Lexington vs Melrose

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

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

Lexington has the higher population (34,085 vs 29,488 in Melrose). Lexington has the higher median household income ($219,402 vs $126,854 in Melrose). Lexington has the higher median home value ($1,147,900 vs $796,100 in Melrose).

Population, income & housing

	Lexington	Melrose
Population	34,085	29,488
Median age	46.6 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$219,402	$126,854
Median home value	$1,147,900	$796,100
Median gross rent	$2,816	$1,933
Housing units	12,672	12,724
Homeownership rate	81.0%	67.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	85.0%	62.0%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lexington	Melrose
Population	33,340 → 34,085 (+2.2%)	28,113 → 29,488 (+4.9%)
Median household income	$186,201 → $219,402 (+17.8%)	$106,955 → $126,854 (+18.6%)
Median home value	$889,700 → $1,147,900 (+29.0%)	$570,300 → $796,100 (+39.6%)
Median gross rent	$2,475 → $2,816 (+13.8%)	$1,516 → $1,933 (+27.5%)

Lexington

Population

33,34034,085

Median household income

$186,201$219,402

Median home value

$889,700$1,147,900

Median gross rent

$2,475$2,816

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)

	Lexington	Melrose
Under 5	3.7%	5.1%
5 to 17	22.8%	14.7%
18 to 24	4.4%	5.4%
25 to 34	4.2%	10.0%
35 to 44	11.6%	16.2%
45 to 54	19.2%	15.1%
55 to 64	13.1%	12.7%
65 to 74	11.5%	9.3%
75 and over	9.5%	11.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lexington	Melrose
White (non-Hispanic)	56.1%	76.9%
Black or African American	2.1%	2.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	32.9%	9.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.7%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.3%	6.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lexington	Melrose
No high school diploma	2.5%	5.0%
High school graduate	4.5%	17.7%
Some college or associate's	8.0%	15.3%
Bachelor's degree	26.2%	33.7%
Graduate or professional degree	58.8%	28.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lexington	Melrose
Drove alone	54.1%	50.4%
Carpooled	4.7%	4.7%
Public transit	5.7%	15.7%
Walked	2.2%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.5%
Worked from home	31.6%	25.6%
Other means	0.8%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lexington	Melrose
1-unit, detached	73.4%	55.1%
1-unit, attached	8.6%	3.4%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	13.3%
5 to 19 units	5.8%	10.1%
20 or more units	7.3%	16.7%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.4%

Poverty & households

	Lexington	Melrose
Poverty rate	4.3%	3.7%
Average household size	2.73	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	30	36
Median year structure built	1964	1938