Cambridge vs Somerville

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

Cambridge and Somerville 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 80,549 in Somerville). Somerville has the higher median household income ($127,056 vs $126,469 in Cambridge). Cambridge has the higher median home value ($1,040,500 vs $899,400 in Somerville).

Population, income & housing

	Cambridge	Somerville
Population	117,794	80,549
Median age	30.5 yrs	32.3 yrs
Median household income	$126,469	$127,056
Median home value	$1,040,500	$899,400
Median gross rent	$2,742	$2,468
Housing units	54,612	37,583
Homeownership rate	33.7%	34.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	80.2%	68.0%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cambridge	Somerville
Population	116,632 → 117,794 (+1.0%)	80,906 → 80,549 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$103,154 → $126,469 (+22.6%)	$97,328 → $127,056 (+30.5%)
Median home value	$768,300 → $1,040,500 (+35.4%)	$664,700 → $899,400 (+35.3%)
Median gross rent	$2,221 → $2,742 (+23.5%)	$1,874 → $2,468 (+31.7%)

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

Somerville

Population

80,90680,549

Median household income

$97,328$127,056

Median home value

$664,700$899,400

Median gross rent

$1,874$2,468

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cambridge	Somerville
Under 5	4.0%	4.0%
5 to 17	8.2%	6.5%
18 to 24	20.3%	13.6%
25 to 34	26.9%	33.4%
35 to 44	12.9%	15.4%
45 to 54	7.9%	9.6%
55 to 64	7.5%	8.1%
65 to 74	7.5%	5.9%
75 and over	4.7%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cambridge	Somerville
White (non-Hispanic)	55.0%	66.1%
Black or African American	10.2%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	19.6%	11.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	1.3%
Two or more races	5.4%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	9.0%	11.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cambridge	Somerville
No high school diploma	4.3%	7.0%
High school graduate	6.0%	13.3%
Some college or associate's	9.5%	11.6%
Bachelor's degree	29.8%	34.6%
Graduate or professional degree	50.4%	33.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cambridge	Somerville
Drove alone	20.9%	30.7%
Carpooled	3.1%	4.8%
Public transit	19.4%	19.6%
Walked	19.3%	8.4%
Bicycle	7.3%	6.4%
Worked from home	28.3%	29.0%
Other means	1.7%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cambridge	Somerville
1-unit, detached	10.2%	11.6%
1-unit, attached	6.2%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	29.2%	53.4%
5 to 19 units	18.0%	13.7%
20 or more units	36.3%	16.2%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Cambridge	Somerville
Poverty rate	12.4%	10.1%
Average household size	2.06	2.19
Mean commute (minutes)	26	31
Median year structure built	1948	1938