You won't find gated communities in Boston. You might be thinking of a building with a doorman or concierge, which is also kind of rare, but it at least kind of exists in the sense that some of the luxury developments have similar services. The good news is that Boston is pretty safe, so needing to live in a "gated" area is not really a real necessity here. You might get lucky in your price range to find a 1-bed in a professionally managed building in Back Bay, which seems right up your alley given the limited info in your post. One thing to keep in mind is that A TON of Boston apartments are leased on a 9/1-8/31 cycle, so inventory will be low the further away from September you are. That being said, the places that ARE available off-cycle tend to be significantly discounted since they're empty and landlords want to fill them fast.