66fit
East Boston
$2K median rent
Eastie: the airport, the water taxi, and streets that still feel like a neighborhood that was not supposed to get this expensive. Maverick and Orient Heights are the T stops.
Family streetsWaterfrontWalk 65Safety 58
Boston/Charlestown
44fit
Charlestown
Official planning neighborhood: Charlestown
Data vintage. ACS 2024 5-year · BPD Oct 2025 – Sep 2026 · OSM Sep 2026 · updated Sep 2026
The Navy Yard, the monument, and a peninsula that still feels slightly separate. The bridge is the commute. Family streets sit two blocks off the tourist path.
navy yardbunker hill
Best in Boston for familiesWalkable BostonUnder $2,500 rent
Why this score
Safety
89
29 violent · 147 property · 8.7 per 1k (Oct 2025 – Sep 2026)+39 vs city set
Schools
71
Rating 7.4 / 10 nearby+23 vs city set
Walk
4
OSM: 5 groceries · 5 cafes · 78 transit · 52 parks-23 vs city set
Cost
100
$1,943 ACS median vs your rent budget+7 vs city set
Vibe
16
OSM: 5 cafes · 18 restaurants · 4 bars · 52 parks-17 vs city set
Commute to work
From Charlestown, a typical weekday is 14 min to Downtown, 18 min to Seaport, 28 min to Longwood. Not live traffic.
Downtown is the fastest of these three job centers from here.
Downtown
14 min
Downtown Crossing, Financial District · -2 min vs the city-set median · fastest of these three
Seaport
18 min
Innovation District, the waterfront · -1 min vs the city-set median
Longwood
28 min
Hospitals, medical offices · +10 min vs 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 $1,943 — every occupied rental mixed together, not the 1-bed in the window.
That is 15% of median household income — under the 30% HUD line. A household at this area’s median income ($157K) could “afford” about $3,923 a month at 30% of pay.
50% of households rent. Median home value is $915,949.
ACS median rent
$1,943
30% income budget
$3,923
Rent / income
15%
Median home
$915,949
Rent since 2014
ACS 5-year median gross rent for Boston city. Up 65% since 2014. Charlestown is 10% below 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: 5 groceries, 5 cafes, 52 parks, and 78 transit stops.
Daily errands and coffee are realistic on foot. Parks are close — 52 mapped parks in that radius. Transit is dense (78 stops or stations).
5 cafes and 18 restaurants make this one of the busier food pockets in the Boston set.
OpenStreetMap, 800 meters. Not a Walk Score license. More groceries than 3 of the other 19 areas in this city.
Population
20,032
Median age
36.8
Median income
$157K
Renters
50%
Bachelor+
71%
Violent / 1k
1.4
Property / 1k
7.3
ACS 2024 5-year (2020-2024) · 6 census tracts · BPD Oct 2025 – Sep 2026 · OSM 2026-09-10
Family streetsWaterfront
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.
The Navy Yard, the monument, and a peninsula that still feels slightly separate. The bridge is the commute. Family streets sit two blocks off the tourist path. The water is real; so is the one-way maze.
Weight family and the downtown job. East Boston is the other water neighborhood with a tunnel instead of a bridge. The North End is the Italian postcard across the mouth of the Charles.
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 Charlestown.
Last 90 days, snapshot 2026-09-01. Method.
Common questions
Straight answers from the numbers on this page.
Is Charlestown safe?
Charlestown sits on the quieter side of this Boston map (safety 89 vs city 50). BPD logged 1.4 violent and 7.3 property incidents per 1,000 residents — 8.7 combined. Visitors count in those numbers. This is not a judgment of who lives here.
What is rent in Charlestown?
ACS median rent is $1,943 — studios through large apartments mixed together. About 50% of households rent. Median home value is $915,949. Survey medians, not a listing you can message tonight.
Is Charlestown walkable?
Walk is 4 here vs 27 for the Boston set — you will likely drive or ride for a weekly shop. Inside 800 meters: 5 groceries, 5 cafes, 78 transit stops, 52 parks. Not a Walk Score license.
Is Charlestown good for families?
The scores lean family relative to this city set. Nearby school rating is 7.4 / 10. Median age is 36.8. That rating is not your assigned campus.
How long is the commute from Charlestown?
14 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 Charlestown?
About 20,032 people. Median income $157K. 71% have a bachelor's or higher.
What neighborhoods are next to Charlestown?
North End, West End, Beacon Hill sit closest on this map. If you are choosing between two official planning neighborhoods, start with Charlestown vs North End.
Next door
Adjacent on the map, ranked with your weights.
Charlestown vs North EndCharlestown vs West EndCharlestown vs Beacon Hill
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
58fit
Beacon Hill
$2K median rent
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.
Family streetsWalk 34Safety 42
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
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