Wellesley is a medium-sized town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 30,191 people and six constituent neighborhoods, Wellesley is the 64th largest community in Massachusetts. Wellesley has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic towns in the country.
Wellesley home prices are not only among the most expensive in Massachusetts, but Wellesley real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.
Also of interest is that Wellesley has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
Of important note, Wellesley is also a town of artists. Wellesley has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Wellesley’s character.
A relatively large number of people in Wellesley telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 22.99% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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, Wellesley is a college town. There are a lot of students in Wellesley attending college, and as a result Wellesley provides a number of services, amenities and opportunities geared to the needs and activities of students.
Wellesley, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the town.
Because of many things, Wellesley 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, Wellesley really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Wellesley 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 Wellesley is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Wellesley, the average commute to work is 30.41 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. On the other hand, local public transit is widely used in the town, so leaving the car at home and taking transit is often a viable alternative.
Like elsewhere in America, most people in Wellesley use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Wellesley‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the train. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.
Do you like to read, write and learn? If you move to Wellesley, you'll likely find that many of your neighbors like to as well. Wellesley is one of the more educated communities in America, with a full 84.91% of its adults having a college degree or even advanced degree, compared to a national average across all communities of 21.84%.
The per capita income in Wellesley in 2018 was $97,262, which is wealthy relative to Massachusetts and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $389,048 for a family of four.
Wellesley is a very ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Wellesley home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Wellesley residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Wellesley include Irish, English, Italian, German, and Scottish.
Foreign born people are also an important part of Wellesley's cultural character, accounting for 17.52% of the town’s population.
The most common language spoken in Wellesley is English. Other important languages spoken here include Chinese and Spanish.