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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Somerville, MA
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Somerville profile


Living in Somerville



Somerville is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 79,762 people and 25 associated neighborhoods, Somerville is the 13th largest community in Massachusetts. Somerville has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.

Somerville home prices are not only among the most expensive in Massachusetts, but Somerville real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Also of interest is that Somerville has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Somerville has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.

Of important note, Somerville is also a city of artists. Somerville has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Somerville’s character.

Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 24.78% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes.

One thing noticeable about Somerville, although not a huge city, is that it has a large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. That’s because Somerville is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Somerville a pretty good place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

Somerville is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

In Somerville, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 33.16 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit. In addition, the city is also quite pedestrian-friendly, because many neighborhoods are very dense and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot.

Like elsewhere in America, most people in Somerville use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Somerville‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the subway. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.

Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Somerville, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Somerville is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 67.18% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.

The per capita income in Somerville in 2022 was $65,100, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $260,400 for a family of four. However, Somerville contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Somerville is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Somerville home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Somerville residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Somerville also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 10.88% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Somerville include Irish, Italian, English, German, and Portuguese.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Somerville's cultural character, accounting for 23.65% of the city’s population.

The most common language spoken in Somerville is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Portuguese.