61fit
Downtown
$2K median rent
Downtown Crossing, the Common’s other edge, Chinatown and the Leather District as search terms. Walk maxes out. Part I is padded by people who do not sleep here.
NightlifeWalk 62Safety 5
Boston/Beacon Hill
58fit
Beacon Hill
Official planning neighborhood: Beacon Hill
Data vintage. ACS 2024 5-year · BPD Oct 2025 – Sep 2026 · OSM Sep 2026 · updated Sep 2026
Gas lamps, brick, and a hill that actually is a hill. Charles Street is the errand. The Common is the lawn. Quieter than Back Bay, tighter than it looks on a map.
charles street
Best in Boston for familiesWalkable BostonUnder $2,500 rent
Why this score
Safety
42
9 violent · 116 property · 15.6 per 1k (Oct 2025 – Sep 2026)-8 vs city set
Schools
100
Rating 8.2 / 10 nearby+52 vs city set
Walk
34
OSM: 14 groceries · 32 cafes · 98 transit · 110 parks+7 vs city set
Cost
88
$2,492 ACS median vs your rent budget-5 vs city set
Vibe
67
OSM: 32 cafes · 126 restaurants · 29 bars · 110 parks+34 vs city set
Commute to work
From Beacon Hill, a typical weekday is 8 min to Downtown, 14 min to Seaport, 18 min to Longwood. Not live traffic.
Downtown is the fastest of these three job centers from here.
Downtown
8 min
Downtown Crossing, Financial District · -8 min vs the city-set median · fastest of these three
Seaport
14 min
Innovation District, the waterfront · -5 min vs the city-set median
Longwood
18 min
Hospitals, medical offices · at the city-set median
Minutes are baked from neighborhood geography to three job centers — not Google, not this hour’s traffic.
Cost of living
The ACS median rent is $2,492 — every occupied rental mixed together, not the 1-bed in the window.
That is 18% of median household income — under the 30% HUD line. A household at this area’s median income ($169K) could “afford” about $4,225 a month at 30% of pay.
60% of households rent. Median home value is $1,346,103.
ACS median rent
$2,492
30% income budget
$4,225
Rent / income
18%
Median home
$1,346,103
Rent since 2014
ACS 5-year median gross rent for Boston city. Up 65% since 2014. Beacon Hill is 16% above the 2024 city median.
Overlapping 5-year ACS windows (B25064), not asking rent. Census does not publish a rent series for each official neighborhood, so the line is the city place. The dashed mark is this area’s ACS 2024 median.
HUD treats 30% of income as the cost-burden line. We do not split ACS rent into 1-bed vs 2-bed. Method.
Within a walk
Within a short walk of this official planning neighborhood: 14 groceries, 32 cafes, 110 parks, and 98 transit stops.
Daily errands and coffee are realistic on foot. Parks are close — 110 mapped parks in that radius. Transit is dense (98 stops or stations).
32 cafes and 126 restaurants make this one of the busier food pockets in the Boston set.
OpenStreetMap, 800 meters. Not a Walk Score license. More groceries than 12 of the other 19 areas in this city.
Population
8,026
Median age
38.2
Median income
$169K
Renters
60%
Bachelor+
88%
Violent / 1k
1.1
Property / 1k
14.5
ACS 2024 5-year (2020-2024) · 4 census tracts · BPD Oct 2025 – Sep 2026 · OSM 2026-09-10
Family streets
Crime is BPD Part I reports per 1,000 ACS residents — not a judgment of who lives here. Home and rent figures are ACS medians, not live MLS. Read the method.
On the ground
What it is like to live here, beyond the scores.
Gas lamps, brick, and a hill that actually is a hill. Charles Street is the errand. The Common is the lawn. Quieter than Back Bay, tighter than it looks on a map, and the Part I rate is among the lower reads in this downtown cluster.
You will walk almost everything and still hear the tourists on the slope. Weight walk and safety. The West End is the tower version of the same T stops. Back Bay is the shopping street you can see from the garden.
Compiled from Zillow neighborhood guides, 5280 Magazine, Chicago and San Francisco resident guides, Mpls With Love, Eastside LA reporting, Seattle Times coverage, Boston planning-neighborhood writing, and local writing, 2025–2026. Editorial — not part of the fit score.
On Reddit
Public posts from r/boston that mention this neighborhood. Not Nextdoor, not people on this block, and not part of the fit score.
No r/boston posts in this snapshot mentioned Beacon Hill.
Last 90 days, snapshot 2026-09-01. Method.
Common questions
Straight answers from the numbers on this page.
Is Beacon Hill safe?
Beacon Hill shows more Part I than most of this Boston set (safety 42 vs city 50). BPD logged 1.1 violent and 14.5 property incidents per 1,000 residents — 15.6 combined. Visitors count in those numbers. This is not a judgment of who lives here.
What is rent in Beacon Hill?
ACS median rent is $2,492 — studios through large apartments mixed together. About 60% of households rent. Median home value is $1,346,103. Survey medians, not a listing you can message tonight.
Is Beacon Hill walkable?
Walk is 34 here vs 27 for the Boston set — you will likely drive or ride for a weekly shop. Inside 800 meters: 14 groceries, 32 cafes, 98 transit stops, 110 parks. Not a Walk Score license.
Is Beacon Hill good for families?
The scores lean family relative to this city set. Nearby school rating is 8.2 / 10. Median age is 38.2. That rating is not your assigned campus.
How long is the commute from Beacon Hill?
8 typical weekday minutes to Downtown. Not the app on your phone this hour. Other job centers are further down this page.
How many people live in Beacon Hill?
About 8,026 people. Median income $169K. 88% have a bachelor's or higher.
What neighborhoods are next to Beacon Hill?
West End, Back Bay, Downtown sit closest on this map. If you are choosing between two official planning neighborhoods, start with Beacon Hill vs West End.
Next door
Adjacent on the map, ranked with your weights.
Beacon Hill vs West EndBeacon Hill vs Back BayBeacon Hill vs Downtown
54fit
North End
$3K median rent
Hanover Street is the postcard. The alleys are where people actually live. You will hear the tourists. You will also walk to a grocery if you picked the right block.
NightlifeWalk 25Safety 95
44fit
Back Bay
$3K median rent
Newbury, the brownstones, the Public Garden. Bay Village is a search term that sits inside the same planning neighborhood. You pay for the postcard and for the visitors who shop it.
NightlifeWalk 26Safety 0
36fit
West End
$3K median rent
MGH, the Garden, and towers that replaced a neighborhood. New rental, high median, and a walk to the river. You live here for the job and the T, not a main street.
PlannedWalk 22Safety 32
34fit
South End
$2K median rent
SoWa, brownstones, and a grid that walks. Tremont and Washington are the strips. Quieter than Back Bay’s shopping, denser than JP.
NightlifeWalk 6Safety 11