A one-bedroom in Cambridge rents for $2,967 on Spot Easy's own listing data. In Somerville it is $2,552, over $400 less. Somerville is not just the fallback for when Cambridge gets too expensive. It is cheaper than Cambridge and Brookline at every bedroom size we can responsibly measure, and it holds up against Newton too, everywhere Newton's own sample is large enough to report.
That is not a hand-picked number. It is what our own marketplace shows when you pull four Massachusetts markets from the same source over the same window, which almost nobody does. Here is what Somerville actually costs relative to the three cities it gets compared to most.
The comparison, one source, one window
Every figure below is Spot Easy's own listing data, averaged across active listings and units marked off market in the past 30 days, over the 30 days to September 22, 2026. Using our own marketplace for all four cities is the point. The numbers are only comparable if the methodology is the same across all of them.
| Somerville | Cambridge | Brookline | Newton | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 bed | $2,552 | $2,967 | $2,854 | Not published |
| 2 bed | $3,230 | $3,635 | $3,663 | $3,343 |
| 3 bed | $3,763 | $4,549 | $5,004 | $4,152 |
| 4 bed | $4,583 | $6,101 | $6,092 | $6,529 |
| Citywide average | $3,484 | $3,776 | $3,935 | $5,118 |
These come from our own Somerville rent index and Cambridge rent index, both of which re-query our listings monthly, so check those for the current number. Cambridge and Brookline studios averaged $2,332 and $2,303 over the same window. Somerville's studio sample, and Newton's studio and one-bedroom samples, are too thin to average honestly right now.
A few things in that table are worth more than the headline number.
Somerville is the cheapest of the four, not the fallback
The common framing is that Somerville is where you go when Cambridge is too expensive. That holds, and it understates the gap: Somerville is cheaper than Cambridge at every bedroom size in this comparison, from a few hundred dollars less on a one-bedroom to well over a thousand less on a four-bedroom. Our Cambridge versus Somerville comparison goes into that trade directly.
Against Brookline the story is the same. Somerville undercuts both Cambridge and Brookline at every bedroom size we measured. Newton runs more expensive than Somerville too, at every size where Newton's own sample clears our reporting floor: two, three and four bedrooms. On this data Somerville is not mid-pack among expensive Massachusetts markets. It is the most affordable of the four we could measure, and the gap generally widens as the unit gets bigger.
These are asking rents, not total cost. A lower average in one city can still come with different trade-offs than a higher one in another.
Commute. Somerville has the Red Line at Davis and Porter, the Green Line Extension through the middle and north, and the Orange Line at Assembly. Cambridge has Red Line coverage across most of the city. Brookline runs on the Green Line C, D and B branches, and more of the town is a longer walk from a stop. Newton is served by the Green Line D branch and Commuter Rail, and much of the city is not walkable to either.
Whether you need a car. That is the variable that most often swallows a rent difference. A car in Greater Boston costs more per month than a few hundred dollars of rent.
Housing type. A Somerville apartment is typically a floor of a two- or three-family house. Cambridge and Brookline both mix in more purpose-built and larger buildings, especially at the bigger unit sizes. Newton's listings skew toward larger single-family and multi-family homes, which is part of why its bigger units cost more. The comparison is not always like for like.
The gap grows with bedroom count
Somerville's advantage over Cambridge and Brookline is not flat across sizes. It is smallest on a one-bedroom and largest on a three- or four-bedroom.
- One bedroom: Somerville runs about $400 below Cambridge and about $300 below Brookline. Newton's one-bedroom sample does not clear our reporting floor this month, so we cannot compare it at this size.
- Two bedroom: The gap holds, at roughly $400 below Cambridge and $430 below Brookline. Newton runs about $110 above Somerville.
- Three and four bedroom: The gap against Cambridge and Brookline widens sharply, to about $790 to $1,520 below Cambridge and about $1,240 to $1,510 below Brookline depending on size.
Newton costs more than Somerville at every size we can measure it, two, three and four bedrooms, and the gap widens sharply at the top: about $110 more on a two-bedroom, $390 more on a three-bedroom, and nearly $1,950 more on a four-bedroom, our largest gap in the whole comparison. The Newton figures above cover the whole city, not one village or neighborhood within it. If you are renting a three- or four-bedroom, the Somerville discount against all three of these cities is largest. The housing stock explains a lot of it: a city of two- and three-family houses produces a lot of large-unit floors, while Cambridge, Brookline and Newton all carry more large, amenity-heavy or single-family homes at the bigger sizes.
How to use this
Pick your bedroom count first, then compare. Then adjust for the two things the table cannot show you: whether you would need a car, and what kind of building you would actually be renting.
To narrow it down, search by neighborhood or area page, then filter by beds, price range and the no-broker-fee toggle. Spot Easy lists Boston-area apartments with no broker fee on partner units.
For how Somerville's own neighborhoods differ, see the Somerville renter's guide and walkability in Somerville.
Frequently asked questions
Is Somerville expensive? Relative to Cambridge, no. A Somerville one-bedroom runs about $400 less. Relative to Brookline it is also cheaper, by roughly $300 on a one-bedroom. On Spot Easy's own listing data, Somerville is the least expensive of the markets we could measure at every bedroom size.
Is Somerville cheaper than Cambridge? Yes, at every bedroom size measured: about $400 less on a one-bedroom, about $400 less on a two-bedroom, and a gap that widens to $790 to $1,520 on three- and four-bedrooms.
Is Somerville cheaper than Brookline? Yes, at every bedroom size measured: about $300 less on a one-bedroom, about $430 less on a two-bedroom, and over $1,200 less on three- and four-bedrooms.
Is Newton cheaper than Somerville? No. At the sizes where Newton's sample is large enough to report, two, three and four bedrooms, Newton runs more expensive than Somerville on our data, and the gap is largest on four-bedrooms at about $1,950 more. We do not have a reliable Newton figure for one-bedrooms or studios this month.
Where is a three-bedroom cheapest? Somerville, by a wide margin: about $3,763 on average, versus $4,152 in Newton, $4,549 in Cambridge and $5,004 in Brookline.
How current are these numbers? These figures come from Spot Easy's own listing data over the 30 days to September 22, 2026. Rents move over time; see our Somerville and Cambridge rent index pages, which re-query monthly, for current numbers.
Source and methodology
Written August 2026. Updated September 2026 with Spot Easy's own listing data.
All rent figures above are Spot Easy listing data over the past 30 days: active listings plus units marked off market in that window. See our Somerville rent index and Cambridge rent index, both rebuilt monthly from the same production data. Newton has no comparable index page yet, so its figures above are a one-time pull from the same database.
One source, one window, deliberately. Mixing providers is the most common error in city-versus-city rent comparisons: different platforms sample different building types, so the difference you see between two cities can be entirely a difference in methodology. Every figure here comes from Spot Easy's own marketplace over the same 30-day window, which keeps the comparison internally consistent.
These are asking rents for listed units, not what existing tenants pay, and not total cost of living. Rents move over time. Check current figures for your bedroom count before making a decision.