The 100 Best Places To Live In Massachusetts Ranked

BROOKLINE, MA — Brookline is the best place to live in Massachusetts, according to a new set of rankings released by Niche. Brookline, along with 51 other communities in the Commonwealth recieved A+ grade on Niche’s rankings of best places to live for 2018.

The rankings of best places to live awarded grades from A+ to D- to communities across the state. The top 100 communities in Massachusetts received grades of between A+ and A, with 51 communities getting an A+ grade and the rest of the top of the class coming in with an A.

To calculate the rankings and assign grades to communities, Niche looks at factors like the quality of local schools, crime rates, housing trends, employment statistics and access to amenities. Niche gets its data from government sources like the Department of Education, the FBI and the U.S. Census. You can read more about Niche’s methodology and data sources.

Within those factors Brookline did well on all counts except for housing, where it was rated a C. This may come as no surprise to folks inside or out of town, seeing as the community has struggled in recent years with the rising cost of homes and finding enough affordable housing for seniors (median cost of rent? $2,000 a month). There's a similar battle going on in Newton, which was No. 3 on the list. Wellesley took the No. 7 spot on the chart. Arlington came in at No. 14. Waltham? No. 84.

Any surprises? The Allston neighborhood of Boston came in higher ranked than the Brighton neighborhood.

According to Niche, these are the 100 Best communities to live in the Commonwealth:

1. Brookline A+
2. Cambridge A+
3. Newton A+
4. Lexington A+
5. Belmont A+
6. Boxborough A+
7. Wellesley A+
8. West-end Boston A+
9. Sharon A+
10. Sudbury A+
11. Wayland A+
12. Needham A+
13. Acton A+
14. Arlington A+
15. Westford A+
16. Southborough A+
17. Cordaville A+
18. Shrewsbury A+
19. Cochituate A+
20. Westborough A+
21. Milton A+
22. Winchester A+
23. North End A+
24. Natick A+
25. Longmeadow A+
26. Andover A+
27. Carlisle A+
28. Lincoln A+
29. Williamstown A+
30. Back Bay A+
31. Hopkinton A+
32. South Boston Waterfront A+
33. Beacon Hill A+
34. Medfield A+
35. Concord A+
36. Northampton A+
37. Bay Village A+
38. Dover A+
39. Weston A+
40. Harvard A+
41. Longwood Medical Area A+
42. Amherst A+
43. Stow A+
44. Marblehead A+
45. Westwood A+
46. South End A+
47. Bolton A+
48. Bedford A+
49. Medway A+
50. Hamilton A+
51. Groton A
52. Fenway A
53. Watertown A
54. Northborough A
55. West Concord A
56. North Amherst A
57. Wenham A
58. Downtown A
59. Somerville A
60. Pelham A
61. Reading A
62. Amherst Center A
63. Sherborn A
64. Allston A
65. South Amherst A
66. Newburyport A
67. Franklin A
68. Holden A
69. Brighton A
70. Holliston A
71. Boxford A
72. Ashland A
73. Chelmsford A
74. Charlestown A
75. Grafton A
76. Topsfield A
77. Melrose A
78. Hingham A
79. Littleton A
80. Dunstable A
81. Paxton A
82. Woods Hole A
83. Essex A
84. Waltham A
85. South Boston A
86. North Andover A
87. Deerfield A
88. Cohasset A
89. Norfolk A
90. Norwell A
91. West Falmouth A
92. Jamaica Plain A
93. Swampscott A
94. Sunderland A
95. Wilbraham A
96. Easton A
97. Richmond A
98. Norwood A
99. Canton A
100. Upton A

You can see how all of Massachusetts communities scored on the Niche rankings here.

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Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch