Amherst Town vs Northampton

A side-by-side comparison of Amherst Town and Northampton: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Amherst Town has the higher population (35,472 vs 28,640 in Northampton). Northampton has the higher median household income ($78,467 vs $65,938 in Amherst Town). Amherst Town has the higher median home value ($454,000 vs $398,000 in Northampton).

Population, income & housing

	Amherst Town	Northampton
Population	35,472	28,640
Median age	21.3 yrs	41.7 yrs
Median household income	$65,938	$78,467
Median home value	$454,000	$398,000
Median gross rent	$1,570	$1,404
Housing units	10,400	13,217
Homeownership rate	45.9%	57.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	73.8%	61.3%
Unemployment rate	9.0%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Amherst Town	Northampton
Population	39,995 → 35,472 (-11.3%)	28,516 → 28,640 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$56,906 → $65,938 (+15.9%)	$66,522 → $78,467 (+18.0%)
Median home value	$369,600 → $454,000 (+22.8%)	$332,100 → $398,000 (+19.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,275 → $1,570 (+23.1%)	$1,158 → $1,404 (+21.2%)

Amherst Town

Population

39,99535,472

Median household income

$56,906$65,938

Median home value

$369,600$454,000

Median gross rent

$1,275$1,570

Northampton

Population

28,51628,640

Median household income

$66,522$78,467

Median home value

$332,100$398,000

Median gross rent

$1,158$1,404

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Amherst Town	Northampton
Under 5	1.9%	3.4%
5 to 17	6.8%	12.3%
18 to 24	58.5%	14.0%
25 to 34	5.2%	12.3%
35 to 44	5.9%	13.4%
45 to 54	5.6%	11.5%
55 to 64	6.3%	12.6%
65 to 74	6.2%	12.5%
75 and over	3.7%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Amherst Town	Northampton
White (non-Hispanic)	65.9%	80.0%
Black or African American	4.5%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	13.7%	3.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	6.6%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	8.9%	9.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Amherst Town	Northampton
No high school diploma	2.9%	5.1%
High school graduate	8.6%	13.7%
Some college or associate's	14.7%	19.9%
Bachelor's degree	21.7%	27.2%
Graduate or professional degree	52.1%	34.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Amherst Town	Northampton
Drove alone	42.1%	59.7%
Carpooled	5.8%	5.2%
Public transit	8.2%	2.9%
Walked	21.8%	8.7%
Bicycle	2.1%	1.3%
Worked from home	19.3%	21.9%
Other means	0.8%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Amherst Town	Northampton
1-unit, detached	42.9%	44.8%
1-unit, attached	6.3%	8.7%
2 to 4 units	17.5%	23.5%
5 to 19 units	14.7%	13.6%
20 or more units	18.5%	9.4%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Amherst Town	Northampton
Poverty rate	24.1%	12.5%
Average household size	2.21	2.00
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1974	1956