Brookline vs Needham

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

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

Brookline has the higher population (62,822 vs 32,059 in Needham). Needham has the higher median household income ($212,241 vs $140,631 in Brookline). Brookline has the higher median home value ($1,233,100 vs $1,146,000 in Needham).

Population, income & housing

	Brookline	Needham
Population	62,822	32,059
Median age	35.0 yrs	43.0 yrs
Median household income	$140,631	$212,241
Median home value	$1,233,100	$1,146,000
Median gross rent	$2,804	$2,412
Housing units	28,695	11,754
Homeownership rate	46.1%	84.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	85.0%	80.8%
Unemployment rate	3.5%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Brookline	Needham
Population	59,180 → 62,822 (+6.2%)	30,970 → 32,059 (+3.5%)
Median household income	$117,326 → $140,631 (+19.9%)	$165,547 → $212,241 (+28.2%)
Median home value	$933,200 → $1,233,100 (+32.1%)	$855,300 → $1,146,000 (+34.0%)
Median gross rent	$2,268 → $2,804 (+23.6%)	$1,483 → $2,412 (+62.6%)

Brookline

Population

59,18062,822

Median household income

$117,326$140,631

Median home value

$933,200$1,233,100

Median gross rent

$2,268$2,804

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)

	Brookline	Needham
Under 5	5.3%	4.7%
5 to 17	14.0%	23.5%
18 to 24	12.5%	6.2%
25 to 34	18.2%	4.8%
35 to 44	13.2%	14.3%
45 to 54	11.2%	15.5%
55 to 64	10.3%	13.5%
65 to 74	8.3%	9.3%
75 and over	7.1%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Brookline	Needham
White (non-Hispanic)	66.0%	80.9%
Black or African American	2.9%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	17.6%	10.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.1%
Two or more races	6.9%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	6.0%	3.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Brookline	Needham
No high school diploma	2.6%	2.7%
High school graduate	5.0%	7.0%
Some college or associate's	7.4%	9.5%
Bachelor's degree	27.3%	29.7%
Graduate or professional degree	57.8%	51.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Brookline	Needham
Drove alone	28.1%	57.5%
Carpooled	3.3%	3.8%
Public transit	20.1%	7.6%
Walked	15.2%	1.9%
Bicycle	4.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	27.0%	28.8%
Other means	1.4%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Brookline	Needham
1-unit, detached	18.2%	77.3%
1-unit, attached	5.0%	4.7%
2 to 4 units	25.1%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	22.8%	3.2%
20 or more units	28.9%	11.1%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Brookline	Needham
Poverty rate	9.8%	3.8%
Average household size	2.26	2.75
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	1938	1964