Fitchburg vs Gardner

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

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

Fitchburg has the higher population (41,633 vs 21,075 in Gardner). Fitchburg has the higher median household income ($70,659 vs $62,948 in Gardner). Fitchburg has the higher median home value ($295,500 vs $271,300 in Gardner).

Population, income & housing

	Fitchburg	Gardner
Population	41,633	21,075
Median age	37.5 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$70,659	$62,948
Median home value	$295,500	$271,300
Median gross rent	$1,131	$1,071
Housing units	17,945	9,487
Homeownership rate	56.4%	56.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.5%	22.8%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	5.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fitchburg	Gardner
Population	40,702 → 41,633 (+2.3%)	20,610 → 21,075 (+2.3%)
Median household income	$57,207 → $70,659 (+23.5%)	$49,679 → $62,948 (+26.7%)
Median home value	$196,600 → $295,500 (+50.3%)	$185,700 → $271,300 (+46.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,016 → $1,131 (+11.3%)	$838 → $1,071 (+27.8%)

Fitchburg

Population

40,70241,633

Median household income

$57,207$70,659

Median home value

$196,600$295,500

Median gross rent

$1,016$1,131

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)

	Fitchburg	Gardner
Under 5	5.9%	5.2%
5 to 17	14.1%	13.4%
18 to 24	13.5%	5.4%
25 to 34	14.2%	14.8%
35 to 44	11.2%	13.6%
45 to 54	13.4%	11.1%
55 to 64	13.9%	17.4%
65 to 74	8.3%	11.3%
75 and over	5.5%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fitchburg	Gardner
White (non-Hispanic)	56.9%	79.8%
Black or African American	5.7%	3.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	2.1%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.1%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	30.5%	9.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fitchburg	Gardner
No high school diploma	12.6%	12.6%
High school graduate	32.5%	33.9%
Some college or associate's	30.4%	30.7%
Bachelor's degree	17.1%	15.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	7.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fitchburg	Gardner
Drove alone	73.4%	69.5%
Carpooled	10.3%	10.3%
Public transit	2.3%	2.2%
Walked	3.4%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	9.3%	12.0%
Other means	1.3%	3.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fitchburg	Gardner
1-unit, detached	44.5%	47.5%
1-unit, attached	6.4%	3.1%
2 to 4 units	29.2%	23.9%
5 to 19 units	9.1%	10.2%
20 or more units	10.6%	13.9%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Fitchburg	Gardner
Poverty rate	15.5%	14.3%
Average household size	2.37	2.23
Mean commute (minutes)	27	31
Median year structure built	1950	1953