Fitchburg vs Worcester

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

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

Worcester has the higher population (205,501 vs 41,633 in Fitchburg). Fitchburg has the higher median household income ($70,659 vs $67,544 in Worcester). Worcester has the higher median home value ($339,500 vs $295,500 in Fitchburg).

Population, income & housing

	Fitchburg	Worcester
Population	41,633	205,501
Median age	37.5 yrs	34.1 yrs
Median household income	$70,659	$67,544
Median home value	$295,500	$339,500
Median gross rent	$1,131	$1,415
Housing units	17,945	85,371
Homeownership rate	56.4%	42.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.5%	34.1%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fitchburg	Worcester
Population	40,702 → 41,633 (+2.3%)	185,143 → 205,501 (+11.0%)
Median household income	$57,207 → $70,659 (+23.5%)	$48,139 → $67,544 (+40.3%)
Median home value	$196,600 → $295,500 (+50.3%)	$227,100 → $339,500 (+49.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,016 → $1,131 (+11.3%)	$1,095 → $1,415 (+29.2%)

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

Worcester

Population

185,143205,501

Median household income

$48,139$67,544

Median home value

$227,100$339,500

Median gross rent

$1,095$1,415

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fitchburg	Worcester
Under 5	5.9%	5.6%
5 to 17	14.1%	14.2%
18 to 24	13.5%	14.6%
25 to 34	14.2%	17.0%
35 to 44	11.2%	12.4%
45 to 54	13.4%	11.2%
55 to 64	13.9%	11.8%
65 to 74	8.3%	7.9%
75 and over	5.5%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fitchburg	Worcester
White (non-Hispanic)	56.9%	50.5%
Black or African American	5.7%	11.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.1%	6.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	1.3%
Two or more races	4.1%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	30.5%	24.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fitchburg	Worcester
No high school diploma	12.6%	14.3%
High school graduate	32.5%	27.9%
Some college or associate's	30.4%	23.7%
Bachelor's degree	17.1%	20.1%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	14.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fitchburg	Worcester
Drove alone	73.4%	65.8%
Carpooled	10.3%	11.6%
Public transit	2.3%	2.7%
Walked	3.4%	5.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	9.3%	10.7%
Other means	1.3%	3.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fitchburg	Worcester
1-unit, detached	44.5%	32.0%
1-unit, attached	6.4%	6.1%
2 to 4 units	29.2%	33.5%
5 to 19 units	9.1%	13.9%
20 or more units	10.6%	14.1%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Fitchburg	Worcester
Poverty rate	15.5%	19.8%
Average household size	2.37	2.42
Mean commute (minutes)	27	25
Median year structure built	1950	1951