Athol vs Northborough

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

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

Athol has the higher population (8,711 vs 6,720 in Northborough). Northborough has the higher median household income ($154,926 vs $61,742 in Athol). Northborough has the higher median home value ($553,700 vs $227,000 in Athol).

Population, income & housing

	Athol	Northborough
Population	8,711	6,720
Median age	36.7 yrs	48.5 yrs
Median household income	$61,742	$154,926
Median home value	$227,000	$553,700
Median gross rent	$1,018	$1,219
Housing units	3,784	2,598
Homeownership rate	63.8%	84.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	66.8%
Unemployment rate	9.0%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Athol	Northborough
Population	8,617 → 8,711 (+1.1%)	6,298 → 6,720 (+6.7%)
Median household income	$49,653 → $61,742 (+24.3%)	$114,303 → $154,926 (+35.5%)
Median home value	$146,400 → $227,000 (+55.1%)	$414,100 → $553,700 (+33.7%)
Median gross rent	$858 → $1,018 (+18.6%)	$1,176 → $1,219 (+3.7%)

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

Northborough

Population

6,2986,720

Median household income

$114,303$154,926

Median home value

$414,100$553,700

Median gross rent

$1,176$1,219

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Athol	Northborough
Under 5	6.1%	5.1%
5 to 17	18.7%	16.6%
18 to 24	7.7%	5.4%
25 to 34	14.1%	6.6%
35 to 44	14.6%	10.3%
45 to 54	10.8%	23.0%
55 to 64	13.2%	13.3%
65 to 74	10.0%	11.6%
75 and over	4.7%	8.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Athol	Northborough
White (non-Hispanic)	84.5%	80.3%
Black or African American	2.9%	2.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.4%	5.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	3.6%
Two or more races	3.8%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	8.1%	4.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Athol	Northborough
No high school diploma	11.7%	3.8%
High school graduate	39.2%	11.6%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	17.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.4%	32.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	33.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Athol	Northborough
Drove alone	71.5%	70.9%
Carpooled	11.8%	2.2%
Public transit	1.1%	1.2%
Walked	6.1%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.2%	22.8%
Other means	1.2%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Athol	Northborough
1-unit, detached	62.6%	77.4%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	7.0%
2 to 4 units	26.3%	9.6%
5 to 19 units	4.7%	4.0%
20 or more units	3.9%	2.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Athol	Northborough
Poverty rate	18.1%	2.0%
Average household size	2.56	2.56
Mean commute (minutes)	27	29
Median year structure built	1944	1971