Along with residential areas, the neighborhood surrounding Belmont contains many eclectic shops, bars, and restaurants and active nightlife.

The station is one of the more heavily utilized on the system serving as a busy transfer point, and also as a terminal when the Brown Line operates as a shuttle service to and from Kimball late at night and early in the morning.

The station house was located on the south side of Belmont and contained several turnstiles as well as a customer assistant booth.

During 2006–2009, Belmont station underwent reconstruction as part of the Brown Line Capacity Expansion Project.

The staging area and job offices for the project are located just north of the Belmont station.

Construction of support systems for the project and demolition of adjacent structures started in 2006, although this was not without controversy.

Part of the staging for the reconstruction of the Belmont station required the temporary use of three tracks instead of the usual four.