Commuting to the Seaport by MBTA

The Seaport went from parking lots to a job centre in twenty years, and its transit is a bus tunnel most commute tables ignore entirely.

Timetable-based, not distance-modeled. Scheduled MBTA journey time from each town’s best station to the Seaport, including transfers, for services arriving between 07:00 and 09:30. It is computed from the MBTA’s published timetable, not modeled from distance. It does not include getting to your origin station or the walk at the far end, and it does not cover driving. Only towns with a station appear: 81 of our 223 — and Boston contains the Seaport rather than commuting to it, which is why 80 are ranked below.

How far the network actually gets you

Journey you will accept	Towns	…with Tier 1–2 schools	…under $900k	Cheapest of them
Within 30 minutes	13	5	5	Chelsea, $650k
Within 45 minutes	34	14	17	Brockton, $550k
Within 60 minutes	54	20	30	Lowell, $525k
Within 75 minutes	65	26	35	Lawrence, $500k

34 towns put you in the Seaport within 45 minutes on a scheduled service, and 14 of those have a Tier 1–2 school district. Push to an hour and it is 54 towns and 20 strong districts. Only 13 manage it in half an hour.

Strong schools within 45 minutes

The list families usually want, and it is short. These are the Tier 1–2 districts with a scheduled journey of 45 minutes or less.

Cambridge — 10 min from Kendall/MIT · $1.7M · Tier 2 · tax ≈$11,300
Brookline — 24 min from Saint Mary's Street · $2.05M · Tier 1 · tax ≈$21,000
Belmont — 27 min from Belmont · $1.9M · Tier 1 · tax ≈$21,900
Newton — 28 min from Newtonville · $1.9M · Tier 1 · tax ≈$18,400
Milton — 30 min from Milton · $1.35M · Tier 2 · tax ≈$15,900
Winchester — 31 min from Wedgemere · $1.85M · Tier 1 · tax ≈$20,500
Westwood — 33 min from Route 128 · $1.4M · Tier 2 · tax ≈$17,500
Sharon — 37 min from Sharon · $950k · Tier 2 · tax ≈$16,600
Needham — 37 min from Hersey · $1.85M · Tier 1 · tax ≈$20,000
Wellesley — 40 min from Wellesley Farms · $2.25M · Tier 1 · tax ≈$22,900
Swampscott — 41 min from Swampscott · $1.05M · Tier 2 · tax ≈$12,100
Reading — 42 min from Reading · $975k · Tier 2 · tax ≈$10,700
Weston — 42 min from Kendal Green · $2.9M · Tier 1 · tax ≈$33,400
Hingham — 43 min from West Hingham · $1.65M · Tier 2 · tax ≈$17,300

The cheapest towns within 45 minutes

Sorted by price rather than speed, because at some point the budget is the binding constraint.

#	Town	Typical	Fastest	Station	4BR	Schools	Est. tax bill
1	Brockton	41 min	39 min	Montello	$550k	Tier 4	≈$6,400
2	Chelsea	22 min	19 min	Box District	$650k	Tier 4	≈$7,500
3	Randolph	35 min	33 min	Holbrook/Randolph	$650k	Tier 4	≈$7,500
4	Lynn	40 min	36 min	Lynn Interim	$650k	Tier 4	≈$6,700
5	Abington	42 min	42 min	Abington	$650k	Tier 3	≈$9,100
6	Revere	23 min	19 min	Beachmont	$675k	Tier 4	≈$6,000
7	Stoughton	45 min	41 min	Stoughton	$675k	Tier 3	≈$8,000
8	Malden	21 min	18 min	Oak Grove	$700k	Tier 4	≈$8,000

Every town with an MBTA route to the Seaport

All 76 towns with regular service, fastest first. “Typical” is the median scheduled journey across peak departures; “fastest” is the quickest single service.

#	Town	Typical	Fastest	Station	4BR	Schools	Est. tax bill
1	Cambridge	10 min	8 min	Kendall/MIT	$1.7M	Tier 2	≈$11,300
2	Somerville	16 min	12 min	Assembly	$1.25M	Tier 3	≈$11,200
3	Medford	18 min	14 min	Wellington	$900k	Tier 3	≈$7,800
4	Quincy	20 min	15 min	North Quincy	$875k	Tier 3	≈$10,300
5	Malden	21 min	18 min	Oak Grove	$700k	Tier 4	≈$8,000
6	Chelsea	22 min	19 min	Box District	$650k	Tier 4	≈$7,500
7	Revere	23 min	19 min	Beachmont	$675k	Tier 4	≈$6,000
8	Brookline	24 min	21 min	Saint Mary's Street	$2.05M	Tier 1	≈$21,000
9	Melrose	27 min	24 min	Wyoming Hill	$950k	Tier 3	≈$10,900
10	Belmont	27 min	26 min	Belmont	$1.9M	Tier 1	≈$21,900
11	Braintree	28 min	25 min	Braintree	$875k	Tier 3	≈$8,800
12	Newton	28 min	23 min	Newtonville	$1.9M	Tier 1	≈$18,400
13	Milton	30 min	22 min	Milton	$1.35M	Tier 2	≈$15,900
14	Winchester	31 min	29 min	Wedgemere	$1.85M	Tier 1	≈$20,500
15	Weymouth	32 min	30 min	Weymouth Landing/East Braintree	$725k	Tier 3	≈$7,300
16	Wakefield	33 min	30 min	Greenwood	$875k	Tier 3	≈$10,300
17	Westwood	33 min	26 min	Route 128	$1.4M	Tier 2	≈$17,500
18	Dedham	34 min	30 min	Endicott	$850k	Tier 3	≈$10,500
19	Randolph	35 min	33 min	Holbrook/Randolph	$650k	Tier 4	≈$7,500
20	Canton	35 min	31 min	Canton Junction	$825k	Tier 3	≈$8,000
21	Sharon	37 min	32 min	Sharon	$950k	Tier 2	≈$16,600
22	Needham	37 min	37 min	Hersey	$1.85M	Tier 1	≈$20,000
23	Woburn	39 min	38 min	Anderson/Woburn	$825k	Tier 3	≈$7,500
24	Lynn	40 min	36 min	Lynn Interim	$650k	Tier 4	≈$6,700
25	Wellesley	40 min	34 min	Wellesley Farms	$2.25M	Tier 1	≈$22,900
26	Brockton	41 min	39 min	Montello	$550k	Tier 4	≈$6,400
27	Swampscott	41 min	39 min	Swampscott	$1.05M	Tier 2	≈$12,100
28	Abington	42 min	42 min	Abington	$650k	Tier 3	≈$9,100
29	Reading	42 min	39 min	Reading	$975k	Tier 2	≈$10,700
30	Weston	42 min	42 min	Kendal Green	$2.9M	Tier 1	≈$33,400
31	Norwood	43 min	39 min	Norwood Depot	$800k	Tier 3	≈$7,900
32	Hingham	43 min	40 min	West Hingham	$1.65M	Tier 2	≈$17,300
33	Wilmington	44 min	42 min	Wilmington	$775k	Tier 3	≈$8,800
34	Stoughton	45 min	41 min	Stoughton	$675k	Tier 3	≈$8,000
35	Whitman	46 min	46 min	Whitman	$600k	Tier 3	≈$8,100
36	Mansfield	46 min	41 min	Mansfield	$775k	Tier 3	≈$10,100
37	Waltham	49 min	34 min	Waltham	$1M	Tier 3	≈$10,300
38	Lincoln	49 min	48 min	Lincoln	$2.5M	Tier 1	≈$31,300
39	Salem	50 min	46 min	Salem	$725k	Tier 3	≈$7,800
40	Hanson	51 min	51 min	Hanson	$650k	Tier 3	≈$9,400
41	Walpole	51 min	49 min	Walpole	$875k	Tier 3	≈$10,900
42	Cohasset	51 min	48 min	Cohasset	$1.6M	Tier 2	≈$19,200
43	Billerica	52 min	50 min	North Billerica	$700k	Tier 3	≈$8,100
44	Natick	52 min	47 min	Natick Center	$1M	Tier 2	≈$12,200
45	Beverly	54 min	50 min	Beverly	$850k	Tier 3	≈$9,200
46	Concord	55 min	54 min	Concord	$2.2M	Tier 1	≈$28,600
47	Attleboro	56 min	51 min	Attleboro	$620k	Tier 3	≈$7,600
48	Bridgewater	56 min	54 min	Bridgewater	$625k	Tier 3	≈$7,500
49	Halifax	57 min	56 min	Halifax	$625k	Tier 3	≈$9,100
50	Lowell	58 min	58 min	Lowell	$525k	Tier 4	≈$6,000
51	Framingham	58 min	44 min	Framingham	$800k	Tier 3	≈$9,500
52	Ashland	58 min	56 min	Ashland	$850k	Tier 3	≈$11,500
53	Norfolk	58 min	56 min	Norfolk	$950k	Tier 2	≈$14,300
54	Scituate	58 min	55 min	North Scituate	$1.1M	Tier 2	≈$12,700
55	Hamilton	61 min	60 min	Hamilton/Wenham	$950k	Tier 2	≈$13,800
56	Acton	64 min	48 min	South Acton	$1.1M	Tier 1	≈$17,900
57	Kingston	66 min	65 min	Kingston	$800k	Tier 3	≈$10,800
58	Franklin	66 min	63 min	Franklin	$850k	Tier 2	≈$9,700
59	Southborough	66 min	61 min	Southborough	$1.25M	Tier 1	≈$17,500
60	Middleborough	67 min	65 min	Middleborough	$525k	Tier 4	≈$6,900
61	Ipswich	67 min	66 min	Ipswich	$900k	Tier 3	≈$10,400
62	Lawrence	69 min	62 min	Lawrence	$500k	Tier 4	≈$4,300
63	Littleton	69 min	54 min	Littleton/Route 495	$900k	Tier 2	≈$13,100
64	Manchester-by-the-Sea	70 min	70 min	Manchester	$1.5M	Tier 2	≈$14,300
65	Rowley	73 min	72 min	Rowley	$800k	Tier 3	≈$10,400
66	Taunton	77 min	76 min	East Taunton	$575k	Tier 4	≈$6,400
67	Ayer	78 min	62 min	Ayer	$550k	Tier 4	≈$6,900
68	Grafton	78 min	75 min	Grafton	$725k	Tier 3	≈$9,900
69	Westborough	78 min	70 min	Westborough	$950k	Tier 1	≈$15,100
70	Newburyport	80 min	79 min	Newburyport	$1.1M	Tier 2	≈$11,600
71	Worcester	88 min	73 min	Worcester	$550k	Tier 4	≈$7,300
72	Leominster	90 min	75 min	North Leominster	$500k	Tier 4	≈$6,800
73	Fitchburg	97 min	82 min	Fitchburg	$420k	Tier 4	≈$5,600
74	New Bedford	97 min	95 min	Church Street	$475k	Tier 4	≈$5,200
75	Freetown	99 min	88 min	Freetown	$625k	Tier 3	≈$7,500
76	Fall River	106 min	95 min	Fall River Depot	$450k	Tier 4	≈$5,200

Towns where service barely runs

These 4 towns have a station and a scheduled journey, but fewer than three peak departures — flag stops and end-of-line halts. The time is real; treating it as a commute is not, because missing one service can mean an hour.

Town	Typical	Station	Peak departures	4BR
Andover	54 min	Ballardvale	2	$1M
Foxborough	66 min	Foxboro	2	$800k
Haverhill	72 min	Bradford	2	$625k
Gloucester	76 min	West Gloucester	2	$875k

What this page cannot tell you

It is a timetable, not a journey. Add your walk, drive or bus to the station at one end and the walk to your desk at the other. For a park-and-ride town that can be fifteen minutes before you board.
Scheduled is not actual. These are the times the MBTA publishes. They are not adjusted for how reliably each line keeps them, and reliability varies a lot by line.
Driving is not here at all. Traffic-aware routing needs a data source we do not have, and we would rather leave the column out than model it. If you will drive, treat this page as silent on your commute.
142 of our 223 towns have no station and so cannot appear, however good a place they might be to live.

Transit times computed from the MBTA GTFS feed for 2026-08-05, a weekday with normal service. Prices, tax bills and school tiers are ours — see the methodology. Data last reviewed July 18, 2026.