Cambridge vs Framingham

A side-by-side comparison of Cambridge and Framingham: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cambridge has the higher population (117,794 vs 72,013 in Framingham). Cambridge has the higher median household income ($126,469 vs $98,179 in Framingham). Cambridge has the higher median home value ($1,040,500 vs $600,600 in Framingham).

Population, income & housing

	Cambridge	Framingham
Population	117,794	72,013
Median age	30.5 yrs	37.7 yrs
Median household income	$126,469	$98,179
Median home value	$1,040,500	$600,600
Median gross rent	$2,742	$1,853
Housing units	54,612	28,416
Homeownership rate	33.7%	54.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	80.2%	49.4%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cambridge	Framingham
Population	116,632 → 117,794 (+1.0%)	72,308 → 72,013 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$103,154 → $126,469 (+22.6%)	$82,709 → $98,179 (+18.7%)
Median home value	$768,300 → $1,040,500 (+35.4%)	$409,400 → $600,600 (+46.7%)
Median gross rent	$2,221 → $2,742 (+23.5%)	$1,434 → $1,853 (+29.2%)

Cambridge

Population

116,632117,794

Median household income

$103,154$126,469

Median home value

$768,300$1,040,500

Median gross rent

$2,221$2,742

Framingham

Population

72,30872,013

Median household income

$82,709$98,179

Median home value

$409,400$600,600

Median gross rent

$1,434$1,853

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cambridge	Framingham
Under 5	4.0%	6.5%
5 to 17	8.2%	15.7%
18 to 24	20.3%	9.5%
25 to 34	26.9%	13.9%
35 to 44	12.9%	14.6%
45 to 54	7.9%	11.3%
55 to 64	7.5%	12.8%
65 to 74	7.5%	9.2%
75 and over	4.7%	6.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cambridge	Framingham
White (non-Hispanic)	55.0%	51.7%
Black or African American	10.2%	6.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	19.6%	7.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	6.3%
Two or more races	5.4%	9.8%
Hispanic or Latino	9.0%	18.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cambridge	Framingham
No high school diploma	4.3%	11.6%
High school graduate	6.0%	20.9%
Some college or associate's	9.5%	18.1%
Bachelor's degree	29.8%	28.9%
Graduate or professional degree	50.4%	20.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cambridge	Framingham
Drove alone	20.9%	63.1%
Carpooled	3.1%	7.0%
Public transit	19.4%	2.8%
Walked	19.3%	2.5%
Bicycle	7.3%	0.7%
Worked from home	28.3%	17.4%
Other means	1.7%	6.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cambridge	Framingham
1-unit, detached	10.2%	51.7%
1-unit, attached	6.2%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	29.2%	11.9%
5 to 19 units	18.0%	11.9%
20 or more units	36.3%	19.0%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Cambridge	Framingham
Poverty rate	12.4%	11.0%
Average household size	2.06	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	26	30
Median year structure built	1948	1964