Milton vs Needham

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

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

Needham has the higher population (32,059 vs 28,481 in Milton). Needham has the higher median household income ($212,241 vs $178,053 in Milton). Needham has the higher median home value ($1,146,000 vs $896,500 in Milton).

Population, income & housing

	Milton	Needham
Population	28,481	32,059
Median age	40.2 yrs	43.0 yrs
Median household income	$178,053	$212,241
Median home value	$896,500	$1,146,000
Median gross rent	$1,503	$2,412
Housing units	9,402	11,754
Homeownership rate	84.7%	84.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	70.4%	80.8%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Milton	Needham
Population	27,572 → 28,481 (+3.3%)	30,970 → 32,059 (+3.5%)
Median household income	$133,718 → $178,053 (+33.2%)	$165,547 → $212,241 (+28.2%)
Median home value	$618,800 → $896,500 (+44.9%)	$855,300 → $1,146,000 (+34.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,330 → $1,503 (+13.0%)	$1,483 → $2,412 (+62.6%)

Milton

Population

27,57228,481

Median household income

$133,718$178,053

Median home value

$618,800$896,500

Median gross rent

$1,330$1,503

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)

	Milton	Needham
Under 5	4.4%	4.7%
5 to 17	21.3%	23.5%
18 to 24	10.3%	6.2%
25 to 34	7.1%	4.8%
35 to 44	14.0%	14.3%
45 to 54	13.2%	15.5%
55 to 64	13.8%	13.5%
65 to 74	9.3%	9.3%
75 and over	6.6%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Milton	Needham
White (non-Hispanic)	71.3%	80.9%
Black or African American	14.5%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	5.9%	10.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.2%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	3.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Milton	Needham
No high school diploma	4.3%	2.7%
High school graduate	12.7%	7.0%
Some college or associate's	12.6%	9.5%
Bachelor's degree	33.3%	29.7%
Graduate or professional degree	37.1%	51.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Milton	Needham
Drove alone	56.0%	57.5%
Carpooled	3.8%	3.8%
Public transit	8.8%	7.6%
Walked	2.5%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	25.6%	28.8%
Other means	2.4%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Milton	Needham
1-unit, detached	74.9%	77.3%
1-unit, attached	4.8%	4.7%
2 to 4 units	13.5%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	2.1%	3.2%
20 or more units	4.7%	11.1%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Milton	Needham
Poverty rate	4.7%	3.8%
Average household size	2.95	2.75
Mean commute (minutes)	32	29
Median year structure built	1944	1964