Holden is a somewhat small town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 15,621 people and four constituent neighborhoods, Holden is the 121st largest community in Massachusetts.

Holden is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 86.32% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Holden is a town of professionals, sales and office workers, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Holden who work in management occupations (13.25%), office and administrative support jobs (13.19%), and teaching (11.49%).

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

In addition, Holden is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates." Urban sophisticates are people who are both educated and wealthy, and thus tend to be older, richer, and more established than young professionals. "Urban sophisticates" is not just about being educated and well-off financially: it is a point of view and state of mind, one that you might call 'urbaneness.' But such people can and do regularly live in small towns, suburbs and rural areas, as well as in big cities. They read, support the arts and high-end shops, and love travel.

Because of many things, Holden is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Holden really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Holden perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic night life, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.

For most residents of Holden, getting to work requires a car. In fact, 98.2% of people in Holden drive alone to work on most days, making Holden a very car-oriented town. In general, car-oriented communities tend to emphasize streets, highways, and ease of parking, often to the detriment of walkability. Strip centers are a feature of Holden's landscape.

Being a small town, Holden does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.

Holden Information and Demographics

If knowledge is power, Holden is a pretty powerful place. 45.41% of the adults in Holden 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 Holden in 2000 was $27,971, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $111,884 for a family of four.

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

The most common language spoken in Holden is English.