Boston guides

Living in South Boston, Boston

South
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Marine Park sits at the peninsula's southern tip, its paved loop connecting Castle Island's harbor walk to L Street Beach, where the L Street Brownies have kept up their cold-water swimming club since 1902. West Broadway's restaurant strip runs through the neighborhood's commercial core, holding hardware stores, bakeries, and family-run restaurants spanning several blocks between the Broadway T stop and the waterfront. Rows of triple-deckers and single-family houses fill the residential blocks between the water and Dorchester Street, many with small front yards uncommon in the city's denser core. Dorchester Heights Monument looks out from a hilltop park where George Washington's cannons once forced the British evacuation of Boston, and the Red Line's Broadway and Andrew stations anchor the neighborhood's northern and western edges, though blocks closer to the peninsula's tip sit a fifteen- to twenty-minute walk from either stop, longer than most Red Line neighborhoods closer to downtown.

Sunset over Pleasure Bay, a plate at a West Broadway restaurant, and the harbor view from Dorchester Heights each show a different side of what sets South Boston apart from the rest of the city.

Rent & move-in cost

Studio$2,300
1-bed$2,900

Typical upfront cash for a 1-bed in Boston — the toughest in our lineup: first month, last month, and a security deposit are all standard. Broker fees are typically paid by whoever hired the broker — usually the landlord.

First month$2,900
Deposit$5,800
Broker fee$0

≈ $8,700 to move in

Safety

About 161 violent offenses within about ½ mile of the center over the trailing 12 months.

Source: Analyze Boston.

Getting around

Red

Nearest station: Broadway (Red) — about 16 min walk.

MBTA subway lines that stop nearby — the colors match the T's line names. The subway blankets the urban core; some outer neighborhoods rely on buses or other services instead.

Livability

Rodent activityHigh
Street cleaningModerate

From 174 rodent activity and 27 street cleaning 311 complaints within ~½ mile so far this year.

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