Arlington vs Medford

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

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

Medford has the higher population (59,062 vs 46,015 in Arlington). Arlington has the higher median household income ($141,440 vs $118,089 in Medford). Arlington has the higher median home value ($885,000 vs $715,500 in Medford).

Population, income & housing

	Arlington	Medford
Population	46,015	59,062
Median age	41.3 yrs	36.1 yrs
Median household income	$141,440	$118,089
Median home value	$885,000	$715,500
Median gross rent	$2,043	$2,477
Housing units	20,599	25,879
Homeownership rate	60.6%	53.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	74.4%	57.6%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Arlington	Medford
Population	45,304 → 46,015 (+1.6%)	57,637 → 59,062 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$108,389 → $141,440 (+30.5%)	$96,455 → $118,089 (+22.4%)
Median home value	$642,200 → $885,000 (+37.8%)	$500,800 → $715,500 (+42.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,730 → $2,043 (+18.1%)	$1,817 → $2,477 (+36.3%)

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

Medford

Population

57,63759,062

Median household income

$96,455$118,089

Median home value

$500,800$715,500

Median gross rent

$1,817$2,477

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Arlington	Medford
Under 5	4.8%	3.7%
5 to 17	15.7%	9.4%
18 to 24	4.9%	12.7%
25 to 34	15.5%	22.4%
35 to 44	14.3%	12.8%
45 to 54	15.6%	11.4%
55 to 64	12.3%	11.9%
65 to 74	9.8%	9.2%
75 and over	7.0%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Arlington	Medford
White (non-Hispanic)	75.2%	66.9%
Black or African American	2.5%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	12.1%	12.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	1.7%
Two or more races	4.6%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	5.0%	8.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Arlington	Medford
No high school diploma	2.4%	7.3%
High school graduate	10.8%	18.5%
Some college or associate's	12.4%	16.6%
Bachelor's degree	30.6%	30.3%
Graduate or professional degree	43.8%	27.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Arlington	Medford
Drove alone	45.8%	50.1%
Carpooled	3.4%	6.2%
Public transit	12.5%	14.1%
Walked	2.0%	4.4%
Bicycle	4.7%	1.9%
Worked from home	30.5%	22.2%
Other means	1.2%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Arlington	Medford
1-unit, detached	38.2%	32.3%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	7.2%
2 to 4 units	30.3%	34.5%
5 to 19 units	10.5%	4.5%
20 or more units	13.8%	21.4%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Arlington	Medford
Poverty rate	5.4%	8.2%
Average household size	2.30	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	32	31
Median year structure built	1943	1944