Median rent in Mission Hill
July 2026. Active listings on Spot Easy, each posted by a verified agent or imported from MLS PIN.
| Size | Median | Middle 50% |
|---|---|---|
| studio | $2,100 | $1,900 – $2,200 |
| 1-bedroom | $2,575 | $2,399 – $2,969 |
| 2-bedroom | $3,000 | $2,750 – $3,195 |
| 3-bedroom | $4,350 | $3,875 – $4,800 |
| 4+ bedroom | $6,200 | $5,200 – $6,900 |
About Mission Hill
Mission Hill sits between the Longwood medical cluster and Roxbury, south of Fenway, and it is a two- and three-family neighborhood rather than an apartment-building one. The Spot Easy Rent Index put the median asking rent for a Mission Hill one-bedroom at $2,575 in July 2026, against $2,700 across Boston, with half of one-bedrooms listing between $2,399 and $2,969. Studios ran to $2,100 and two-bedrooms to $3,000, both below the city figures. Three-bedrooms, by contrast, ran $4,350 and apartments of four or more bedrooms $6,200 — both well above the city, which is an unusual shape worth understanding before you search.
Transit is the Green Line E branch and the Orange Line. Five E stations sit inside the neighborhood — Riverway, Mission Park, Fenwood Road, Brigham Circle and Back of the Hill — running along Huntington Avenue, and Roxbury Crossing on the Orange Line serves its eastern edge. There is no Red or Blue Line service and no commuter rail station, so anything on those lines means a change.
The Longwood medical and academic institutions sit immediately north, which is the single biggest thing shaping demand here. Jamaica Plain lies to the south and west, Roxbury to the east, and Fenway across Huntington Avenue to the north.
Three in five Mission Hill properties listed on Spot Easy with a known unit count are two- or three-family houses, and only about one in seven sits in a building of ten units or more. Fewer than two in a hundred are in buildings of fifty units or more. A Mission Hill apartment is usually a floor of a house: expect a shared basement, a porch, and street parking rather than a garage. Fewer than one property in twenty-five is a single-family house, so almost everything on the market is a rental floor rather than a whole building.
Lease starts concentrate on September 1, and inventory builds from spring. Off-cycle vacancies are scarce, because a whole floor tends to come free on the standard September turnover rather than at an arbitrary point in the year.
Spot Easy lists Mission Hill apartments from verified agents, with filters for no-fee listings, parking, laundry and pet policy. Published medians by bedroom count are on the Spot Easy Rent Index.
FAQ about Mission Hill Apartments for Rent
What is the average rent in Mission Hill?
In July 2026 the median asking rent in Mission Hill is $2,100 for a studio, $2,575 for a 1-bedroom, $3,000 for a 2-bedroom, $4,350 for a 3-bedroom and $6,200 for a 4+ bedroom. Those figures come from active listings on Spot Easy, and we recalculate them each month.
How much should I budget for an apartment in Mission Hill?
Most 1-bedrooms in Mission Hill rent for about $2,575 a month. Half of studios list between $1,900 and $2,200, half of 1-bedrooms list between $2,399 and $2,969 and half of 2-bedrooms list between $2,750 and $3,195. About half of what you find will sit outside that middle band, in one direction or the other.
Are rents going up in Mission Hill?
The median 1-bedroom in Mission Hill is $2,575 in July 2026, up 3.1% from $2,498 in July 2025. We hold 14 months of Mission Hill rent history, built from our own listings.
Are there no-fee apartments in Mission Hill?
Yes. 65.1% of Mission Hill listings where we know the fee carry no broker fee. You can filter your search down to those, and we verify each agent before they can post.
Is it cheaper to split a 2-bedroom in Mission Hill than rent a studio?
Usually, yes. A 2-bedroom in Mission Hill splits to about $1,500 each, against $2,100 for a studio. That saves roughly $600 a month, or 29%.
How does Mission Hill rent compare with nearby neighborhoods?
For a 1-bedroom, the median in Mission Hill is $2,575, next to Fenway at $2,800, Roxbury at $2,550 and Jamaica Plain at $2,500. These cover the same bed size in the same month, and we only include areas with enough active listings to report.
Fenway apartments · Roxbury apartments · Jamaica Plain apartments
Which trains serve Mission Hill?
The Green Line E branch and the Orange Line. Five E stations sit inside the neighborhood — Riverway, Mission Park, Fenwood Road, Brigham Circle and Back of the Hill — running in and beside Huntington Avenue, and Roxbury Crossing on the Orange Line serves the eastern edge. All were confirmed against the MBTA's own route data. The two lines do genuinely different jobs: the E is a street-running trolley that connects you to the Longwood cluster and onward through Fenway to the center, while the Orange Line is grade-separated and much faster toward downtown and the north. There is no Red or Blue Line service and no commuter rail station anywhere in Mission Hill, so a destination on those means a change. Which of the two lines you live nearer to matters more than the specific street. Roxbury Crossing also puts Roxbury within one stop, which is worth checking alongside Mission Hill because the two price closely — $2,550 against $2,575 for a one-bedroom in July 2026.
How close is Mission Hill to the Longwood medical area?
Immediately adjacent — the Longwood medical and academic cluster sits directly north of the neighborhood, across Huntington Avenue, and several of the Green Line E stations inside Mission Hill serve its southern edge directly. That proximity is the single biggest force shaping the rental market here: it drives demand on the same annual timetable as the institutions themselves, which is why the September cycle bites harder in Mission Hill than the modest headline rents might suggest. For anyone whose daily destination is in that cluster, Mission Hill is one of the few places in the city where walking is realistic rather than aspirational, and it prices below Fenway on the other side of the same cluster — $2,575 against $2,800 for a one-bedroom in July 2026. If you do not need that proximity, you are paying for something you will not use, and Jamaica Plain a little further south is cheaper at every bedroom count.
Is a Mission Hill apartment likely to be a floor of a house?
Usually, yes. Three in five Mission Hill properties listed on Spot Easy with a known unit count are two- or three-family houses, and only about one in seven sits in a building of ten units or more. Fewer than two in a hundred are in buildings of fifty units or more. So a typical listing is a full floor with its own entrance off a shared hall or back staircase, rather than a unit in a managed building. In practice that shapes what you get: rooms follow the house's original layout, ceilings are often higher than in newer construction, you will usually share a basement, and sound carries between floors. Ask which floor a listing is on — it materially affects light, heating, stairs and noise, and it is rarely stated prominently. It also means laundry is usually a shared basement machine and parking is a driveway space or a street permit rather than a deeded spot.
Why does Mission Hill get more expensive at three bedrooms?
Because it crosses over from below the city figure to above it. In July 2026 Mission Hill ran cheaper than Boston at the small end — $2,100 against $2,270 for a studio, $2,575 against $2,700 for a one-bedroom, $3,000 against $3,300 for a two-bedroom — but then flipped: $4,350 against $3,798 for a three-bedroom, and $6,200 against $4,995 for four or more. That is an unusual shape, and it means the neighborhood is genuinely good value for someone renting alone and markedly poor value at the top of the market. If you are searching for a large apartment, compare against Jamaica Plain, where the three-bedroom median was $3,600 and four-plus $4,800 — well under both Mission Hill and the city. The crossover sits between the two- and three-bedroom sizes, so it is worth pricing both before you settle on a bedroom count — the step up costs more here than it does in most of the city.
Where does Mission Hill sit relative to Roxbury and Jamaica Plain?
Mission Hill occupies the ground between them and Fenway. Roxbury lies to the east, sharing the Orange Line at Roxbury Crossing, and Jamaica Plain runs south and west, sharing the Green Line E terminus at Heath Street on the boundary. Fenway sits north across Huntington Avenue. All four are worth searching together, because they are close enough that a single commute often works from any of them, and they price quite differently: July 2026 one-bedroom medians ran $2,800 in Fenway, $2,575 in Mission Hill, $2,550 in Roxbury and $2,500 in Jamaica Plain. Filtering to one neighborhood alone will hide options a few streets away at a materially different price. All four also share the September cycle, so a search across them can run on one timetable rather than four. The Green Line E terminus at Heath Street sits right on the Jamaica Plain boundary, so the two neighborhoods genuinely overlap at that end rather than simply adjoining.
Can I find step-free access in Mission Hill?
It is difficult, and worth filtering for explicitly from the start rather than hoping. Only about one in seven Mission Hill properties listed on Spot Easy with a known unit count sits in a building of ten units or more, and fewer than two in a hundred are in buildings of fifty units or more — and it is those larger buildings that realistically carry elevators. With three in five properties being two- and three-family houses, most listings involve at least one flight of stairs, often to a second or third floor. If step-free entry is a requirement rather than a preference, Fenway immediately north is a far better place to search: roughly two-thirds of its stock is in buildings of ten units or more, the highest share in this part of the city. Where a Mission Hill listing does offer step-free entry it is usually a first-floor unit rather than an elevator building, so read the floor rather than the amenity list.
When should I start looking for an apartment in Mission Hill?
Four to five months ahead, and treat that as a floor rather than a guideline. Mission Hill concentrates lease starts on September 1 sharply, and the Longwood institutions immediately north add demand on the same timetable, so the cycle bites harder here than the modest headline rents suggest. Inventory for that date builds from early spring, and a search opening in July arrives after most of the year's supply has been seen. Off-cycle vacancies are genuinely scarce, because a whole floor of a house tends to come free on the standard turnover rather than at an arbitrary point in the year. If your dates are flexible, set saved searches early and be ready to view within a day or two of something suitable appearing. The three- and four-bedroom floors go earliest of all, so if that is what you need, treat spring as the start of the search rather than the middle of it.
How do I find no-broker-fee apartments in Mission Hill?
Use the no-fee filter on Spot Easy and confirm the terms in writing before applying. Fee arrangements are set per listing rather than per neighborhood, so two houses on the same street can differ. Treat a listing that says nothing about a fee as unconfirmed rather than fee-free — silence is missing information. Where a fee applies it is commonly a month's rent, which against the July 2026 Mission Hill one-bedroom median of $2,575 is a substantial addition to move-in costs that already include first month, last month and a security deposit. Because most of the stock here is owned by small landlords rather than management companies, terms vary more than in a neighborhood of large buildings, so ask the agent for the total due at signing. Every agent listing on Spot Easy is verified before their listings go live.
What documents do I need to rent an apartment in Mission Hill?
Photo identification, recent pay stubs or an offer letter, bank statements and previous landlord references. Because a large share of Mission Hill apartments are owned by small landlords rather than management companies, screening is often less formal than in a managed building — but references tend to carry more weight, and decisions can be made quickly and in person, so having everything assembled beforehand is a genuine advantage. Massachusetts law caps what may be collected at signing: first month's rent, last month's rent, a security deposit of no more than one month's rent, and the cost of a new lock. The deposit must be held in a separate interest-bearing account at a Massachusetts bank, and you are owed a receipt for it. Ask who handles repairs, because here it is often the owner. Ask which kind of landlord you are dealing with before you view, because it changes both the paperwork and how quickly a decision comes.