About Carlisle

Carlisle is a very small town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 4,717 people and just one neighborhood, Carlisle is the 259th largest community in Massachusetts.

Carlisle is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 94.60% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Carlisle is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Carlisle who work in management occupations (26.21%), sales jobs (10.38%), and computer science and math (9.16%).

Also of interest is that Carlisle has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Carlisle has lots of scientists living in town - whether they be life scientists, physical scientists (like astronomers), or social scientists (like geographers!). So, if you're scientific-minded, you might like it here too.

Of important note, Carlisle is also a town of artists. Carlisle has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Carlisle's character.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their homes - 13.94% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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.

In addition, Carlisle is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates," which are people who are not only wealthy and employed in professional occupations, but highly educated to boot. Urban sophisticates have urbane tastes - whether they reside in a big or small city, a suburb, or a little town. Urban sophisticates support bookstores, quality clothing stores, enjoy luxury travel, and in big cities, they are truly the patrons of the arts, attending and supporting institutions such as opera, symphony, ballet, and theatre.

Carlisle is a good choice for families with children because of several factors. Many other families with children live here, making it a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families. The town's good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic success. Many people own their own single-family homes, providing areas for children to play and stability in the community. Finally, Carlisle's overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.

One downside of living in Carlisle is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Carlisle, the average commute to work is 32.69 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average.

As is often the case in a small town, Carlisle doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.

Carlisle Information and Demographics

If knowledge is power, Carlisle is a pretty powerful place. 83.41% of the adults in Carlisle have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 14.96% for all cities and towns.

The per capita income in Carlisle in 2000 was $59,559, which is wealthy relative to Massachusetts and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $238,236 for a family of four. However, Carlisle contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Carlisle home come from a variety of different races and ancestries. The most prevalent race in Carlisle is White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Carlisle include English, Irish, Italian, German, Russian, French, British, and Polish.

The most common language spoken in Carlisle is English. Some people also speak German.