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.Somerville is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 92.42% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Somerville is a city of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Somerville who work in management occupations (13.87%), teaching (10.13%), and computer science and math (10.13%). 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. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 24.78% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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. 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. Quite often, nautical areas such as these attract visitors and locals who come to enjoy the scenery and various waterfront activities. 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. Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Somerville is somewhat unusual for a city of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the subway helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Somerville area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.If knowledge is power, Somerville is a pretty powerful place. 67.18% of the adults in Somerville 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 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. In addition, Somerville has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (23.65%). The most common language spoken in Somerville is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Portuguese.
