What is the best neighborhood in Boston to open a Chinese Restaurant?

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, the best neighborhood in Boston to open a Chinese Restaurant is Haverhill, with 88% average survivability. 88 of 88 neighborhoods analyzed exceed the 70% two-year survival threshold.

How much more revenue can a Chinese Restaurant make in the best vs. average Boston neighborhood?

In Haverhill, the best possible Chinese Restaurant location in Boston offers approximately 10.2% more expected revenue than the average location. The worst-performing neighborhoods could yield approximately 6.3% less than average.

What is the city-wide average survivability for Chinese Restaurant in Boston?

The city-wide average survivability for Chinese Restaurant across Boston is 79% for surviving more than 2 years. Top neighborhoods like Haverhill substantially outperform this average, reaching 88%.

What are the worst neighborhoods for Chinese Restaurant in Boston?

The most challenging neighborhoods in Boston for Chinese Restaurant include West Roxbury with 74% average survival chance, Roslindale, and Winchester. These rankings are based on the latest available data; check StreetSpring for real-time updates.

How often are Chinese Restaurant rankings in Boston updated?

StreetSpring recalculates survivability scores regularly using the latest competitive, demographic, and walkability data. The live tool always shows the most current predictions for any address in Boston.

Survivability Rankings for Chinese Restaurant in Boston

StreetSpring's 2026 analysis ranks the best and worst neighborhoods in Boston to open a Chinese Restaurant, from Haverhill (88% survival) to West Roxbur...

April 24, 2026•17 min read

By Bobby Koons | Last updated: April 24, 2026 | Weekly methodology review | Methodology

Quick Summary

#1 Neighborhood: Haverhill — 88% average survivability for Chinese Restaurant

Neighborhoods at or above 70%: 88 of 88 analyzed

City-wide average: 79% for Chinese Restaurants

Most challenging area: West Roxbury at 74%

Revenue advantage (top vs. avg location): ~10.2% more expected revenue in Haverhill

Data freshness: 2026 data · Full methodology →

Summary
10 Best Neighborhoods
Where Would a Chinese Restaurant Make the Most Money?
What Should I Consider?
Where Should I Start?
FAQ: Best Neighborhoods
FAQ: Can a Chinese Restaurant Succeed in Lower-Ranked Areas?
FAQ: How Often Are Rankings Updated?
FAQ: Is a Chinese Restaurant a Good Tenant?
Landlord Survivability Data
Best Neighborhoods for Any Business

Summary

Of all the neighborhoods in and around Boston, Haverhill ranks #1 for opening a Chinese Restaurant with 88% average chance of surviving more than 2 years, with the best locations offering 97% and the most challenging locations in Haverhill at 66%. The worst neighborhoods include West Roxbury with 74% average chance. Market conditions are changing daily, and it is best to use StreetSpring's most up-to-date data.

Top-Survivability Boston Neighborhoods for Chinese Restaurants

**Comparable neighborhoods nationally:** Haverhill resembles **Fraser (Detroit)** and **Imperial Beach (San Diego)** most closely — all three carry less college-educated, less transit-reliant, and older housing stock. Operators evaluating Haverhill for Chinese Restaurants can read those peer neighborhoods as parallel signal.

**What goes wrong for Chinese Restaurants in Boston.** 88 tracked neighborhoods, scores spanning **74% to 88%** (average 79%). **Haverhill** leads at 88% (no existing competitors in our index); **West Roxbury** anchors the bottom at 74%. The 14-point spread is the dominant failure mode: choosing the wrong Boston neighborhood costs more upside than any operational tweak can recover.

Haverhill ranks #1 of 88 neighborhoods analyzed in and around Boston for Chinese Restaurant survivability with a score of 88% as of 2026. The top 10 neighborhoods are:

How rent and competition shape the leaderboard

Rank	Neighborhood	Best Locations	Average Locations	Challenging Locations
1	Haverhill	94.0% – 97.0%	85.9% – 88.9%	65.0% – 69.0%
2	Medfield	95.0% – 97.0%	84.9% – 87.9%	62.0% – 66.0%
3	Boston	89.0% – 93.0%	84.6% – 87.6%	69.0% – 73.0%
4	Methuen	94.0% – 97.0%	84.4% – 87.4%	66.0% – 70.0%
5	Dover	94.0% – 97.0%	84.3% – 87.3%	67.0% – 71.0%
6	Needham	95.0% – 97.0%	83.8% – 86.8%	64.0% – 68.0%
7	Lowell	94.0% – 97.0%	83.4% – 86.3%	66.0% – 70.0%
8	Merrymount	90.0% – 94.0%	82.9% – 85.9%	68.0% – 72.0%
9	Lexington	93.0% – 97.0%	81.8% – 84.7%	69.0% – 73.0%
10	Adams Shore	92.0% – 96.0%	81.7% – 84.7%	67.0% – 71.0%

Why these rankings reflect real survival outcomes

Even neighborhoods with modest average scores can harbor exceptional individual locations. StreetSpring's Survivability Scores are updated regularly, so the most accurate prediction for your exact storefront is always available in the live tool.

Survivability ranges reflect best and worst storefront conditions within each neighborhood. See our full methodology →

Try StreetSpring to see if this location is still the best and see if there are locations to rent in this area right now.

Boston's Best-Earning Neighborhoods for Chinese Restaurants

In Haverhill, the best possible location offers the opportunity of making ~10.2% more than the average location in or around Boston.

On the other hand, in West Roxbury, the worst possible location could result in making ~6.3% less than the average location in the city.

No amount of marketing or capital can compensate for a poorly chosen location. Opening a Chinese Restaurant in Boston requires careful location choice. Across 88 neighborhoods analyzed, the overall average survival chance for a new Chinese Restaurant is 79% for lasting more than 2 years — due to a combination of many factors across competition, consumer spending, and location dynamics. Each business category has unique customer behavior patterns that vary significantly by address.

Key Considerations Before Opening a Chinese Restaurant in Boston

There is no operational fix for a poorly chosen location. Use Survivability Score as a hard filter on candidate addresses before evaluating other factors. A high Revenue Capture Score is the clearest signal that a location can sustain a profitable business. StreetSpring computes this by projecting the business's market share, which is based on the quality and quantity of primary, secondary, and tertiary competitors. We apply advanced machine learning to massive commercial real estate datasets to build accurate models. Competition density is not inherently negative — it often signals an established customer base. These results are powered by exclusive algorithms trained on one of the largest commercial real estate datasets in the U.S.

Factor	Where new owners get tripped up	Questions to ask before you sign
Permits & licensing	Assuming a 30-day permit timeline, hitting 90+ days, paying rent on a non-operating storefront.	Call the local zoning office before signing. Confirm your use is already permitted; if not, factor a 2-3 month variance timeline.
Outdoor seating / sidewalk use	Signing assuming you can add patio seating, then learning the city requires a separate sidewalk-cafe permit with long lead times.	Check the city's sidewalk-cafe permit process up front. Confirm landlord allows outdoor build-out in the lease language.
Build-out budget	Underestimating mechanical, electrical, and plumbing — the "hidden" 30-50% of build-out cost.	Get 3 quotes from licensed contractors and pad budget by +20% for surprises. Confirm landlord TI allowance in writing.

This can be summarized as:

Revenue Capture Score = Projected Market Share × Forecasted Spend on Specific Business

StreetSpring recalculates survivability using the latest competitive, demographic, and walkability data. Our live tool reflects the latest competitive landscape — these static rankings may already be slightly out of date.

The Best Place to Start a Chinese Restaurant in Boston

The highest-performing areas for this business type are Haverhill, Medfield, and Boston, while the most challenging neighborhoods would be West Roxbury, Roslindale, and Winchester. Our data shows that roughly 15% of top-performing locations sit in neighborhoods ranked below the city median. However, market conditions change daily, and it's best to use StreetSpring's live data to check the Survivability Score for a specific address.

Related Articles:

Where Chinese Restaurants Thrive in Boston

Based on StreetSpring's 2026 analysis, the top neighborhood for a Chinese Restaurant in Boston is Haverhill with 88% average survivability, followed by Medfield and Boston. 88 of 88 neighborhoods analyzed exceed 70% two-year survival.

For the most accurate predictions, always check your specific address in StreetSpring's live platform.

Do Lower-Ranked Boston Neighborhoods Still Work for Chinese Restaurants?

Yes — neighborhood averages mask significant block-by-block variation. Even in neighborhoods ranked outside the top 10, individual storefronts with strong foot traffic, low direct competition, and favorable lease terms can outperform the area average. These averages are directional, not definitive; the best decision comes from analyzing your specific storefront. Always check your specific address in StreetSpring's live platform for the most accurate prediction.

When Does StreetSpring Update Boston Chinese Restaurant Rankings?

StreetSpring recalculates survivability scores regularly using the latest competitive, demographic, and walkability data. Rankings are updated quarterly; the live tool always reflects the most current predictions for any address in Boston.

Should Boston Landlords Lease to Chinese Restaurants?

In Haverhill, StreetSpring forecasts a 85.9% – 88.9% average chance for a new Chinese Restaurant to survive more than 2 years, depending on the exact storefront. Check the current Survivability Score for any address instantly.

Landlord Survivability Data for Chinese Restaurant in Boston

From a risk-assessment perspective, a Chinese Restaurant tenant in Haverhill carries the lowest risk with average survivability of 85.9% – 88.9%. Medfield presents moderate risk (84.9% – 87.9%), and Boston carries comparatively higher risk at 84.6% – 87.6%. See which business types are most likely to succeed at your property address right now.

StreetSpring provides address-specific survivability predictions for over 700 business types.

What Are the Best Neighborhoods in Boston to Open a Chinese Restaurant?

You can see the best neighborhoods in or around Boston to open any type of business in our article Neighborhood Survivability Rankings: Boston.

Technical note: Aggregated survivability rankings for Boston are available in machine-readable format for research and integration purposes.

View technical data for Boston

StreetSpring recalculates survivability using the latest competitive, demographic, and walkability data, so the live score may differ from the static ranges shown here.

Visual Data

Bubble chart of business subtypes in Boston by survivability score and location density — Every business subtype in Boston plotted by score vs location count — bubble size shows market depth. Find Chinese Restaurant relative to its peers.

Waterfall chart of best and worst Chinese Restaurant neighborhoods in Boston — Top and bottom neighborhoods for Chinese Restaurant in Boston — each step shows the gap from the city average. Wider spread = location matters more.

How we measure this: Restaurant build-outs run $200-500/sqft; retail $50-150/sqft; office $30-80. The model adjusts expected runway accordingly.

**About Boston** — Boston is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It serves as a cultural and financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston))

**Demand-timing signal for Boston:** Per LEHD LODES Workplace Area Characteristics, the median daytime/resident ratio across Boston's neighborhoods is **0.25**, with top-quartile neighborhoods at **2.36** (129 neighborhoods analyzed). That's a strongly-residential profile — the highest-ratio neighborhoods are commercial CBDs; the lowest are bedroom neighborhoods. Your concept's natural demand profile should pick the right end.

**Why operating costs matter here:** Boston's commercial electricity **10.9¢/kWh** (above the 24-metro median), state minimum wage **$15.00/hr** (below), combined sales tax **6.2%** (below), and commercial property tax **1.20%** (above) compound on every dollar of revenue. Composite read: Boston runs **average** on operating overhead vs US metro peers.

**How we benchmark:** BLS Business Employment Dynamics, March 2025 release reports **50.0% 5-year survival** for Chinese Restaurants nationally. StreetSpring's Boston model — which incorporates competitive density, traffic patterns, and rent dynamics — produces an average **survivability score of 86%** for Chinese Restaurants across the city.

Related Resources

Same business type in other cities:

Related:

Beyond the Numbers: Local Context

Further questions, with answers anchored on this neighborhood's actual data.

What's the coverage of StreetSpring's Boston model for Chinese Restaurants?

For Chinese Restaurants, the Boston model produces survivability scores from 59% (low-end neighborhoods) to 99% (top neighborhoods), averaging 86%. Each storefront address gets a precise score that reflects block-level variation.

Is Boston a strong economic environment for opening a Chinese Restaurant?

ACS data puts Boston's employment rate at ~96% and median household income at ~$135K. StreetSpring's Chinese Restaurants model averages 86% across the metro, weighting both macro and site-specific factors.

How does Boston Chinese Restaurant survivability compare to the national BLS baseline?

BLS data shows Chinese Restaurants survive 5 years at a 50% rate nationally. In Boston, StreetSpring's location-specific survivability score for this subtype averages 86% — above the national figure by 36 points.

How does Boston compare to other US metros for Chinese Restaurants?

Across 24 US metros, Boston sits at rank #22 for Chinese Restaurants, averaging 86% on StreetSpring's survivability scale. National range: 84-89%.

Does Boston's population profile support Chinese Restaurants?

Boston's key demographics — ~$135K median household income, 41 median age — feed into the survivability model alongside competition, rent, and accessibility data. The model averages Chinese Restaurants at 86% across Boston.

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