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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

Brookline, MA
Real Estate & Demographic Data






Brookline profile


Living in Brookline



Brookline is a larger medium-sized town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 62,535 people and 15 constituent neighborhoods, Brookline is the 18th largest community in Massachusetts. Brookline has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns.

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

And if you like science, one thing you'll find is that Brookline 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.

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

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 20.57% 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.

Another interesting thing about Brookline, despite not being a huge town, is that there is a relatively high proportion of people living here who are young, single, and upwardly-mobile professionals. This makes it a good choice for other relocating single professionals. Here, these young singles will find many others like themselves, with opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

In Brookline, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 30.52 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit. In addition, the town is also quite pedestrian-friendly, because many neighborhoods are very dense and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the town are by private automobile, Brookline is somewhat unusual for a town of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the subway helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Brookline area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Brookline. 84.36% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%.

The per capita income in Brookline in 2018 was $83,318, which is wealthy relative to Massachusetts and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $333,272 for a family of four. However, Brookline contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

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

In addition, Brookline has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (30.89%).

The most common language spoken in Brookline is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.