Brighton is one of Boston’s safest neighborhoods providing a quaint, homey vibe only 5 miles outside of Downtown Boston. Located in between the Green B and C lines, Brighton is home to college students, young professionals, and settled down families!
When Moving to Brighton, Always Think: Location, Location, Location!
Located along the Green B and C lines, Brighton is a quiet neighborhood made with a unique mix of treelined streets snuggled between major arteries that provide a straight shot to Downtown Boston as well as a quick getaway out of the city. Almost the entire neighborhood is less than 10 minutes away from any MBTA stop with easy access to well-known institutions like Boston University, Boston College, and Emanuel College.
The Green B line can be a little slow when trying to get into Downtown Boston, and hectic during rush hour. Expect a commute anywhere from 30-60 minutes depending on the day. With the majority of companies enacting remote work, this might change in the future!
Many people move to Brighton to work in hospitals like St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, and Franciscan Children’s Hospital, or they prefer to live near the action with an easy commute out of the city.
Brighton is quiet, cozy, and a cost saver!
Brighton is filled with tons of tree-lined streets giving it a very cozy, welcoming feeling. For the outdoorsy people out there, you can run to the Charles River, or take a walk around the Chestnut Hill in Reservoir! A great combination of quiet, comfort and fun.
Many families come to Brighton to settle down, and students choose to live in Brighton to save money. While a 1 Bedroom apartment in Brighton averages $1,847 per month, the average SplitSpot room in Brighton costs only $1,158!
The kinds of apartments you’ll find in Brighton are high rise buildings and some large apartment complexes, but there is a HUGE abundance of 3-6 bedroom units with backyards, balconies, and tons of privacy. Brighton has pockets of college students, but plenty of areas that aren’t overrun by them. For example, Oak Square is a quiet, communal area in close proximity to many trails where one can ride a bicycle or take a quiet walk.
Oak Square in Brighton:
Oak Square is an area guaranteed to get you away from noisy college kids, while still keeping you relatively close to the action. You’ll find most of Oak Square accessible by bus with a longer walk to the green line. With that being said, there’s often busses that bring you directly to Fenway and other parts of Boston allowing you to get around without a car if needed. And if you have a car, parking is usually more accessible in this neighborhood. Apartments here will very often be a fantastic bang-for-buck! Although it is rare in most parts of Boston, there’s a large amount of apartments that do not include water utility payments in your monthly bill, so beware of stingy landlords. Luckily, all of SplitSpot’s Oak Square units all include water, and often keep the utility payments to a minimum! Here’s a couple of our Oak Square units below! You can also find them by filtering for Brighton on our Rooms Page.
Why it is often referred to as Allston-Brighton
Brighton borders Allston in an often confusing matter with a ton of shared characteristics. Often for this reason, people just abbreviate the two neighborhoods! In Allston, there’s a ton of amazing restaurants and bars, but not quite the quality apartments. More development is likely on the way, with Harvard’s expansion of its engineering campus further into Allston. By living in Brighton, you get the best of Allston with higher quality apartments, and easy access to all the cool Allston nightlife.
Brighton’s Best Restaurants, Bars, and live music Venues
Brighton Music Hall puts the neighborhood on the map by hosting some of the biggest names in Rock n’ Roll history. Name any big artist from back in the day. They’ve probably played there. Nowadays, they host a lot of smaller bands, but always fill the 400+ venue with amazing talent.
Brighton isn’t exactly known for its restaurants, since Allston steals their thunder, but you have plenty to choose from within walking distance! The Avenue is a fantastic sports bar with a huge beer selection. They have $2 burgers after 10pm most nights and some amazing wings. Just down the street is Hopewell Bar and Kitchen, which is known for their brunch and awesome atmosphere.
Last but not least, Silhouette Lounge is one of the best dive bars in Brighton, and arguably one of the best in the entire Boston Area. The pure definition of a dive bar: cash only, the cheapest beer you can find, darts, and free popcorn if you buy a drink.
Fantastic Food in Allston
While Brighton is great n’ all, Allston it has some of the best food in the city. Seriously, I mean it. Throughout Allston, you’ll find A+ Korean restaurants like Coreanos, Instagram-worthy brunch spots like Lulu’s, and tacos that are to die for at Lonestar Tacos. Would rather not give away all its secrets, but you should definitely explore for yourself!