to Live in Greater Boston 2025:
141 Cities and Towns Ranked
1. Cambridge
Overall Score 7.31
Housing 6.5 | Safety 0.4
Mobility 9.3 | Healthcare 8.1
Entertainment 9.5 | Community 9.4
Education 8.0 | Employment 6.1
Recently named the number-two city in the country for millennials to relocate, Cambridge is a hot ticket these days—especially among the 25-to-44 set, who make up 40 percent of the population. They come for the fabulous dining scene and easy access to Boston, but many stay long after in family-friendly neighborhoods such as North Cambridge and Cambridgeport, taking advantage of such amenities as free universal preschool, which just rolled out this school year.
2. Wellesley
Wellesley is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. / Photo by Denis Tangney Jr. via Getty Images
Overall Score 7.30
Housing 8.8 | Safety 8.7
Mobility 3.5 | Healthcare 6.7
Entertainment 6.6 | Community 6.9
Education 9.0 | Employment 6.6
Wellesley’s neighborhoods serve up something for everyone: Wellesley Farms for commuters, Cliff Estates for history buffs, and the Linden Street area for serious shoppers. The price tag? Up to $6 million or more—but that’s just the cost of living in what GoBankingRates just crowned the state’s “biggest boomtown.”
3. Brookline
Brookline. / Wangkun Jia/ Shutterstock
Overall Score 7.16
Housing 5.1 | Safety 5.9
Mobility 7.8 | Healthcare 8.2
Entertainment 8.0 | Community 8.6
Education 8.5 | Employment 6.1
It’s T accessible. It has endless dining options. It offers top schools and access to the best healthcare money can buy. If there’s anything that doesn’t make this town a top place to live, we can’t think of it. Well, maybe the high home prices, but even those have come down a bit since the same time period in 2023.
4. Newton
A Newton home. / Photos by Tom Jones of Drone Home Media
Overall Score 6.99
Housing 6.9 | Safety 7.0
Mobility 5.2 | Healthcare 7.2
Entertainment 6.7 | Community 8.2
Education 8.3 | Employment 6.3
Newton’s always had a sterling reputation when it comes to schools, safety, and amenities. But the city isn’t resting on its laurels. Over the past year, it’s kicked off a renovation of its Newtonville commuter-rail station, broken ground on a new active senior center, and added more affordable units into the mix.
5. Somerville
Assembly Square in Somerville, located along the west bank of the Mystic River. / Denis Tangney Jr/Getty Images
Overall Score 6.94
Housing 7.3 | Safety 3.6
Mobility 9.0| Healthcare 6.6
Entertainment 9.0 | Community 9.5
Education 4.9 | Employment 6.2
With the Green Line Extension (usually) up and running and its increasingly costly housing, Somerville feels even more like an extension of Boston than ever. Davis and Union squares stay busy with dining and shops, while quieter areas like West Somerville offer a more laid-back pace near Arlington.
6. Needham
Needham Town Hall / Wangkun Jia/Alamy Stock Photo
2024 Median Single-Family Home Price $1,702,500
Overall Score 6.90
Housing 9.1 | Safety 7.2
Mobility 3.7 | Healthcare 8.0
Entertainment 4.9 | Community 6.0
Education 8.0 | Employment 6.7
Looking to get into this tony suburb off I-95? You have a choice: Wait for a boomer to sell their vintage Colonial, or invest in one of the new builds that have been replacing older homes over the past decade. Either way, you’re getting stellar access to Boston, a sweet downtown area, and property values that keep climbing.
7. Lexington
Lexington / Getty Images
Overall Score 6.84
Housing 7.0 | Safety 9.3
Mobility 3.9 | Healthcare 7.7
Entertainment 5.0 | Community 7.0
Education 8.7 | Employment 6.2
Next month, Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its famous battle with historical fanfare. But it isn’t just stuck in the past: Families flock here for top schools, shiny new-construction homes (some at relatively sweet discounts), and a tight-knit community (see: the summer concert series at Emery Park).
8. Medfield
Medfield. / Wangkun Jia/Alamy Stock Photo
Overall Score 6.69
Housing 9.1 | Safety 8.6
Mobility 6.5 | Healthcare 4.9
Entertainment 4.0 | Community 4.0
Education 7.8 | Employment 6.6
Medfield is the anti-suburb suburb—a place where farm stands and Colonial homes stand next to modernist masterpieces. Just 35 minutes from Boston, the former straw-hat manufacturing hub now draws families with its solid public education, ample outdoor space, and a historical downtown that feels frozen in time.
9. Weston
Via Wikipedia
Home Price $2,325,000
Overall Score 6.62
Housing 7.8 | Safety 7.8
Mobility 4.3 | Healthcare 8.5
Entertainment 1.6 | Community 7.0
Education 9.0 | Employment 6.3
Think Greenwich without the nonstop social climbing: Excellent schools, winding horse trails, and sprawling estates draw Boston’s elite to Weston. They also appreciate the relatively straightforward commute and the fact that their kids can actually skateboard on empty streets.
10. Arlington
Arlington’s Saint Agnes Parish Church. / Wangkun Jia/Alamy Stock Photo
Overall Score 6.53
Housing 5.2 | Safety 7.5
Mobility 6.5 | Healthcare 8.4
Entertainment 6.5 | Community 7.0
Education 7.1 | Employment 5.4
Arlington manages to pull off the unlikeliest of suburban feats: actual urbanity without the urban headaches. The town draws both aging hipsters and young families with its mix of good food, good fun (the Minuteman Bikeway cuts through town), and good shopping (see: the shops and cafés lining Mass. Ave). Not bad for the ’burbs.
11. Bedford
Wangkun Jia/Alamy Stock Photo
Home Price $1,062,500
Overall Score 6.50
Housing 5.8 | Safety 8.1
Mobility 7.5 | Healthcare 5.1
Entertainment 4.2 | Community 7.0
Education 7.8 | Employment 6.9
Just off Routes 3 and I-95, Bedford strikes a balance for commuters—close enough to Boston to matter, far enough to breathe. The town is known for its sense of community and varied housing stock, from historical homes around the green to just-built single-families. (Bonus points for new townhouses coming soon.)
12. Dover
Downtown Dover / Yingna Cai/Shutterstock
Overall Score 6.49
Housing 6.7 | Safety 9.7
Mobility 3.7 | Healthcare 8.7
Entertainment 0.9 | Community 4.7
Education 9.4 | Employment 7.5
In Dover, homeowners trade downtown’s energy for 5-acre lots and Colonial estates tucked behind age-old sugar maples. The public schools rival nearby private academies, while the no-retail-allowed rules keeps things defiantly unspoiled—there isn’t so much as a café or bistro in sight.
13. Belmont
Belmont’s commercial center. / Wangkun Jia/Alamy Stock Photo
Home Price $1,587,000
Overall Score 6.48
Housing 7.3 | Safety 6.8
Mobility 6.1 | Healthcare 7.8
Entertainment 4.5 | Community 7.6
Education 6.3 | Employment 6.1
Sandwiched between Cambridge’s brainy buzz and the well-manicured W-towns, Belmont is a cosmopolitan cousin to suburbia. And with residents actively debating where to put the 1,632 new housing units it needs to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, expect more exciting development in the future.
14. Wayland
Wayland’s town center. / Wangkun Jia/Alamy Stock Photo
Home Price $1,115,000
Overall Score 6.47
Housing 7.4 | Safety 9.8
Mobility 4.8 | Healthcare 6.5
Entertainment 2.8 | Community 5.7
Education 8.7 | Employment 5.7
Wayland’s grade-A schools and historical town center attract city slickers seeking serenity and a relatively short commute. Homes can cost a pretty penny, but that buys you easy access to the vast Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and the kinds of community events that define New England life.
15. Andover
Photo by Heidi Besen/Shutterstock
Home Price $1,050,000
Overall Score 6.45
Housing 6.0 | Safety 6.8
Mobility 7.1 | Healthcare 6.2
Entertainment 5.8 | Community 7.1
Education 7.2 | Employment 5.8
Andover’s polished Main Street and Phillips Academy pedigree help the town pull off preppy without too much pretension. A mix of old-money locals and transplants coexist in this Essex County hot spot, where you can crush oysters at Elm Square after a hike on the Bay Circuit Trail.
See the complete ranking of all 141 cities and towns here.
First published in the print edition of the March 2025 issue, as part of our Top Places To Live 2025 cover package, with the headline, “Still Think Your Town Is No. 1?”
Illustration by Dale Stephanos
