Massachusetts is a wealthy state, to be straightforward. Whereas the median household income for the United States overall is $77,719 — according to the latest data from the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey — the median in Massachusetts is $99,858. That’s the highest out of all 50 states, with only the District of Columbia having a higher median income.
Recently, we analyzed and identified the richest cities in New Hampshire, as well as Connecticut and Rhode Island. For this article, we turn to Massachusetts. This study analyzed 248 cities in Massachusetts with complete data from the Census Bureau, in terms of their median household income, mean (average) household income, median home value, and median property taxes paid per year, to come up with a list of the 50 richest cities in the state.
Read on to find out what the richest city in Massachusetts is, plus the top 20 wealthiest cities in the state overall.
What Are the Richest Cities in Massachusetts?
In order to compile this list of the richest cities in Massachusetts, we sourced key financial data from the Census Bureau’s 2023 American Community Survey. Harnessing these datasets, we put together a scoring system based on four factors to help identify the wealthiest cities in Massachusetts:
- Median household income
- Mean (average) household income
- Median home value
- Median property taxes paid
The Census Bureau does some interesting things with its data. For certain factors, the Census numbers have upper limits, so there’s no exact value for certain factors. For example, for median household income, the Census Bureau has an upper limit of “$250,000+”. For median home value, the upper limit is “$2,000,000+”. For median property taxes paid, the upper limit is “$10,000+”. For these reasons, the mean household income (which is the same as average household income) dataset is crucial because the Census Bureau has exact figures for it. All four of these metrics were scored, added up, and then ranked by the cities’ combined scores.
Another aspect of the Census to point out, and is particularly relevant to Massachusetts and New England in general, is the Census-designated place — CDP. The Census, more or less, treats CDPs as cities — their terminology is “place” — and so will this list of the richest cities in Massachusetts. But if you see cities on this list that you see as, say, neighborhoods, you’re not wrong; they just happen to be treated as cities by the Census Bureau.
You’ll find a table detailing the top 20 richest cities in Massachusetts and their respective dollar figures for each metric, below:
The No. 1 richest city in Massachusetts in this ranking is Dover, a town Norfolk County, southwest of Boston. The population is around 6,000 people, with approximately 781 households. Dover is one of several of the richest cities in Massachusetts to have a median household income in excess of $250,000 per year. The town’s average household income is $484,787, which is the highest in the state. In terms of home values, they’re very high in Dover. According to Zillow, the median home value in Dover is over $1.65 million. Consequently, property taxes paid by household are hefty, with the median being over $10,000 per year.
The second wealthiest place in Massachusetts is another Norfolk County town, Wellesley. If the name of the town reminds you of Wellesley the college, it should because it’s here, alongside Babson College and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Community College. According to Zillow, median home value in Wellesley is a whopping $1.9 million. Like residents in the No. 1 richest place Dover, households pay a median property tax of over $10,000 per year. Also, like Dover, the median household income in Wellesley surpasses $250,000 a year. The mean household income is $367,801, which is the second highest behind only Dover.
The No. 3 richest city in Massachusetts is Boxford, a town in Essex County, near the New Hampshire border. The median household income here is $247,557, the third highest in Massachusetts. The average household income is $280,379, making the gap between the median and average much smaller versus No. 1 Dover or No. 2 Wellesley. According to Zillow, the median home value in Boxford is over $1.01 million, with the median property taxes paid per year exceeding $10,000. The employment breakdown of Boxford fits the profile of a wealthy place. According to Data USA, the biggest industries in terms of employment are Finance & Insurance (18.7% of the workforce), Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services (16.8% of the workforce), and Educational Services (16.5% of the workforce).
The Bottom Line on the Richest Cities in Massachusetts
Out of the top 20 wealthiest places in Massachusetts, Newton is the biggest, with 31,735 households. It’s impressive that a city that large can sustain a median household income of $176,373 and a much higher average household income of $251,210. You should note that property taxes are on the higher end in Massachusetts. In 16 of the top 20 richest places in the state have a median property tax per household in excess of $10,000 a year.
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