One question, answered for the whole city
There is no neighbourhood in Cambridge where a median home is affordable
In every one of the 12 neighbourhoods with a published median sale, buying the middle home takes more income than the area median. The cheapest asks 140% of it. The dearest asks 306%.
Income a median home requires, by neighbourhood
| Neighbourhood | Median recent sale | Income it would take | Share of area median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cambridge Highlands | $806,333 | $230,381 | 140% |
| Mid-Cambridge | $911,667 | $260,476 | 158% |
| East Cambridge | $910,000 | $260,000 | 158% |
| Neighborhood Nine | $930,800 | $265,943 | 162% |
| Wellington-Harrington | $932,083 | $266,310 | 162% |
| North Cambridge | $1,097,833 | $313,667 | 191% |
| Cambridgeport | $1,139,833 | $325,667 | 198% |
| The Port | $1,195,833 | $341,667 | 208% |
| Riverside | $1,353,500 | $386,714 | 235% |
| Strawberry Hill | $1,375,833 | $393,095 | 239% |
| West Cambridge | $1,730,000 | $494,286 | 300% |
| Baldwin | $1,760,000 | $502,857 | 306% |
Baldwin asks 2.2 times what Cambridge Highlands asks. Both are above the area median.
How the figure is made, and what it is not
Income required is the median recent sale divided by 3.5 — a conventional lending ratio, not a record of what any lender offered any buyer. Change the multiplier and every figure moves together; the order does not.
The comparison is against the 4-person 100% area median income limit, which for the current year is the figure Cambridge's own affordable-housing programmes are written around. A household at exactly the area median could not buy the middle home in any neighbourhood on this list.
It is a statement about prices, not about people. A median sale describes what changed hands recently; most households did not buy at today's price, and many are not buying at all. Cambridge publishes no neighbourhood-level rent figure, so the same question cannot yet be asked of renters — who are two thirds of the city.
One neighbourhood of 13 carries no figure and is left out rather than estimated.
City 360 analysis of City of Cambridge assessing records and HUD income limits, as of 2026-07-23. 12 of 13 neighbourhoods carry a median sale.
