Somerville vs Waltham

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

Somerville and Waltham 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 64,723 in Waltham). Somerville has the higher median household income ($127,056 vs $116,560 in Waltham). Somerville has the higher median home value ($899,400 vs $705,700 in Waltham).

Population, income & housing

	Somerville	Waltham
Population	80,549	64,723
Median age	32.3 yrs	35.1 yrs
Median household income	$127,056	$116,560
Median home value	$899,400	$705,700
Median gross rent	$2,468	$2,232
Housing units	37,583	26,898
Homeownership rate	34.3%	48.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	68.0%	56.4%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Somerville	Waltham
Population	80,906 → 80,549 (-0.4%)	62,777 → 64,723 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$97,328 → $127,056 (+30.5%)	$95,964 → $116,560 (+21.5%)
Median home value	$664,700 → $899,400 (+35.3%)	$536,500 → $705,700 (+31.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,874 → $2,468 (+31.7%)	$1,726 → $2,232 (+29.3%)

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

Waltham

Population

62,77764,723

Median household income

$95,964$116,560

Median home value

$536,500$705,700

Median gross rent

$1,726$2,232

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Somerville	Waltham
Under 5	4.0%	5.1%
5 to 17	6.5%	8.4%
18 to 24	13.6%	18.5%
25 to 34	33.4%	17.9%
35 to 44	15.4%	12.8%
45 to 54	9.6%	9.9%
55 to 64	8.1%	12.1%
65 to 74	5.9%	8.5%
75 and over	3.7%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Somerville	Waltham
White (non-Hispanic)	66.1%	58.1%
Black or African American	4.5%	7.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.3%
Asian	11.7%	12.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	1.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.9%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	11.4%	18.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Somerville	Waltham
No high school diploma	7.0%	7.4%
High school graduate	13.3%	18.8%
Some college or associate's	11.6%	17.4%
Bachelor's degree	34.6%	29.0%
Graduate or professional degree	33.4%	27.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Somerville	Waltham
Drove alone	30.7%	55.6%
Carpooled	4.8%	10.2%
Public transit	19.6%	5.4%
Walked	8.4%	6.2%
Bicycle	6.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	29.0%	20.0%
Other means	1.2%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Somerville	Waltham
1-unit, detached	11.6%	36.8%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	7.8%
2 to 4 units	53.4%	23.3%
5 to 19 units	13.7%	18.8%
20 or more units	16.2%	13.2%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Somerville	Waltham
Poverty rate	10.1%	8.6%
Average household size	2.19	2.25
Mean commute (minutes)	31	25
Median year structure built	1938	1962