Newton vs Somerville

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

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

Newton has the higher population (88,504 vs 80,549 in Somerville). Newton has the higher median household income ($184,989 vs $127,056 in Somerville). Newton has the higher median home value ($1,202,500 vs $899,400 in Somerville).

Population, income & housing

	Newton	Somerville
Population	88,504	80,549
Median age	42.0 yrs	32.3 yrs
Median household income	$184,989	$127,056
Median home value	$1,202,500	$899,400
Median gross rent	$2,388	$2,468
Housing units	33,531	37,583
Homeownership rate	71.0%	34.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	80.7%	68.0%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Newton	Somerville
Population	88,593 → 88,504 (-0.1%)	80,906 → 80,549 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$151,068 → $184,989 (+22.5%)	$97,328 → $127,056 (+30.5%)
Median home value	$914,700 → $1,202,500 (+31.5%)	$664,700 → $899,400 (+35.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,940 → $2,388 (+23.1%)	$1,874 → $2,468 (+31.7%)

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

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)

	Newton	Somerville
Under 5	4.1%	4.0%
5 to 17	16.7%	6.5%
18 to 24	11.8%	13.6%
25 to 34	9.9%	33.4%
35 to 44	11.6%	15.4%
45 to 54	14.0%	9.6%
55 to 64	12.7%	8.1%
65 to 74	11.1%	5.9%
75 and over	8.0%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Newton	Somerville
White (non-Hispanic)	69.8%	66.1%
Black or African American	2.1%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	16.5%	11.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.7%	1.3%
Two or more races	4.9%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	4.8%	11.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Newton	Somerville
No high school diploma	2.7%	7.0%
High school graduate	6.6%	13.3%
Some college or associate's	10.1%	11.6%
Bachelor's degree	28.2%	34.6%
Graduate or professional degree	52.4%	33.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Newton	Somerville
Drove alone	49.6%	30.7%
Carpooled	5.6%	4.8%
Public transit	8.7%	19.6%
Walked	5.4%	8.4%
Bicycle	0.8%	6.4%
Worked from home	28.7%	29.0%
Other means	1.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Newton	Somerville
1-unit, detached	56.2%	11.6%
1-unit, attached	7.3%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	20.6%	53.4%
5 to 19 units	5.9%	13.7%
20 or more units	9.9%	16.2%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Newton	Somerville
Poverty rate	4.7%	10.1%
Average household size	2.59	2.19
Mean commute (minutes)	27	31
Median year structure built	1940	1938