Cambridge vs Newton

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

Cambridge and Newton 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 88,504 in Newton). Newton has the higher median household income ($184,989 vs $126,469 in Cambridge). Newton has the higher median home value ($1,202,500 vs $1,040,500 in Cambridge).

Population, income & housing

	Cambridge	Newton
Population	117,794	88,504
Median age	30.5 yrs	42.0 yrs
Median household income	$126,469	$184,989
Median home value	$1,040,500	$1,202,500
Median gross rent	$2,742	$2,388
Housing units	54,612	33,531
Homeownership rate	33.7%	71.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	80.2%	80.7%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cambridge	Newton
Population	116,632 → 117,794 (+1.0%)	88,593 → 88,504 (-0.1%)
Median household income	$103,154 → $126,469 (+22.6%)	$151,068 → $184,989 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$768,300 → $1,040,500 (+35.4%)	$914,700 → $1,202,500 (+31.5%)
Median gross rent	$2,221 → $2,742 (+23.5%)	$1,940 → $2,388 (+23.1%)

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

Newton

Population

88,59388,504

Median household income

$151,068$184,989

Median home value

$914,700$1,202,500

Median gross rent

$1,940$2,388

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cambridge	Newton
Under 5	4.0%	4.1%
5 to 17	8.2%	16.7%
18 to 24	20.3%	11.8%
25 to 34	26.9%	9.9%
35 to 44	12.9%	11.6%
45 to 54	7.9%	14.0%
55 to 64	7.5%	12.7%
65 to 74	7.5%	11.1%
75 and over	4.7%	8.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cambridge	Newton
White (non-Hispanic)	55.0%	69.8%
Black or African American	10.2%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	19.6%	16.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	1.7%
Two or more races	5.4%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	9.0%	4.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cambridge	Newton
No high school diploma	4.3%	2.7%
High school graduate	6.0%	6.6%
Some college or associate's	9.5%	10.1%
Bachelor's degree	29.8%	28.2%
Graduate or professional degree	50.4%	52.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cambridge	Newton
Drove alone	20.9%	49.6%
Carpooled	3.1%	5.6%
Public transit	19.4%	8.7%
Walked	19.3%	5.4%
Bicycle	7.3%	0.8%
Worked from home	28.3%	28.7%
Other means	1.7%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cambridge	Newton
1-unit, detached	10.2%	56.2%
1-unit, attached	6.2%	7.3%
2 to 4 units	29.2%	20.6%
5 to 19 units	18.0%	5.9%
20 or more units	36.3%	9.9%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Cambridge	Newton
Poverty rate	12.4%	4.7%
Average household size	2.06	2.59
Mean commute (minutes)	26	27
Median year structure built	1948	1940