Needham vs Wellesley

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

Needham and Wellesley 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 29,906 in Wellesley). Wellesley has the higher median household income ($250,001 vs $212,241 in Needham). Wellesley has the higher median home value ($1,513,400 vs $1,146,000 in Needham).

Population, income & housing

	Needham	Wellesley
Population	32,059	29,906
Median age	43.0 yrs	38.1 yrs
Median household income	$212,241	$250,001
Median home value	$1,146,000	$1,513,400
Median gross rent	$2,412	$2,849
Housing units	11,754	9,428
Homeownership rate	84.3%	84.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	80.8%	87.1%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Needham	Wellesley
Population	30,970 → 32,059 (+3.5%)	28,747 → 29,906 (+4.0%)
Median household income	$165,547 → $212,241 (+28.2%)	$197,132 → $250,001 (+26.8%)
Median home value	$855,300 → $1,146,000 (+34.0%)	$1,149,100 → $1,513,400 (+31.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,483 → $2,412 (+62.6%)	$1,938 → $2,849 (+47.0%)

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

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)

	Needham	Wellesley
Under 5	4.7%	5.1%
5 to 17	23.5%	18.6%
18 to 24	6.2%	19.8%
25 to 34	4.8%	4.0%
35 to 44	14.3%	9.6%
45 to 54	15.5%	13.2%
55 to 64	13.5%	13.6%
65 to 74	9.3%	8.3%
75 and over	8.2%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Needham	Wellesley
White (non-Hispanic)	80.9%	71.7%
Black or African American	1.5%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	10.5%	13.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.2%	6.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.7%	6.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Needham	Wellesley
No high school diploma	2.7%	1.5%
High school graduate	7.0%	3.9%
Some college or associate's	9.5%	7.4%
Bachelor's degree	29.7%	32.0%
Graduate or professional degree	51.2%	55.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Needham	Wellesley
Drove alone	57.5%	49.0%
Carpooled	3.8%	4.0%
Public transit	7.6%	4.9%
Walked	1.9%	10.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	28.8%	30.8%
Other means	0.3%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Needham	Wellesley
1-unit, detached	77.3%	82.0%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	3.6%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	3.2%	2.1%
20 or more units	11.1%	7.3%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Needham	Wellesley
Poverty rate	3.8%	3.2%
Average household size	2.75	2.77
Mean commute (minutes)	29	28
Median year structure built	1964	1954