West Roxbury.

West Roxbury is the Boston neighborhood that feels most like a suburb — and that's exactly why people move here. Single-family Colonials, Capes, and center-hall brick homes line quiet streets with driveways and yards, Centre Street functions as a small-town main street with restaurants and local shops, and city services (and Boston residency, which matters for police, fire, and teaching families) come with it. It's a favorite of buyers who want a house, not a condo, without giving up the city.

Millennium Park's fields, trails, and river landings occupy the neighborhood's western tip along the Charles, and Brook Farm's meadows add more open space than any Boston neighborhood but its neighbors. Three Needham Line commuter rail stops — Bellevue, Highland, and West Roxbury — put South Station about twenty minutes away, with the VFW Parkway carrying drivers to Route 128 or downtown. West Roxbury is Boston at its most neighborly — for the citywide picture, see our Boston page.