Arlington vs Lexington

A side-by-side comparison of Arlington and Lexington: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Arlington has the higher population (46,015 vs 34,085 in Lexington). Lexington has the higher median household income ($219,402 vs $141,440 in Arlington). Lexington has the higher median home value ($1,147,900 vs $885,000 in Arlington).

Population, income & housing

	Arlington	Lexington
Population	46,015	34,085
Median age	41.3 yrs	46.6 yrs
Median household income	$141,440	$219,402
Median home value	$885,000	$1,147,900
Median gross rent	$2,043	$2,816
Housing units	20,599	12,672
Homeownership rate	60.6%	81.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	74.4%	85.0%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	3.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Arlington	Lexington
Population	45,304 → 46,015 (+1.6%)	33,340 → 34,085 (+2.2%)
Median household income	$108,389 → $141,440 (+30.5%)	$186,201 → $219,402 (+17.8%)
Median home value	$642,200 → $885,000 (+37.8%)	$889,700 → $1,147,900 (+29.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,730 → $2,043 (+18.1%)	$2,475 → $2,816 (+13.8%)

Arlington

Population

45,30446,015

Median household income

$108,389$141,440

Median home value

$642,200$885,000

Median gross rent

$1,730$2,043

Lexington

Population

33,34034,085

Median household income

$186,201$219,402

Median home value

$889,700$1,147,900

Median gross rent

$2,475$2,816

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Arlington	Lexington
Under 5	4.8%	3.7%
5 to 17	15.7%	22.8%
18 to 24	4.9%	4.4%
25 to 34	15.5%	4.2%
35 to 44	14.3%	11.6%
45 to 54	15.6%	19.2%
55 to 64	12.3%	13.1%
65 to 74	9.8%	11.5%
75 and over	7.0%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Arlington	Lexington
White (non-Hispanic)	75.2%	56.1%
Black or African American	2.5%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	12.1%	32.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.9%
Two or more races	4.6%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	5.0%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Arlington	Lexington
No high school diploma	2.4%	2.5%
High school graduate	10.8%	4.5%
Some college or associate's	12.4%	8.0%
Bachelor's degree	30.6%	26.2%
Graduate or professional degree	43.8%	58.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Arlington	Lexington
Drove alone	45.8%	54.1%
Carpooled	3.4%	4.7%
Public transit	12.5%	5.7%
Walked	2.0%	2.2%
Bicycle	4.7%	0.9%
Worked from home	30.5%	31.6%
Other means	1.2%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Arlington	Lexington
1-unit, detached	38.2%	73.4%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	8.6%
2 to 4 units	30.3%	5.0%
5 to 19 units	10.5%	5.8%
20 or more units	13.8%	7.3%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Arlington	Lexington
Poverty rate	5.4%	4.3%
Average household size	2.30	2.73
Mean commute (minutes)	32	30
Median year structure built	1943	1964