Athol vs Gardner

A side-by-side comparison of Athol and Gardner: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Gardner has the higher population (21,075 vs 8,711 in Athol). Gardner has the higher median household income ($62,948 vs $61,742 in Athol). Gardner has the higher median home value ($271,300 vs $227,000 in Athol).

Population, income & housing

	Athol	Gardner
Population	8,711	21,075
Median age	36.7 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$61,742	$62,948
Median home value	$227,000	$271,300
Median gross rent	$1,018	$1,071
Housing units	3,784	9,487
Homeownership rate	63.8%	56.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	22.8%
Unemployment rate	9.0%	5.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Athol	Gardner
Population	8,617 → 8,711 (+1.1%)	20,610 → 21,075 (+2.3%)
Median household income	$49,653 → $61,742 (+24.3%)	$49,679 → $62,948 (+26.7%)
Median home value	$146,400 → $227,000 (+55.1%)	$185,700 → $271,300 (+46.1%)
Median gross rent	$858 → $1,018 (+18.6%)	$838 → $1,071 (+27.8%)

Athol

Population

8,6178,711

Median household income

$49,653$61,742

Median home value

$146,400$227,000

Median gross rent

$858$1,018

Gardner

Population

20,61021,075

Median household income

$49,679$62,948

Median home value

$185,700$271,300

Median gross rent

$838$1,071

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Athol	Gardner
Under 5	6.1%	5.2%
5 to 17	18.7%	13.4%
18 to 24	7.7%	5.4%
25 to 34	14.1%	14.8%
35 to 44	14.6%	13.6%
45 to 54	10.8%	11.1%
55 to 64	13.2%	17.4%
65 to 74	10.0%	11.3%
75 and over	4.7%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Athol	Gardner
White (non-Hispanic)	84.5%	79.8%
Black or African American	2.9%	3.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.4%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.8%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	8.1%	9.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Athol	Gardner
No high school diploma	11.7%	12.6%
High school graduate	39.2%	33.9%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	30.7%
Bachelor's degree	15.4%	15.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	7.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Athol	Gardner
Drove alone	71.5%	69.5%
Carpooled	11.8%	10.3%
Public transit	1.1%	2.2%
Walked	6.1%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	8.2%	12.0%
Other means	1.2%	3.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Athol	Gardner
1-unit, detached	62.6%	47.5%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	3.1%
2 to 4 units	26.3%	23.9%
5 to 19 units	4.7%	10.2%
20 or more units	3.9%	13.9%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Athol	Gardner
Poverty rate	18.1%	14.3%
Average household size	2.56	2.23
Mean commute (minutes)	27	31
Median year structure built	1944	1953