Medford is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 59,898 people and 14 associated neighborhoods, Medford is the 21st largest community in Massachusetts. Medford has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities. Housing costs in Medford are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in Massachusetts.Medford is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 90.50% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Medford is a city of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Medford who work in management occupations (12.07%), office and administrative support (9.25%), and business and financial occupations (9.06%). Also of interest is that Medford has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. A relatively large number of people in Medford telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 26.81% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Medford is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery. In Medford, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 31.54 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit. In addition, the city is also quite pedestrian-friendly, because many neighborhoods are very dense and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot. Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Medford is somewhat unusual for a city of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the subway helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Medford area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.If knowledge is power, Medford is a pretty powerful place. 59.81% of the adults in Medford have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Medford in 2022 was $66,184, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $264,736 for a family of four. However, Medford contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Medford is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Medford home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Medford residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Medford include Irish, Italian, English, German, and Polish. In addition, Medford has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (23.26%). The most common language spoken in Medford is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.
