Gardner vs Southbridge Town

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

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

Gardner has the higher population (21,075 vs 17,806 in Southbridge Town). Gardner has the higher median household income ($62,948 vs $59,397 in Southbridge Town). Gardner has the higher median home value ($271,300 vs $267,000 in Southbridge Town).

Population, income & housing

	Gardner	Southbridge Town
Population	21,075	17,806
Median age	43.5 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$62,948	$59,397
Median home value	$271,300	$267,000
Median gross rent	$1,071	$1,157
Housing units	9,487	7,644
Homeownership rate	56.7%	44.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.8%	17.7%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	7.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gardner	Southbridge Town
Population	20,610 → 21,075 (+2.3%)	16,887 → 17,806 (+5.4%)
Median household income	$49,679 → $62,948 (+26.7%)	$51,270 → $59,397 (+15.9%)
Median home value	$185,700 → $271,300 (+46.1%)	$198,400 → $267,000 (+34.6%)
Median gross rent	$838 → $1,071 (+27.8%)	$895 → $1,157 (+29.3%)

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

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)

	Gardner	Southbridge Town
Under 5	5.2%	5.0%
5 to 17	13.4%	16.2%
18 to 24	5.4%	11.9%
25 to 34	14.8%	11.6%
35 to 44	13.6%	11.0%
45 to 54	11.1%	14.1%
55 to 64	17.4%	15.8%
65 to 74	11.3%	9.0%
75 and over	7.9%	5.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gardner	Southbridge Town
White (non-Hispanic)	79.8%	53.9%
Black or African American	3.6%	2.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	2.8%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.2%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	9.4%	40.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gardner	Southbridge Town
No high school diploma	12.6%	18.3%
High school graduate	33.9%	33.5%
Some college or associate's	30.7%	30.5%
Bachelor's degree	15.7%	12.2%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gardner	Southbridge Town
Drove alone	69.5%	75.3%
Carpooled	10.3%	10.7%
Public transit	2.2%	0.2%
Walked	2.3%	5.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	1.4%
Worked from home	12.0%	5.3%
Other means	3.4%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gardner	Southbridge Town
1-unit, detached	47.5%	37.3%
1-unit, attached	3.1%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	23.9%	40.1%
5 to 19 units	10.2%	15.7%
20 or more units	13.9%	5.0%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Gardner	Southbridge Town
Poverty rate	14.3%	16.2%
Average household size	2.23	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	31	27
Median year structure built	1953	1952