Petersham vs South Ashburnham

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

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

South Ashburnham has the higher population (1,174 vs 252 in Petersham). Petersham has the higher median household income ($105,938 vs $82,006 in South Ashburnham). Petersham has the higher median home value ($372,400 vs $323,400 in South Ashburnham).

Population, income & housing

	Petersham	South Ashburnham
Population	252	1,174
Median age	57.8 yrs	41.8 yrs
Median household income	$105,938	$82,006
Median home value	$372,400	$323,400
Median gross rent	$1,550	—
Housing units	137	419
Homeownership rate	92.0%	85.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	49.1%	13.8%
Unemployment rate	0.9%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Petersham	South Ashburnham
Population	259 → 252 (-2.7%)	924 → 1,174 (+27.1%)
Median household income	$66,458 → $105,938 (+59.4%)	$79,670 → $82,006 (+2.9%)
Median home value	$289,300 → $372,400 (+28.7%)	$189,100 → $323,400 (+71.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,300 → $1,550 (+19.2%)	—

Petersham

Population

259252

Median household income

$66,458$105,938

Median home value

$289,300$372,400

Median gross rent

$1,300$1,550

South Ashburnham

Population

9241,174

Median household income

$79,670$82,006

Median home value

$189,100$323,400

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Petersham	South Ashburnham
Under 5	1.2%	0.0%
5 to 17	6.0%	17.8%
18 to 24	4.0%	12.6%
25 to 34	9.1%	6.5%
35 to 44	5.2%	13.5%
45 to 54	13.5%	17.1%
55 to 64	22.6%	21.1%
65 to 74	29.4%	7.7%
75 and over	9.1%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Petersham	South Ashburnham
White (non-Hispanic)	92.9%	81.3%
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	4.8%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	15.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Petersham	South Ashburnham
No high school diploma	4.0%	13.2%
High school graduate	18.8%	21.5%
Some college or associate's	28.1%	51.4%
Bachelor's degree	20.5%	12.5%
Graduate or professional degree	28.6%	1.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Petersham	South Ashburnham
Drove alone	91.2%	84.4%
Carpooled	0.0%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.8%	15.6%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Petersham	South Ashburnham
1-unit, detached	86.9%	86.6%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	6.2%
2 to 4 units	13.1%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Petersham	South Ashburnham
Poverty rate	7.9%	16.0%
Average household size	2.23	2.80
Mean commute (minutes)	28	30
Median year structure built	1938	1976