Gloucester is a medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 29,836 people and nine associated neighborhoods, Gloucester is the 62nd largest community in Massachusetts. Gloucester has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

Housing costs in Gloucester are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in Massachusetts.

Also of interest is that Gloucester 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: 9.46% 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.

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

The education level of Gloucester citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 39.63% of adults in Gloucester have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree.

The per capita income in Gloucester in 2018 was $50,993, which is middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $203,972 for a family of four. However, Gloucester contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

The people who call Gloucester home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Gloucester residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Gloucester include Irish, Italian, English, Portuguese, and German.

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