Monson Center vs Palmer Town

A side-by-side comparison of Monson Center and Palmer Town: population, income, housing, and more.

Monson Center and Palmer Town are places in Massachusetts. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Palmer Town has the higher population (12,372 vs 1,794 in Monson Center). Palmer Town has the higher median household income ($78,789 vs $58,603 in Monson Center). Monson Center has the higher median home value ($279,500 vs $255,000 in Palmer Town).

Population, income & housing

	Monson Center	Palmer Town
Population	1,794	12,372
Median age	47.3 yrs	50.5 yrs
Median household income	$58,603	$78,789
Median home value	$279,500	$255,000
Median gross rent	$770	$1,041
Housing units	906	5,792
Homeownership rate	59.8%	70.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.8%	24.0%
Unemployment rate	16.6%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Monson Center	Palmer Town
Population	1,881 → 1,794 (-4.6%)	12,237 → 12,372 (+1.1%)
Median household income	$64,673 → $58,603 (-9.4%)	$64,651 → $78,789 (+21.9%)
Median home value	$220,000 → $279,500 (+27.0%)	$197,000 → $255,000 (+29.4%)
Median gross rent	$903 → $770 (-14.7%)	$962 → $1,041 (+8.2%)

Monson Center

Population

1,8811,794

Median household income

$64,673$58,603

Median home value

$220,000$279,500

Median gross rent

$903$770

Palmer Town

Population

12,23712,372

Median household income

$64,651$78,789

Median home value

$197,000$255,000

Median gross rent

$962$1,041

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Monson Center	Palmer Town
Under 5	5.4%	4.1%
5 to 17	11.4%	9.9%
18 to 24	9.4%	6.7%
25 to 34	8.2%	13.0%
35 to 44	14.0%	9.5%
45 to 54	10.2%	12.9%
55 to 64	16.8%	23.0%
65 to 74	17.2%	11.8%
75 and over	7.3%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Monson Center	Palmer Town
White (non-Hispanic)	92.5%	84.0%
Black or African American	2.0%	3.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.6%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.2%	7.4%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	4.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Monson Center	Palmer Town
No high school diploma	9.3%	11.6%
High school graduate	41.4%	35.7%
Some college or associate's	24.5%	28.7%
Bachelor's degree	18.4%	15.4%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	8.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Monson Center	Palmer Town
Drove alone	75.2%	83.0%
Carpooled	6.5%	6.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	1.7%	0.9%
Bicycle	1.6%	0.2%
Worked from home	15.0%	8.1%
Other means	0.0%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Monson Center	Palmer Town
1-unit, detached	50.2%	62.1%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	34.8%	18.3%
5 to 19 units	13.0%	8.4%
20 or more units	1.4%	2.9%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	4.4%

Poverty & households

	Monson Center	Palmer Town
Poverty rate	26.7%	8.6%
Average household size	2.11	2.22
Mean commute (minutes)	44	32
Median year structure built	1938	1965