Boston vs Chelsea

A side-by-side comparison of Boston and Chelsea: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Boston has the higher population (663,972 vs 39,460 in Chelsea). Boston has the higher median household income ($94,755 vs $72,220 in Chelsea). Boston has the higher median home value ($710,400 vs $476,500 in Chelsea).

Population, income & housing

	Boston	Chelsea
Population	663,972	39,460
Median age	33.2 yrs	34.5 yrs
Median household income	$94,755	$72,220
Median home value	$710,400	$476,500
Median gross rent	$2,093	$1,859
Housing units	307,840	14,178
Homeownership rate	35.4%	29.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	54.1%	22.0%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	8.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Boston	Chelsea
Population	684,379 → 663,972 (-3.0%)	39,992 → 39,460 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$71,115 → $94,755 (+33.2%)	$56,802 → $72,220 (+27.1%)
Median home value	$532,700 → $710,400 (+33.4%)	$350,800 → $476,500 (+35.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,620 → $2,093 (+29.2%)	$1,419 → $1,859 (+31.0%)

Boston

Population

684,379663,972

Median household income

$71,115$94,755

Median home value

$532,700$710,400

Median gross rent

$1,620$2,093

Chelsea

Population

39,99239,460

Median household income

$56,802$72,220

Median home value

$350,800$476,500

Median gross rent

$1,419$1,859

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Boston	Chelsea
Under 5	4.6%	7.8%
5 to 17	10.6%	16.7%
18 to 24	14.5%	7.7%
25 to 34	23.5%	18.7%
35 to 44	13.3%	14.7%
45 to 54	10.2%	13.0%
55 to 64	10.5%	10.1%
65 to 74	7.6%	6.2%
75 and over	5.1%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Boston	Chelsea
White (non-Hispanic)	44.5%	19.5%
Black or African American	20.3%	6.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	9.9%	2.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	1.0%	0.8%
Two or more races	5.2%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	18.9%	65.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Boston	Chelsea
No high school diploma	11.1%	30.9%
High school graduate	18.3%	30.8%
Some college or associate's	16.5%	16.3%
Bachelor's degree	28.5%	14.2%
Graduate or professional degree	25.6%	7.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Boston	Chelsea
Drove alone	34.1%	46.4%
Carpooled	5.4%	15.2%
Public transit	24.0%	20.3%
Walked	13.8%	5.7%
Bicycle	2.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	18.8%	9.6%
Other means	1.8%	2.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Boston	Chelsea
1-unit, detached	12.0%	8.8%
1-unit, attached	6.2%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	35.8%	43.7%
5 to 19 units	18.7%	14.4%
20 or more units	27.1%	28.4%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Boston	Chelsea
Poverty rate	16.9%	20.6%
Average household size	2.22	2.85
Mean commute (minutes)	30	34
Median year structure built	1947	1938