Ashland is a medium-sized town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 18,591 people and five associated neighborhoods, Ashland is the 104th largest community in Massachusetts. Housing costs in Ashland 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.Ashland is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 85.02% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Ashland is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Ashland who work in management occupations (17.24%), computer science and math (12.04%), and office and administrative support (8.68%). Also of interest is that Ashland has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. A relatively large number of people in Ashland telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 20.87% 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, Ashland 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. Because of many things, Ashland 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, Ashland really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Ashland 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 Ashland is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Ashland, the average commute to work is 34.33 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. Despite being a small town, Ashland has a lot of people using the train to get to and from work every day. Most of these people on the train are using it to get to good jobs in other cities.If knowledge is power, Ashland is a pretty powerful place. 59.48% of the adults in Ashland have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Ashland in 2022 was $69,216, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $276,864 for a family of four. Ashland is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Ashland home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Ashland residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Ashland include Irish, Italian, English, German, and Brazilian. In addition, Ashland has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (21.92%). The most common language spoken in Ashland is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.
