Ashland is a medium-sized town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 18,466 people and five associated neighborhoods, Ashland is the 104th largest community in Massachusetts. Housing costs in Ashland are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in Massachusetts.Ashland is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 86.52% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Ashland is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Ashland who work in management occupations (16.60%), computer science and math (11.45%), and office and administrative support (9.21%). Also of interest is that Ashland has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 17.71% 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. In addition, Ashland is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates", which are people who are not only wealthy and employed in professional occupations, but highly educated to boot. Urban sophisticates have urbane tastes - whether they reside in a big or small city, a suburb, or a little town. Urban sophisticates support bookstores, quality clothing stores, enjoy luxury travel, and in big cities, they are truly the patrons of the arts, attending and supporting institutions such as opera, symphony, ballet, and theatre. Because of many things, Ashland is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Ashland really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Ashland perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live. In Ashland, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 33.80 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. Despite being a small town, Ashland has a lot of people using the train to get to and from work every day. Most of these people on the train are using it to get to good jobs in other cities.If knowledge is power, Ashland is a pretty powerful place. 61.24% of the adults in Ashland 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 Ashland in 2022 was $67,369, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $269,476 for a family of four. Ashland is a very ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Ashland home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Ashland residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Ashland include Irish, Italian, German, English, and Polish. Foreign born people are also an important part of Ashland's cultural character, accounting for 21.90% of the town’s population. The most common language spoken in Ashland is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.
