Arlington
Minuteman Bikeway runs through the middle. You can commute to Cambridge entirely on a path.
The numbers
How Arlington scores
Who lives in Arlington
U.S. Census ACS 2018–2022 estimates. Rounded.
Schools in Arlington
Arlington School District. Massachusetts DESE FY2024 (FY2025 graduation rates).
Source: Massachusetts DESE Education-to-Career Research and Data Hub. Percentile ranks against 194 MA towns in our index.
The honest read
What Arlington residents actually say
3 quotes · sourced from RedditPulled from r/boston, r/massachusetts, and town subreddits. Lightly edited for grammar only. The tradeoff quote is on purpose. The honest stuff is what makes the rest believable.
Arlington is sort of accidentally bikeable. The town never made huge efforts to be bike-friendly, but the Minuteman Trail runs through it on an old rail right-of-way, and most destinations sit along that line.
Arlington is overall 'nicer' than the neighbors but you pay for it. The walkable central area with the restaurants and boutiques is the whole point, and the prices reflect that.
It's the epitome of 'New England town.' Walkable downtown, great restaurants, boutique shops, arts space. People come here specifically because Belmont and Medford don't have that energy.
You've now seen the honest read. Here's what most sites don't give you.
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Compare on your terms
These scores reflect a neutral weighting. Your priorities are not neutral. Open the full atlas to tune schools, walkability, affordability, commute, and seven more dimensions, and see where Arlington lands for you.
Nearby towns
Bordering and adjacent Massachusetts towns near Arlington.
Arlington appears in
Rankings where Arlington qualifies on the data. See where it lands vs the other 14 picks.
Popular comparisons
Common head‑to‑heads people search when looking at Arlington.
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