Pepperell vs Shirley

A side-by-side comparison of Pepperell and Shirley: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Pepperell has the higher population (1,887 vs 1,256 in Shirley). Pepperell has the higher median home value ($399,700 vs $378,700 in Shirley). Since 2019, Shirley's population has grown faster (-32.5% vs -33.2%).

Population, income & housing

	Pepperell	Shirley
Population	1,887	1,256
Median age	47.2 yrs	44.2 yrs
Median household income	$76,196	—
Median home value	$399,700	$378,700
Median gross rent	$1,117	—
Housing units	960	583
Homeownership rate	51.1%	66.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.8%	41.5%
Unemployment rate	6.4%	8.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pepperell	Shirley
Population	2,826 → 1,887 (-33.2%)	1,861 → 1,256 (-32.5%)
Median household income	$81,675 → $76,196 (-6.7%)	$65,507 → $85,119 (+29.9%)
Median home value	$289,600 → $399,700 (+38.0%)	$258,600 → $378,700 (+46.4%)
Median gross rent	$986 → $1,117 (+13.3%)	$777 → $927 (+19.3%)

Pepperell

Population

2,8261,887

Median household income

$81,675$76,196

Median home value

$289,600$399,700

Median gross rent

$986$1,117

Shirley

Population

1,8611,256

Median household income

$65,507$85,119

Median home value

$258,600$378,700

Median gross rent

$777$927

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Pepperell	Shirley
Under 5	2.3%	8.4%
5 to 17	10.2%	9.2%
18 to 24	11.2%	4.9%
25 to 34	13.2%	10.4%
35 to 44	10.5%	20.9%
45 to 54	14.9%	6.4%
55 to 64	18.9%	25.3%
65 to 74	13.0%	10.5%
75 and over	5.6%	4.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pepperell	Shirley
White (non-Hispanic)	78.5%	88.1%
Black or African American	1.7%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	8.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.4%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	9.0%	9.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pepperell	Shirley
No high school diploma	2.6%	0.0%
High school graduate	26.5%	28.3%
Some college or associate's	33.1%	30.2%
Bachelor's degree	20.8%	27.4%
Graduate or professional degree	17.0%	14.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pepperell	Shirley
Drove alone	81.6%	65.2%
Carpooled	6.3%	7.4%
Public transit	0.0%	1.8%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.1%	25.5%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pepperell	Shirley
1-unit, detached	50.6%	64.5%
1-unit, attached	6.6%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	19.2%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	10.7%	33.6%
20 or more units	11.5%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Pepperell	Shirley
Poverty rate	10.6%	4.2%
Average household size	1.99	2.15
Mean commute (minutes)	34	36
Median year structure built	1972	1938