Burlington vs Melrose

A side-by-side comparison of Burlington and Melrose: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Melrose has the higher population (29,488 vs 26,223 in Burlington). Burlington has the higher median household income ($142,207 vs $126,854 in Melrose). Melrose has the higher median home value ($796,100 vs $679,400 in Burlington).

Population, income & housing

	Burlington	Melrose
Population	26,223	29,488
Median age	44.9 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$142,207	$126,854
Median home value	$679,400	$796,100
Median gross rent	$2,597	$1,933
Housing units	10,533	12,724
Homeownership rate	74.6%	67.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	58.2%	62.0%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Burlington	Melrose
Population	27,650 → 26,223 (-5.2%)	28,113 → 29,488 (+4.9%)
Median household income	$118,721 → $142,207 (+19.8%)	$106,955 → $126,854 (+18.6%)
Median home value	$533,800 → $679,400 (+27.3%)	$570,300 → $796,100 (+39.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,960 → $2,597 (+32.5%)	$1,516 → $1,933 (+27.5%)

Burlington

Population

27,65026,223

Median household income

$118,721$142,207

Median home value

$533,800$679,400

Median gross rent

$1,960$2,597

Melrose

Population

28,11329,488

Median household income

$106,955$126,854

Median home value

$570,300$796,100

Median gross rent

$1,516$1,933

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Burlington	Melrose
Under 5	4.8%	5.1%
5 to 17	13.2%	14.7%
18 to 24	7.8%	5.4%
25 to 34	10.3%	10.0%
35 to 44	14.0%	16.2%
45 to 54	13.6%	15.1%
55 to 64	14.8%	12.7%
65 to 74	10.8%	9.3%
75 and over	10.7%	11.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Burlington	Melrose
White (non-Hispanic)	74.7%	76.9%
Black or African American	2.5%	2.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	13.5%	9.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.8%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	4.3%	6.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Burlington	Melrose
No high school diploma	3.5%	5.0%
High school graduate	19.0%	17.7%
Some college or associate's	19.3%	15.3%
Bachelor's degree	32.5%	33.7%
Graduate or professional degree	25.7%	28.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Burlington	Melrose
Drove alone	68.7%	50.4%
Carpooled	7.0%	4.7%
Public transit	3.0%	15.7%
Walked	0.5%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.5%
Worked from home	20.2%	25.6%
Other means	0.3%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Burlington	Melrose
1-unit, detached	69.9%	55.1%
1-unit, attached	3.4%	3.4%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	13.3%
5 to 19 units	7.9%	10.1%
20 or more units	17.1%	16.7%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.4%

Poverty & households

	Burlington	Melrose
Poverty rate	5.6%	3.7%
Average household size	2.58	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	28	36
Median year structure built	1971	1938