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 great place for families with children to consider. First of all, many other families with children live here, making Needham a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families, as well as find family-oriented services and community. The town's good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic values. With regard to real estate, Needham has a high rate of owner-occupied single family homes, which tends to reflect stability in the local community. Finally, Needham's overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.

Needham Information and Demographics

If knowledge is power, Needham is a pretty powerful place. 64.88% of the adults in Needham 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 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.