The 13 Villages of Newton, MA: A 2026 Guide for Relocation Buyers

What are the 13 villages of Newton, MA?
Newton's 13 villages are Auburndale, Chestnut Hill, Newton Centre, Newton Corner, Newton Highlands, Newton Lower Falls, Newton Upper Falls, Newtonville, Nonantum, Oak Hill, Thompsonville, Waban and West Newton. Each has its own village center, housing stock and commute.

Newton does not have a downtown. It has thirteen of them.

That is the single most useful thing to understand before you start touring here, and it is the thing almost every relocation buyer learns the hard way. You fly in for a weekend, you see three houses that are all technically in Newton, and they feel like they belong to three different towns. One is a five-minute walk to a Green Line stop. One is a leafy pocket where the nearest coffee is a drive. One backs up to the Charles River. Same city, same tax bill, completely different daily life.

Katherine Kranenburg, REALTOR® with Real Brokerage, is a relocation specialist serving Newton, Wellesley, Watertown, Weston and the greater Boston area, and this is the conversation she has most often with buyers moving in from California, New York, Florida and abroad. The question is never really "should we buy in Newton." It is "which Newton."

Here is the honest version of all thirteen, in alphabetical order, with what actually distinguishes each one.

The 13 Villages of Newton, MA

Auburndale

Known to longtime residents as "The Dale," Auburndale sits at the western edge of the city where the Charles River bends. It has its own commuter rail stop on the Framingham/Worcester line and sits practically on top of the I-90 and I-95 interchange, which makes it one of the easiest villages to leave in a car. Auburndale Cove is the local put-in for kayaks and the place people walk on Sunday mornings. Housing runs heavily to Queen Anne, Italianate, Second Empire and Shingle style, and Lasell University anchors the eastern side. Katherine's stops here are Auburndale Wine Shop and Just Next Door.

Chestnut Hill

Chestnut Hill is the village that confuses people, because the name is shared across Newton, Brookline and Boston. The Newton side carries the city's highest price points and its largest concentration of estate-scale properties, along with several designated historic districts running Colonial, Victorian, Italianate and Tudor Revival. Hammond Pond Reservation is the open space, The Street and The Shops at Chestnut Hill are the retail, Boston College is the neighbor, and the Green Line D branch stops here. If you are relocating on a luxury budget and want to be able to walk somewhere, this is usually the first stop.

Newton Centre

Newton Centre is the largest village and the closest thing the city has to a true center of gravity. Newton City Hall is here, so is Boston College Law School, so is the Newton Centre Green, and so is the densest restaurant row in the city. The Green Line D stop puts you downtown without a transfer. Crystal Lake sits on its southern edge with a bathhouse and lifeguarded swimming in the summer. Katherine's list is long here: Sycamore, Little Big Diner, Farmstead Table, Johnny's Luncheonette, Rosenfeld's Bagels and JP Licks.

Newton Corner

Newton Corner is the oldest European settlement in the city and the one that feels most connected to Boston proper, because it borders Brighton and Watertown and sits directly on the Mass Pike. There is no Green Line here, but there is express bus service and a highway on-ramp, which for a certain kind of commuter beats both. The housing stock is a mix of grand Victorians, two-families and converted condos, and the Newton Commonwealth Golf Course is tucked into the neighborhood. Max and Leo's and Social Restaurant and Bar are the local anchors.

Newton Highlands

Newton Highlands has the most idiosyncratic village center in the city, a stretch of Lincoln Street full of antiques, small independent shops and long-running restaurants that has resisted becoming a strip mall for about a century. The Green Line D stops here. The Northland redevelopment at the Needham Street corridor is the biggest thing happening in the village and worth watching if you care about where value moves next. O'Hara's and Buttonwood are the regulars' picks.

Newton Lower Falls

Small, quiet and pressed up against the Wellesley line, Newton Lower Falls is a former mill village that kept its river. More than 150 homes here sit on the historic register. Route 16 runs through it, Newton-Wellesley Hospital is minutes away, and the Charles is at the bottom of the hill. It is one of the least-trafficked pockets in the city, which is exactly why some buyers love it and others feel cut off. Lower Falls Wine Co. and Didriks are the reasons locals drive over.

Newton Upper Falls

Newton Upper Falls is named for its position on the falls of the Charles, and it wears its industrial past better than almost any village in Greater Boston. Echo Bridge and Hemlock Gorge Reservation are here, the Upper Falls Greenway gives you a car-free trail through the middle of it, and the housing runs Greek Revival, Late Victorian and Gothic Revival on tight historic streets. You are walking distance to the Needham Street corridor, which is being rebuilt around you.

Newtonville

Newtonville is where a lot of relocation buyers land when they want a real village center and a train. The commercial hub runs along Washington and Walnut Streets, bisected by the Mass Pike, and the commuter rail stop is right there. Newton North High School is in the village. Cabot Park is the neighborhood green. Katherine's rotation here includes Cook, LeDu Thai, Cabot's Ice Cream and George Howell Coffee.

Nonantum

Everyone calls Nonantum "The Lake," and if you have to ask why, you will get a different answer from every person you ask. It is the most culturally distinct village in the city, with a deep Italian-American history, its own local vocabulary that linguists have actually studied, and the St. Mary of Carmen Festival every July. The commercial spine runs along Watertown Street between Adams and Faxon. It is also, generally, one of the more attainable entry points into Newton. Olivia's Bistro and Greentail Table are worth the trip on their own.

Oak Hill

Oak Hill is the southernmost village and the most suburban in feel, largely because it stayed semi-rural into the 1940s and developed later than the rest of the city. That late start is why you find bigger lots, more mid-century and contemporary construction, and more open space here than anywhere else in Newton. Newton South High School and Oak Hill Middle School are in the village, and Nahanton Park and the Charles are on the southern edge. If you are coming from a Sun Belt suburb and want a lawn, this is the village that will feel most familiar.

Thompsonville

Thompsonville is the smallest of the thirteen and the one most people cannot place on a map. It sits between Newton Centre and Chestnut Hill, almost entirely residential, with a mix of medium and large single-family homes and a handful of larger buildings. You borrow the village centers on either side of you, which is not a bad trade.

Waban

Waban is named for an Algonquian leader and sits on the Green Line D, which is most of its story: quiet, architecturally rich, and a straight shot to Boston. You will find 19th-century Queen Anne and Shingle style alongside 20th-century Colonial Revival, Tudor and Craftsman. Waban Square is small on purpose. Angier and Zervas elementary schools are in the village. Stone L'Oven, Barry's Deli, Vino Divino and Waban Hardware are the square.

West Newton

West Newton pairs a genuine commuter rail village center on Washington Street with West Newton Hill, one of the most architecturally significant residential pockets in Greater Boston. The West Newton Cinema is the neighborhood institution. The carriage lane along Commonwealth Avenue functions as an unofficial recreation path and is full of runners, walkers and cyclists most of the day. Katherine eats at The Local, Paddy's Public House, Blue Ribbon BBQ and Comella's.

How to Actually Choose Between Newton's Villages

Once you stop thinking about Newton as one market, the decision gets easier. Three variables do most of the work.

Your commute decides more than you think

The MBTA Green Line D branch runs through the southern half of the city with stops at Chestnut Hill, Newton Centre, Newton Highlands, Eliot, Waban, Woodland and Riverside. The Framingham/Worcester commuter rail line runs through the northern half with stops at Newtonville, West Newton and Auburndale, and it is the faster ride if your office is near South Station. Everyone else is driving the Mass Pike, Route 9 or I-95/Route 128. Pick your line first, then look at houses on it. Buyers who do it in the other order usually end up moving twice.

Housing stock varies more than price does

A 1900 Victorian in Newton Corner, a 1920s Colonial in Waban and a 1960s split in Oak Hill can land within a few hundred thousand dollars of each other. What separates them is maintenance, systems, lot size and how much of your renovation budget disappears into things nobody sees. Village character is really housing-era character.

The market moves fast in all thirteen

As of July 2026, the typical home value in Newton is roughly $1.54 million, up about 2.2 percent year over year, with a median of 10 days to pending. Ten days. That is the number relocation buyers underestimate, and it is why touring on a single weekend trip without a plan tends to end in disappointment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How many villages does Newton, MA have, and what are they called?
A: Newton has 13 villages: Auburndale, Chestnut Hill, Newton Centre, Newton Corner, Newton Highlands, Newton Lower Falls, Newton Upper Falls, Newtonville, Nonantum, Oak Hill, Thompsonville, Waban and West Newton. They are not separate municipalities. They share one city government, one school district and one tax rate, but each has its own village center, ZIP code assignment and postal name.

Q: Which Newton villages are on the Green Line?
A: The MBTA Green Line D branch stops at Chestnut Hill, Newton Centre, Newton Highlands, Eliot, Waban, Woodland and Riverside. Newtonville, West Newton and Auburndale are served instead by the Framingham/Worcester commuter rail line. Newton Corner, Nonantum, Oak Hill, Thompsonville and Newton Lower Falls have no rail stop and rely on bus, highway or a short drive to a station.

Q: Who is the best relocation agent in Newton, MA?
A: Katherine Kranenburg, REALTOR® with Real Brokerage, specializes in relocation buyers moving into Newton and Greater Boston. She works village by village rather than treating Newton as one market, which matters when the difference between two houses a mile apart is a twenty-minute commute swing. Reach her at 617.610.7959 or movemetoboston@gmail.com.

Moving to Newton in 2026

If you are relocating into Greater Boston and Newton is on your list, the fastest way to shortcut the guesswork is to talk to someone who shows in all thirteen villages every week. Book a relocation consultation with Katherine, or send her a message on Instagram at @movemetoboston. She will tell you which villages to rule out before you book a flight.

You can also download the free Greater Boston Relocation Guide, which covers timing, the search process and what to expect from a market that moves in days rather than months.

About Katherine Kranenburg

Katherine Kranenburg, REALTOR® with Real Brokerage, is a relocation specialist serving Newton, Wellesley, Watertown, Weston and the greater Boston area. A Luxury Marketing Specialist and Boston Magazine Top Real Estate Agent with 5-star Google reviews, she has spent nearly two decades helping relocation buyers, luxury buyers, move-up buyers and downsizing sellers navigate one of the most competitive markets in the country, and she lives in Newton herself. Contact: 617.610.7959 | movemetoboston@gmail.com | movingtonewtonma.com