Newton, MA real estate and demographic information

About Newton

Newton is a larger medium-sized city located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 85,945 people and 18 constituent neighborhoods, Newton is the 11th largest community in Massachusetts. Much of the housing stock in Newton was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

Newton home prices are not only among the most expensive in Massachusetts, but Newton real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Newton is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 95.00% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Newton is a city of professionals, managers and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Newton who work in management occupations (15.15%), teaching (11.31%) and healthcare (9.27%).

Also of interest is that Newton 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 Newton 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, Newton is also a city of artists. Newton has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Newton’s character.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 8.63% 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, Newton is a college town. There are a lot of students in Newton attending college, and as a result Newton provides a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared to the needs and activities of students.

In addition, Newton 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, Newton is a great place for families with children to consider. First of all, many other families with children live here, making Newton 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 city’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic values. With regard to real estate, Newton has a high rate of owner-occupied single family homes, which tends to reflect stability in the local community. Finally, Newton’s overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Newton 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 bus helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Newton area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

Newton Information and Demographics

If knowledge is power, Newton is a pretty powerful place. 72.77% of the adults in Newton 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 Newton in 2010 was $56,163, which is wealthy relative to Massachusetts and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $224,652 for a family of four.

Newton is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Newton home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Newton residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Newton include Irish, Italian, Russian, English, German and Polish.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Newton's cultural character, accounting for 19.55% of the city’s population.

The languages spoken by people in Newton are also diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in Newton is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese, Russian and Spanish.