Northborough vs Spencer

A side-by-side comparison of Northborough and Spencer: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Northborough has the higher population (6,720 vs 5,520 in Spencer). Northborough has the higher median household income ($154,926 vs $59,618 in Spencer). Northborough has the higher median home value ($553,700 vs $297,700 in Spencer).

Population, income & housing

	Northborough	Spencer
Population	6,720	5,520
Median age	48.5 yrs	50.8 yrs
Median household income	$154,926	$59,618
Median home value	$553,700	$297,700
Median gross rent	$1,219	$1,052
Housing units	2,598	3,153
Homeownership rate	84.1%	40.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	66.8%	15.7%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Northborough	Spencer
Population	6,298 → 6,720 (+6.7%)	5,792 → 5,520 (-4.7%)
Median household income	$114,303 → $154,926 (+35.5%)	$59,331 → $59,618 (+0.5%)
Median home value	$414,100 → $553,700 (+33.7%)	$222,500 → $297,700 (+33.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,176 → $1,219 (+3.7%)	$873 → $1,052 (+20.5%)

Northborough

Population

6,2986,720

Median household income

$114,303$154,926

Median home value

$414,100$553,700

Median gross rent

$1,176$1,219

Spencer

Population

5,7925,520

Median household income

$59,331$59,618

Median home value

$222,500$297,700

Median gross rent

$873$1,052

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Northborough	Spencer
Under 5	5.1%	1.5%
5 to 17	16.6%	12.4%
18 to 24	5.4%	8.7%
25 to 34	6.6%	10.2%
35 to 44	10.3%	10.2%
45 to 54	23.0%	11.4%
55 to 64	13.3%	19.9%
65 to 74	11.6%	13.9%
75 and over	8.0%	11.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Northborough	Spencer
White (non-Hispanic)	80.3%	88.2%
Black or African American	2.6%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	5.7%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	3.6%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	4.4%	6.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Northborough	Spencer
No high school diploma	3.8%	11.5%
High school graduate	11.6%	43.5%
Some college or associate's	17.8%	29.3%
Bachelor's degree	32.9%	11.4%
Graduate or professional degree	33.9%	4.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Northborough	Spencer
Drove alone	70.9%	76.6%
Carpooled	2.2%	9.4%
Public transit	1.2%	4.3%
Walked	1.2%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	22.8%	9.7%
Other means	1.7%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Northborough	Spencer
1-unit, detached	77.4%	31.6%
1-unit, attached	7.0%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	9.6%	44.0%
5 to 19 units	4.0%	21.4%
20 or more units	2.0%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Northborough	Spencer
Poverty rate	2.0%	11.4%
Average household size	2.56	2.05
Mean commute (minutes)	29	35
Median year structure built	1971	1944