New Bedford vs Somerset

A side-by-side comparison of New Bedford and Somerset: population, income, housing, and more.

New Bedford and Somerset are places in Massachusetts. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

New Bedford has the higher population (100,731 vs 18,246 in Somerset). Somerset has the higher median household income ($111,720 vs $56,025 in New Bedford). Somerset has the higher median home value ($389,400 vs $324,400 in New Bedford).

Population, income & housing

	New Bedford	Somerset
Population	100,731	18,246
Median age	37.0 yrs	47.0 yrs
Median household income	$56,025	$111,720
Median home value	$324,400	$389,400
Median gross rent	$1,085	$1,313
Housing units	44,468	7,587
Homeownership rate	40.0%	84.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.8%	37.0%
Unemployment rate	7.6%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	New Bedford	Somerset
Population	95,239 → 100,731 (+5.8%)	18,165 → 18,246 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$46,321 → $56,025 (+20.9%)	$84,115 → $111,720 (+32.8%)
Median home value	$226,900 → $324,400 (+43.0%)	$279,200 → $389,400 (+39.5%)
Median gross rent	$847 → $1,085 (+28.1%)	$1,132 → $1,313 (+16.0%)

New Bedford

Population

95,239100,731

Median household income

$46,321$56,025

Median home value

$226,900$324,400

Median gross rent

$847$1,085

Somerset

Population

18,16518,246

Median household income

$84,115$111,720

Median home value

$279,200$389,400

Median gross rent

$1,132$1,313

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	New Bedford	Somerset
Under 5	6.5%	4.3%
5 to 17	17.1%	14.9%
18 to 24	8.9%	4.8%
25 to 34	14.2%	10.7%
35 to 44	13.6%	12.0%
45 to 54	12.3%	14.0%
55 to 64	11.5%	14.4%
65 to 74	9.4%	12.3%
75 and over	6.4%	12.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	New Bedford	Somerset
White (non-Hispanic)	55.6%	91.7%
Black or African American	5.3%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	1.5%	2.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	4.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	8.7%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	24.5%	1.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	New Bedford	Somerset
No high school diploma	23.9%	7.8%
High school graduate	34.4%	29.0%
Some college or associate's	24.9%	26.2%
Bachelor's degree	11.7%	22.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	14.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	New Bedford	Somerset
Drove alone	72.8%	84.9%
Carpooled	15.3%	3.9%
Public transit	2.6%	0.2%
Walked	2.5%	0.2%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.7%	10.2%
Other means	2.0%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	New Bedford	Somerset
1-unit, detached	30.2%	81.8%
1-unit, attached	1.9%	2.0%
2 to 4 units	47.2%	10.3%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	3.2%
20 or more units	8.0%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	New Bedford	Somerset
Poverty rate	19.9%	5.0%
Average household size	2.34	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	25	30
Median year structure built	1938	1961