Needham is a medium-sized town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 28,911 people and five constituent neighborhoods, Needham is the 56th largest community in Massachusetts.

Needham is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 92.82% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Needham is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Needham who work in management occupations (18.40%), office and administrative support jobs (11.34%), and sales jobs (11.17%).

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

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

In addition, Needham is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates." Urban sophisticates are educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums.

Because of many things, Needham 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, Needham really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Needham 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.

Needham Information and Demographics

Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Needham. 64.88% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 14.96%.

The per capita income in Needham in 2000 was $44,549, which is wealthy relative to Massachusetts and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $178,196 for a family of four. However, Needham contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

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

The most common language spoken in Needham is English.