You probably have a good idea of where you would like to live, what neighborhoods you can settle for, and what neighborhoods make a better location than others.

Unfortunately, most people in the rental market have the same idea on these three issues, especially what areas are “better”. That’s why some areas are more popular (and more expensive) than others. But there hasn’t really been a way to visualize the comparative differences in rent in different parts of Boston.

Now there is.

Boston Rental Heatmap

Jeff Kaufman, a 27-year-old Google employee in Cambridge, has recently developed this Boston Rental Heatmap to visualize rents in Boston and surrounding areas. And Reddit user “yiseowl” neatly added the MBTA map as seen above.

This map clearly indicates what areas are more and less expensive that others.

As can be easily seen, anywhere along public transit lines are major hot spots, as can only be expected. Many people want to live near an easily accessible train stop to commute to work, school, or wherever they may need to get.

Once you learn how much you can afford for rent each month (hint: use the Rule of 36), taking into account pricing per unit and per bedroom can be easily done via this map.  The most expensive areas to live per bedroom can be easily located using these maps. This isn’t to say a bargain can’t be found in the Back Bay or Beacon Hill or South End, but there is range for how good a deal can be and still be true. For example, the typical idea of Allston and Brighton being locations of good deals and cheaper rents can be seen dissolving in these maps. As a whole, everywhere in Boston and the immediately outlying area, rent is increasing due to demand.

This heatmap is easy to use as a general rule of thumb when looking for Boston apartment rents. As you are no doubt aware, it is becoming more and more difficult to use Craigslist to find an apartment, but data visualization tools like this heatmap and map based apartment search engines like Padmapper and our own Boston apartment search engine easily give renters a good idea of where to focus searches for housing within one’s budget.

With continued input of years of housing rental information, this tool will surely help give renters an idea of what their neighborhood will look like in the years to come and what specific areas are within their budget.