Westwood, Massachusetts
Twelve miles southwest of Boston on the 128 corridor. Two commuter rail stations, about 1,200 acres at Hale, sixteen thousand people.
People move to Westwood
once.
Set off from Dedham in 1897, the town never turned into a pass-through suburb.
What holds value here is the combination. Two MBTA commuter rail stations inside town lines. An interchange with I-95 / Route 128 at Exit 27 (University Avenue), with a 120-acre retail and residential district built around it. About 1,200 acres at Hale. And housing that runs from older houses on Fox Hill Street to new construction built to the stretch energy code.
How the town runs day to day, from trash and permits to the room where town meeting still happens, is on Around town in Westwood.
Homes for sale in Westwood
From MLS PIN, from every participating brokerage, not only ours.
What the town gives you
Two ways into Boston
Route 128 sits on the Providence/Stoughton Line in fare Zone 2, with 2,735 parking spaces and level boarding; Amtrak Acela and Northeast Regional stop there as well. Islington, on the Franklin and Foxboro Line, is Zone 3, has 33 spaces and no elevator. Some inbound trains pass Route 128 without stopping, so the timetable decides the number, not the map.
- To South Station
- 25 to 26 minutes from Route 128; 34 to 36 from Islington
One district, K through 12
Westwood runs one district for the whole town. Four elementary schools, Downey, Martha Jones, Pine Hill and Sheehan, together with an integrated preschool, feed Thurston Middle and Westwood High. Xaverian Brothers, a Catholic school for boys in grades 7 through 12, is independent of the district.
- Enrollment
- 2,839 in 2025-26, DESE
1,200 acres at Hale
Hale stands on Carby Street and covers about 1,200 acres across Westwood and Dover. It is owned and run by Hale Education, a nonprofit whose roots go back to 1918. Most of it has been under permanent conservation restriction since February 2025.
- Hale
- Four ponds, more than 15 miles of trails
- Town conservation land
- 630 acres across 43 parcels
What the tax bill looks like
Westwood taxes residential and commercial property at two different rates. At the classification hearing on 17 November 2025 the Board of Assessors set the fiscal 2026 residential rate at $12.87 per $1,000 of assessed value and the commercial, industrial and personal property rate at $24.26.
- Average single family bill
- $16,097, FY2026, Board of Assessors
We do not only sell
Westwood houses.
Artemis Realty + Design is based in Westwood. Roula Bakis is a Massachusetts real estate broker, licensed since 2017, with a B.A. in Environmental Design, and sits on the board of the Westwood Community Chest.
Clients in this town ask us what a house could become, not only what it is worth. 78 Fox Hill Street, listed and sold by Artemis in 2021, is the example.
Where people look in Westwood
Westwood is one town, but it does not read as one place. How the six towns compare on rail, water and sewer is on one page.
Islington
Its own village, with a station on the Franklin Line and a branch library in Wentworth Hall since 2022.
High Street & the center
Town hall, the older street grid, and the 32,000-square-foot library that opened at 660 High Street in 2013.
Clapboard Trees
The original precinct name, still carried by Clapboardtree Street, on the quieter western side.
University Station
The newest part of town: apartments, retail and the Amtrak platform, at Exit 27 (University Avenue).
Questions about owning in Westwood
Answers about buying and owning here, not about how the town feels.
Can I add an accessory apartment to a Westwood house?
Town Meeting adopted an accessory dwelling unit bylaw on 19 May 2025. One protected unit is allowed by right and a second by special permit, within a cap set in the bylaw. Confirm anything you intend to rely on with the Town before you act on it.
Can a Westwood house be rented short term?
Annual Town Meeting on 4 May 2026 adopted Chapter 330 of the General Bylaws. Short term rentals must be registered, are capped at 28 nights a year and are allowed only in owner occupied property. If short term rental income is part of why you are buying, read the bylaw itself first.
Is Westwood compliant with the MBTA Communities law?
The state lists Westwood among compliant municipalities in its district compliance letters dated August 2026. The town meets Section 3A through a mixed use multi family overlay district first adopted at Town Meeting in 2022 and extended in 2024. Read the bylaw and the state letter together before you rely on either.
Ask about Westwood.
Tell us what you are working out in Westwood, whether you are buying, selling or changing the house you already own. You get specifics, not a brochure.
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