Norwood vs Wellesley

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

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

Norwood has the higher population (31,380 vs 29,906 in Wellesley). Wellesley has the higher median household income ($250,001 vs $97,110 in Norwood). Wellesley has the higher median home value ($1,513,400 vs $613,500 in Norwood).

Population, income & housing

	Norwood	Wellesley
Population	31,380	29,906
Median age	39.4 yrs	38.1 yrs
Median household income	$97,110	$250,001
Median home value	$613,500	$1,513,400
Median gross rent	$2,056	$2,849
Housing units	13,961	9,428
Homeownership rate	51.8%	84.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	53.1%	87.1%
Unemployment rate	3.5%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Norwood	Wellesley
Population	29,306 → 31,380 (+7.1%)	28,747 → 29,906 (+4.0%)
Median household income	$90,133 → $97,110 (+7.7%)	$197,132 → $250,001 (+26.8%)
Median home value	$439,300 → $613,500 (+39.7%)	$1,149,100 → $1,513,400 (+31.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,563 → $2,056 (+31.5%)	$1,938 → $2,849 (+47.0%)

Norwood

Population

29,30631,380

Median household income

$90,133$97,110

Median home value

$439,300$613,500

Median gross rent

$1,563$2,056

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)

	Norwood	Wellesley
Under 5	6.1%	5.1%
5 to 17	13.2%	18.6%
18 to 24	7.1%	19.8%
25 to 34	16.8%	4.0%
35 to 44	13.3%	9.6%
45 to 54	12.4%	13.2%
55 to 64	12.4%	13.6%
65 to 74	9.5%	8.3%
75 and over	9.2%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Norwood	Wellesley
White (non-Hispanic)	70.2%	71.7%
Black or African American	6.7%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	6.8%	13.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	2.8%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.2%	6.1%
Hispanic or Latino	9.1%	6.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Norwood	Wellesley
No high school diploma	6.8%	1.5%
High school graduate	19.7%	3.9%
Some college or associate's	20.3%	7.4%
Bachelor's degree	30.8%	32.0%
Graduate or professional degree	22.3%	55.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Norwood	Wellesley
Drove alone	63.3%	49.0%
Carpooled	9.2%	4.0%
Public transit	9.6%	4.9%
Walked	1.6%	10.6%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.2%
Worked from home	14.6%	30.8%
Other means	1.3%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Norwood	Wellesley
1-unit, detached	44.5%	82.0%
1-unit, attached	6.6%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	20.5%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	16.9%	2.1%
20 or more units	11.5%	7.3%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Norwood	Wellesley
Poverty rate	8.2%	3.2%
Average household size	2.33	2.77
Mean commute (minutes)	31	28
Median year structure built	1961	1954