Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Watertown's standout: few places in the country are easier to get around without a car. Overall it grades C+, 225th among Massachusetts's 282 graded towns. The median household earns $126K and it has 14 miles of trail. Its weakest subject is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $810K, 6.4 years of the county’s $126K median household income. History is its standout character grade: an A, better than 94% of U.S. towns, with 12 places on the National Register. Watertown’s trail density is 3.3 miles per square mile, where Massachusetts’ towns sit at 1.8 and U.S. towns at 0.4. Its National Register listings include Gore Place and Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Where Watertown beats most towns.
Gore Place is one of 2 National Historic Landmarks here, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 1,091 in 1790, 35,329 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1642 and 6 maps from 1893 on.
12 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Massachusetts), ordered by how far Watertown is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 5%), so the C+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Watertown. Close and well known come first.
Big draw4 mi Stadium & arenaFenway Park
Big draw5 mi MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Big draw20 mi Stadium & arenaGillette Stadium
3 mi Stadium & arenaHarvard Stadium
5 mi MuseumMuseum of Fine Arts Boston477K visitors a year
6 mi AttractionFreedom TrailFenway Park: Gatorfan252525, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: Sean Dungan, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gillette Stadium: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Harvard Stadium: Nick Allen, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Museum of Fine Arts Boston: Martin~jawiki at Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Freedom Trail: Ingfbruno, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Watertown, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Watertown.
Watertown trades workers with Boston and other neighbors and is safe by national standards but not by Massachusetts’s.
14 miles of trail in 20 parks and preserves. The biggest place to walk is Charles River Reservation, 75 acres with 1.5 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Charles River Reservation | 1.5 mi | 75 |
| 2. Whitney Hill Park | 0.9 mi | 10 |
| 3. Squibnocket Park | 0.3 mi | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its public schools are run by the Watertown school district. Two of its 10 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| HosmerLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 758 | B− |
| Watertown HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 761 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within MA on state tests and graduation
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 72% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 14 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Watertown.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At $2,502 a month, Watertown’s median rent is above both the Massachusetts town median ($1,682 a month) and the median of U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). 48% of households own their home in Watertown. The typical Watertown home is worth about $810,000, about the same as a year ago, 24% above the Massachusetts typical home.
| Watertown | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,502 a month | $1,682 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 48% | 79% | 73% |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 43% | 53% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Watertown has chilly, snowy winters and pleasant summers, with plenty of rain. July afternoons reach 84°, January nights drop to 19° and about 64 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Watertown has about as many jobs (16,469) as working residents, but only 1,532 people both live and work here. 29.1% of workers work from home, against 18.6% across Massachusetts.
Most working residents leave Watertown for work: only 8% work in town. 29% of Watertown workers work from home. The top destinations are Boston (29%), Cambridge (14%) and Waltham (6%).
| Watertown | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 29% | 18% | 11% |
| Median household income | $126,000 | $120,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 7.5% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
At 21.6 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 79% of Massachusetts’s graded towns.
The property crime rate in Watertown is 16 per 1,000 residents.
| Watertown | Massachusetts towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 16 per 1,000 residents | 4.9 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 1.4 per 1,000 residents | 1.5 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
52 within 15 miles of the center of Watertown
About 6 of every 100 Watertown residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across Massachusetts.
12 places in Watertown on the National Register of Historic Places.
22 notable people were born in Watertown.
City in Massachusetts, United States
Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End. Watertown was one of the first Massachusetts Bay Colony settlements organized by Puritan settlers in 1630. The city is home to the Perkins School for the Blind, the Armenian Library and Museum of America, and the historic Watertown Arsenal, which produced military armaments from 1816 through World War II.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Watertown.
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Watertown grades C+ overall, better than 38% of U.S. towns and #225 of 282 in Massachusetts. It grades C+ for safety and B− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Massachusetts has less crime than most states, so among its own towns Watertown sits nearer the middle.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
22 notable people were born here, including Harriet Hosmer and Outram Bangs.
