Barre vs Petersham

A side-by-side comparison of Barre and Petersham: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Barre has the higher population (550 vs 252 in Petersham). Petersham has the higher median household income ($105,938 vs $55,625 in Barre). Petersham has the higher median home value ($372,400 vs $313,100 in Barre).

Population, income & housing

	Barre	Petersham
Population	550	252
Median age	52.0 yrs	57.8 yrs
Median household income	$55,625	$105,938
Median home value	$313,100	$372,400
Median gross rent	$1,906	$1,550
Housing units	378	137
Homeownership rate	60.8%	92.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	55.8%	49.1%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	0.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barre	Petersham
Population	986 → 550 (-44.2%)	259 → 252 (-2.7%)
Median household income	$50,268 → $55,625 (+10.7%)	$66,458 → $105,938 (+59.4%)
Median home value	$192,800 → $313,100 (+62.4%)	$289,300 → $372,400 (+28.7%)
Median gross rent	—	$1,300 → $1,550 (+19.2%)

Barre

Population

986550

Median household income

$50,268$55,625

Median home value

$192,800$313,100

Petersham

Population

259252

Median household income

$66,458$105,938

Median home value

$289,300$372,400

Median gross rent

$1,300$1,550

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barre	Petersham
Under 5	0.0%	1.2%
5 to 17	0.0%	6.0%
18 to 24	6.5%	4.0%
25 to 34	29.6%	9.1%
35 to 44	0.0%	5.2%
45 to 54	28.5%	13.5%
55 to 64	21.1%	22.6%
65 to 74	7.6%	29.4%
75 and over	6.5%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barre	Petersham
White (non-Hispanic)	96.4%	92.9%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.6%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barre	Petersham
No high school diploma	0.0%	4.0%
High school graduate	31.9%	18.8%
Some college or associate's	12.3%	28.1%
Bachelor's degree	40.1%	20.5%
Graduate or professional degree	15.8%	28.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barre	Petersham
Drove alone	35.1%	91.2%
Carpooled	36.5%	0.0%
Public transit	15.1%	0.0%
Walked	9.7%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.5%	8.8%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barre	Petersham
1-unit, detached	64.6%	86.9%
1-unit, attached	5.3%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	11.6%	13.1%
5 to 19 units	14.6%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	4.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Barre	Petersham
Poverty rate	2.9%	7.9%
Average household size	1.65	2.23
Mean commute (minutes)	45	28
Median year structure built	1938	1938