If you’ve ever lived in Boston, you know that “Boston runs on Dunkin,” and it’s not just a funny and memorable marketing campaign by the national chain for the Boston Marathon. There are over 40 Dunkin’ in the City of Boston alone. But there are plenty of local and gourmet options, as well. To celebrate National Gourmet Coffee Day, we at RentHop have made it our mission to help you find out which Boston neighborhood is best for coffee lovers. Let’s take a look!
Longwood, Chinatown, and Downtown Are Great For Renters Who Love Coffee
To find out the best neighborhood for coffee lovers, we collected public data on coffee shops in Boston, including their names, business types, locations (in latitude and longitude), and ratings. We then geocoded the coffee shop data using the official neighborhood boundaries released by Analyze Boston. For renters, just their love for coffee is not enough. At the end of the day, being able to afford the rent is perhaps the most important consideration. Therefore, we calculated the median two-bedroom rent by each neighborhood and incorporated that into our coffee score.
Longwood ranks as the best coffee neighborhood in Boston. The neighborhood has 1.89 coffee shops per square mile with good ratings, averaging 4.48. Despite the low density, it stands out as one of the more affordable neighborhoods for renters. Chinatown outshines all other Boston neighborhoods with an impressive 4.52 coffee shops per square mile. The median rent, however, currently sits at $3,552, making it less attractive for renters who are mindful of not only how their coffee tastes but how much they have to spend on housing each month.
Despite having one of the highest median rents in the city, Downtown ranks as the third best neighborhood for coffee lovers thanks to the density of coffee shops, 3.23/sq mi, and good ratings averaging 4.42. It’s worth noting that by raw count, Downtown has the most number of coffee shops.
Top 10 Boston Neighborhoods for Coffee Lovers
- Longwood
- Total Score: 67.63
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 1.89
- Average Rating: 4.48
- Median Rent: $2,495
- Chinatown
- Total Score: 65.54
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 4.52
- Average Rating: 4.15
- Median Rent: $3,500
- Downtown
- Total Score: 48.96
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 3.24
- Average Rating: 4.42
- Median Rent: $4,175
- Brighton
- Total Score: 47.86
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 0.37
- Average Rating: 4.58
- Median Rent: $3,000
- Back Bay
- Total Score: 47.05
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 2.52
- Average Rating: 4.33
- Median Rent: $3,800
These Neighborhoods Have the Most Coffee Shops
- Chinatown
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 4.52
- Average Rating: 4.15
- Median Rent: $3,500
- Downtown
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 3.24
- Average Rating: 4.42
- Median Rent: $4,175
- Back Bay
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 2.52
- Average Rating: 4.33
- Median Rent: $3,800
- Longwood
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 1.89
- Average Rating: 4.48
- Median Rent: $2,495
- Beacon Hill
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 1.31
- Average Rating: 4.32
- Median Rent: $3,338
Chinatown remains the epicenter of coffee culture in Boston, with the highest density of coffee shops. Meanwhile, Beacon Hill rounded up our top five with 1.31 coffee shops per square mile.
These Neighborhoods Have the Best Coffee Shops, According to the Web
- Roxbury
- Average Rating: 4.85
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 0.11
- Median Rent: $3,500
- Brighton
- Average Rating: 4.58
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 0.37
- Median Rent: $3,000
- South Boston Waterfront
- Average Rating: 4.56
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 0.38
- Median Rent: $4,200
- Mission Hill
- Average Rating: 4.55
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 0.34
- Median Rent: $4,800
- Longwood
- Average Rating: 4.48
- Coffee Shops per Square Mile: 1.89
- Median Rent: $2,495
Full Data
Methodology
This report ranks Boston neighborhoods by median rent, the number of coffee shops per square mile, and average coffee shop ratings (highest = 5). The median two-bedroom rent was calculated using two-bedroom rental listings created in the past 90 days, and the coffee shop data was gathered using the Google Places API. We included only the following business types in our analysis: art cafes, coffee shops, cafes, and espresso bars. For the purpose of this report, chain coffee stores with over 500 stores across the nation are removed from the analysis. Only neighborhoods with at least two coffee shops are included in the rankings. For more information, please email press@renthop.com.
