Needham is a medium-sized town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 32,048 people and six constituent neighborhoods, Needham is the 55th largest community in Massachusetts.
Needham home prices are not only among the most expensive in Massachusetts, but Needham real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Needham is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 94.86% 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 (17.94%), business and financial occupations (12.73%), and sales jobs (12.63%).
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.
One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 12.74% 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, Needham is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates", which are people who are not only wealthy and employed in professional occupations, but highly educated to boot. Urban sophisticates have urbane tastes - whether they reside in a big or small city, a suburb, or a little town. Urban sophisticates support bookstores, quality clothing stores, enjoy luxury travel, and in big cities, they are truly the patrons of the arts, attending and supporting institutions such as opera, symphony, ballet, and theatre.
Because of many things, Needham is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Needham really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Needham perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.
One downside of living in Needham, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 33.05 minutes every day commuting to work. However, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead.
For the size of the town, public transportation in Needham is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the train. For Needham, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.
Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Needham. 78.13% 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 Needham in 2018 was $80,532, which is wealthy relative to Massachusetts and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $322,128 for a family of four.
Needham is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Needham home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Needham residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Needham include Irish, English, Italian, German, and Russian.
The most common language spoken in Needham is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.