Medford 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 65,399 people and 14 associated neighborhoods, Medford is the 21st largest community in Massachusetts. Much of the housing stock in Medford was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.
Medford home prices are not only among the most expensive in Massachusetts, but Medford real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Also of interest is that Medford has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
A relatively large number of people in Medford telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 18.55% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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.
Another interesting thing about Medford, despite not being a huge city, is that there is a relatively high proportion of people living here who are young, single, and upwardly-mobile professionals. This makes it a good choice for other relocating single professionals. Here, these young singles will find many others like themselves, with opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.
One of the nice things about Medford is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.
In Medford, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 32.37 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 Medford use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Medford‘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.
If knowledge is power, Medford is a pretty powerful place. 55.96% of the adults in Medford have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.
The per capita income in Medford in 2022 was $58,522, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $234,088 for a family of four. However, Medford contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Medford is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Medford home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Medford residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Medford include Irish, Italian, English, German, and Haitian.
Medford also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 23.62%.
The most common language spoken in Medford is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French.