Norwell is a somewhat small coastal town (ie. on the ocean or tidally-influenced rivers) located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 9,765 people and two constituent neighborhoods, Norwell is the 178th largest community in Massachusetts.

Norwell is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 88.27% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Norwell is a town of sales and office workers, professionals, and managers. There are especially a lot of people living in Norwell who work in management occupations (15.86%), sales jobs (15.18%), and office and administrative support jobs (14.11%).

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

In addition, Norwell 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.

Norwell 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, Norwell's overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.

One of the nice things about Norwell is that is it nautical, meaning that parts of the town are somewhat historic and on the ocean, or touch tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and tidal rivers. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

One downside of living in Norwell is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Norwell, the average commute to work is 34.26 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average.

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

Norwell Information and Demographics

If knowledge is power, Norwell is a pretty powerful place. 51.87% of the adults in Norwell 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 Norwell in 2000 was $37,222, which is wealthy relative to Massachusetts and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $148,888 for a family of four. However, Norwell contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

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

The most common language spoken in Norwell is English.