Medford vs Somerville

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

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

Somerville has the higher population (80,549 vs 59,062 in Medford). Somerville has the higher median household income ($127,056 vs $118,089 in Medford). Somerville has the higher median home value ($899,400 vs $715,500 in Medford).

Population, income & housing

	Medford	Somerville
Population	59,062	80,549
Median age	36.1 yrs	32.3 yrs
Median household income	$118,089	$127,056
Median home value	$715,500	$899,400
Median gross rent	$2,477	$2,468
Housing units	25,879	37,583
Homeownership rate	53.1%	34.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	57.6%	68.0%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Medford	Somerville
Population	57,637 → 59,062 (+2.5%)	80,906 → 80,549 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$96,455 → $118,089 (+22.4%)	$97,328 → $127,056 (+30.5%)
Median home value	$500,800 → $715,500 (+42.9%)	$664,700 → $899,400 (+35.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,817 → $2,477 (+36.3%)	$1,874 → $2,468 (+31.7%)

Medford

Population

57,63759,062

Median household income

$96,455$118,089

Median home value

$500,800$715,500

Median gross rent

$1,817$2,477

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)

	Medford	Somerville
Under 5	3.7%	4.0%
5 to 17	9.4%	6.5%
18 to 24	12.7%	13.6%
25 to 34	22.4%	33.4%
35 to 44	12.8%	15.4%
45 to 54	11.4%	9.6%
55 to 64	11.9%	8.1%
65 to 74	9.2%	5.9%
75 and over	6.5%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Medford	Somerville
White (non-Hispanic)	66.9%	66.1%
Black or African American	6.3%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	12.0%	11.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.7%	1.3%
Two or more races	4.2%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	8.9%	11.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Medford	Somerville
No high school diploma	7.3%	7.0%
High school graduate	18.5%	13.3%
Some college or associate's	16.6%	11.6%
Bachelor's degree	30.3%	34.6%
Graduate or professional degree	27.3%	33.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Medford	Somerville
Drove alone	50.1%	30.7%
Carpooled	6.2%	4.8%
Public transit	14.1%	19.6%
Walked	4.4%	8.4%
Bicycle	1.9%	6.4%
Worked from home	22.2%	29.0%
Other means	1.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Medford	Somerville
1-unit, detached	32.3%	11.6%
1-unit, attached	7.2%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	34.5%	53.4%
5 to 19 units	4.5%	13.7%
20 or more units	21.4%	16.2%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Medford	Somerville
Poverty rate	8.2%	10.1%
Average household size	2.31	2.19
Mean commute (minutes)	31	31
Median year structure built	1944	1938