Braintree Town vs Needham

A side-by-side comparison of Braintree Town and Needham: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Braintree Town has the higher population (38,762 vs 32,059 in Needham). Needham has the higher median household income ($212,241 vs $125,305 in Braintree Town). Needham has the higher median home value ($1,146,000 vs $623,200 in Braintree Town).

Population, income & housing

	Braintree Town	Needham
Population	38,762	32,059
Median age	41.3 yrs	43.0 yrs
Median household income	$125,305	$212,241
Median home value	$623,200	$1,146,000
Median gross rent	$1,925	$2,412
Housing units	15,032	11,754
Homeownership rate	77.1%	84.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	47.1%	80.8%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Braintree Town	Needham
Population	37,220 → 38,762 (+4.1%)	30,970 → 32,059 (+3.5%)
Median household income	$96,522 → $125,305 (+29.8%)	$165,547 → $212,241 (+28.2%)
Median home value	$456,500 → $623,200 (+36.5%)	$855,300 → $1,146,000 (+34.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,522 → $1,925 (+26.5%)	$1,483 → $2,412 (+62.6%)

Braintree Town

Population

37,22038,762

Median household income

$96,522$125,305

Median home value

$456,500$623,200

Median gross rent

$1,522$1,925

Needham

Population

30,97032,059

Median household income

$165,547$212,241

Median home value

$855,300$1,146,000

Median gross rent

$1,483$2,412

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Braintree Town	Needham
Under 5	4.7%	4.7%
5 to 17	15.6%	23.5%
18 to 24	8.4%	6.2%
25 to 34	12.6%	4.8%
35 to 44	13.1%	14.3%
45 to 54	14.4%	15.5%
55 to 64	13.4%	13.5%
65 to 74	9.7%	9.3%
75 and over	8.1%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Braintree Town	Needham
White (non-Hispanic)	69.4%	80.9%
Black or African American	2.5%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	21.2%	10.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	3.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Braintree Town	Needham
No high school diploma	6.8%	2.7%
High school graduate	23.4%	7.0%
Some college or associate's	22.7%	9.5%
Bachelor's degree	27.3%	29.7%
Graduate or professional degree	19.7%	51.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Braintree Town	Needham
Drove alone	63.6%	57.5%
Carpooled	6.4%	3.8%
Public transit	9.4%	7.6%
Walked	2.5%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	16.9%	28.8%
Other means	1.3%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Braintree Town	Needham
1-unit, detached	64.5%	77.3%
1-unit, attached	4.4%	4.7%
2 to 4 units	9.6%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	10.8%	3.2%
20 or more units	10.7%	11.1%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Braintree Town	Needham
Poverty rate	5.2%	3.8%
Average household size	2.66	2.75
Mean commute (minutes)	33	29
Median year structure built	1956	1964