Athol vs Southbridge Town

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

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

Southbridge Town has the higher population (17,806 vs 8,711 in Athol). Athol has the higher median household income ($61,742 vs $59,397 in Southbridge Town). Southbridge Town has the higher median home value ($267,000 vs $227,000 in Athol).

Population, income & housing

	Athol	Southbridge Town
Population	8,711	17,806
Median age	36.7 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$61,742	$59,397
Median home value	$227,000	$267,000
Median gross rent	$1,018	$1,157
Housing units	3,784	7,644
Homeownership rate	63.8%	44.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	17.7%
Unemployment rate	9.0%	7.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Athol	Southbridge Town
Population	8,617 → 8,711 (+1.1%)	16,887 → 17,806 (+5.4%)
Median household income	$49,653 → $61,742 (+24.3%)	$51,270 → $59,397 (+15.9%)
Median home value	$146,400 → $227,000 (+55.1%)	$198,400 → $267,000 (+34.6%)
Median gross rent	$858 → $1,018 (+18.6%)	$895 → $1,157 (+29.3%)

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

Southbridge Town

Population

16,88717,806

Median household income

$51,270$59,397

Median home value

$198,400$267,000

Median gross rent

$895$1,157

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Athol	Southbridge Town
Under 5	6.1%	5.0%
5 to 17	18.7%	16.2%
18 to 24	7.7%	11.9%
25 to 34	14.1%	11.6%
35 to 44	14.6%	11.0%
45 to 54	10.8%	14.1%
55 to 64	13.2%	15.8%
65 to 74	10.0%	9.0%
75 and over	4.7%	5.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Athol	Southbridge Town
White (non-Hispanic)	84.5%	53.9%
Black or African American	2.9%	2.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.4%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.8%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	8.1%	40.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Athol	Southbridge Town
No high school diploma	11.7%	18.3%
High school graduate	39.2%	33.5%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	30.5%
Bachelor's degree	15.4%	12.2%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Athol	Southbridge Town
Drove alone	71.5%	75.3%
Carpooled	11.8%	10.7%
Public transit	1.1%	0.2%
Walked	6.1%	5.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.4%
Worked from home	8.2%	5.3%
Other means	1.2%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Athol	Southbridge Town
1-unit, detached	62.6%	37.3%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	26.3%	40.1%
5 to 19 units	4.7%	15.7%
20 or more units	3.9%	5.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Athol	Southbridge Town
Poverty rate	18.1%	16.2%
Average household size	2.56	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	27	27
Median year structure built	1944	1952