Dedham vs Wellesley

A side-by-side comparison of Dedham and Wellesley: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wellesley has the higher population (29,906 vs 25,109 in Dedham). Wellesley has the higher median household income ($250,001 vs $124,375 in Dedham). Wellesley has the higher median home value ($1,513,400 vs $630,400 in Dedham).

Population, income & housing

	Dedham	Wellesley
Population	25,109	29,906
Median age	43.5 yrs	38.1 yrs
Median household income	$124,375	$250,001
Median home value	$630,400	$1,513,400
Median gross rent	$2,058	$2,849
Housing units	10,648	9,428
Homeownership rate	72.7%	84.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	55.1%	87.1%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dedham	Wellesley
Population	25,283 → 25,109 (-0.7%)	28,747 → 29,906 (+4.0%)
Median household income	$100,757 → $124,375 (+23.4%)	$197,132 → $250,001 (+26.8%)
Median home value	$461,200 → $630,400 (+36.7%)	$1,149,100 → $1,513,400 (+31.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,669 → $2,058 (+23.3%)	$1,938 → $2,849 (+47.0%)

Dedham

Population

25,28325,109

Median household income

$100,757$124,375

Median home value

$461,200$630,400

Median gross rent

$1,669$2,058

Wellesley

Population

28,74729,906

Median household income

$197,132$250,001

Median home value

$1,149,100$1,513,400

Median gross rent

$1,938$2,849

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dedham	Wellesley
Under 5	5.1%	5.1%
5 to 17	13.6%	18.6%
18 to 24	7.9%	19.8%
25 to 34	11.9%	4.0%
35 to 44	13.4%	9.6%
45 to 54	13.6%	13.2%
55 to 64	14.3%	13.6%
65 to 74	10.6%	8.3%
75 and over	9.7%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dedham	Wellesley
White (non-Hispanic)	80.4%	71.7%
Black or African American	4.8%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	3.1%	13.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.7%	6.1%
Hispanic or Latino	7.5%	6.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dedham	Wellesley
No high school diploma	5.9%	1.5%
High school graduate	20.4%	3.9%
Some college or associate's	18.6%	7.4%
Bachelor's degree	29.2%	32.0%
Graduate or professional degree	25.9%	55.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dedham	Wellesley
Drove alone	65.2%	49.0%
Carpooled	6.9%	4.0%
Public transit	5.4%	4.9%
Walked	2.6%	10.6%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	18.6%	30.8%
Other means	0.9%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dedham	Wellesley
1-unit, detached	64.7%	82.0%
1-unit, attached	5.1%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	10.2%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	6.2%	2.1%
20 or more units	13.3%	7.3%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Dedham	Wellesley
Poverty rate	4.6%	3.2%
Average household size	2.37	2.77
Mean commute (minutes)	30	28
Median year structure built	1955	1954