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Place dossier plate
SheetMA-NEEDHAM-MA · Needham, MA 32,059 pop · income 98th pct
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Needham
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Needham on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Nacogdoches · lowest
38,855
Nacogdoches · lowest
38,855 median HH income
15.5% of the leader · rank #1
Sparkill · near
212,083
Sparkill · near
212,083 median HH income
84.8% of the leader · rank #2
Fairfax Stati… · near
212,128
Fairfax Stati… · near
212,128 median HH income
84.9% of the leader · rank #3
Needham · this city
212,241
Needham · this city
212,241 median HH income
84.9% of the leader · rank #4
Lake Angelus · near
212,368
Lake Angelus · near
212,368 median HH income
84.9% of the leader · rank #5
Downsville · near
212,605
Downsville · near
212,605 median HH income
85.0% of the leader · rank #6
Wellesley · highest
250,001
Wellesley · highest
250,001 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Needham on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 32,059.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Needham - the verdict
Nationally, Needham sits in the 98th percentile for household income and the 77th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
98th
percentile, household income
98th
percentile, home value
98th
percentile, median rent
77th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Needham, MA
32,059 people live in Needham, Massachusetts - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $212,241 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.0%. Needham's housing stock carries a median value of $1,146,000, and the median resident age is 43.0 years. 80.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 64.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Needham reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 698.6 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
Massachusetts carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts Massachusetts at 105.8 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Above Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,261 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Massachusetts run around $330, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 20.3 minutes, with 57.5% driving alone and 28.8% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 78.8 out of 100 (High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Needham's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility to reported crime to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Needham, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Needham?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Massachusetts, the closest population matches are Norwood (31,380 residents, $97,110 income); Franklin (33,067 residents, $142,788 income); North Attleborough (30,842 residents, $109,426 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are North Olmsted, OH (32,031 residents); Fair Oaks, CA (32,030 residents); Oak Ridge, TN (32,088 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
How far does income reach against housing in Needham?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Needham?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 57.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 20.3 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Needham?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 698.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 69% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Needham?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 8 public schools within the city match. 80.8% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
3.0%
Bachelor's degree+
80.8%
Matched public schools
8
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income A+
$212,241
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A+
80.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime A-
52 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate B+
3.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
105.8 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Needham profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $212,241
Bachelor's+ share: 100/100 (A+) · 80.8%
Violent crime: 83/100 (A-) · 52 /100k
Poverty rate: 79/100 (B+) · 3.0%
Cost of living: 18/100 (F) · 105.8 index
Where Needham sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Needham's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Needham highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Needham, MA (this city): home $1,146,000, crime 699/100k
North Olmsted, OH : home $202,400, crime 1,062/100k
Oak Ridge, TN : home $233,500, crime 1,567/100k
Nacogdoches, TX : home $173,200, crime 1,691/100k
Atwater, CA : home $340,600, crime 2,904/100k
Cornelius, NC : home $512,400, crime 1,140/100k
Norwood, MA : home $613,500, crime 880/100k
Franklin, MA : home $567,100, crime 383/100k
Lexington, MA : home $1,147,900, crime 387/100k
Wellesley, MA : home $1,513,400, crime 532/100k
Gloucester, MA : home $587,800, crime 830/100k
How does Needham compare to other US cities?
Needham measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income98% higher than other cities
Home value98% pricier than other cities
Median rent98% pricier than other cities
Safety77% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Massachusetts alone, Needham ranks #53 of 149 Massachusetts cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Needham against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Massachusetts only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Massachusetts-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Needham near the bottom of Massachusetts's cities
Among the 247 Massachusetts cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Needham ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Needham only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#7 of 233
97th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 247
0th percentile in Massachusetts
Median Home Value
#13 of 240
95th percentile in Massachusetts
Poverty Rate
#150 of 247
39th percentile in Massachusetts
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#8 of 247
97th percentile in Massachusetts
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Massachusetts only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
98th percentile nationally for median household income · 77th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Needham's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Needham's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Needham's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$1,146,0002nd percentilemore affordable than 2% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Needham's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,450 of 15,516
More affordable than 13% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,778 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.4×, Needham sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,450 of 15,516 and #2,778 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$212,241Needham, MA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Needham, MA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Needham, MA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)80.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
32,059
Median Income
$212,241
Median Home Value
$1,146,000
Median Age
43.0
Poverty Rate
3.0%
Labor force participation
64.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
80.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
698.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
51.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
646.8
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Schools
Total Schools
8
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
20.3 minutes
Drive Alone
57.5%
Carpool
3.8%
Public Transit
7.6%
Walk
1.9%
Work from Home
28.8%
Based on 15,350 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Massachusetts statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $330
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Massachusetts at $330 (electricity about $160 , water and sewer about $60 ).
These are Massachusetts statewide averages, not a meter reading for Needham. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Massachusetts's BEA cost-of-living index is 105.8 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Needham is $2,261/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Massachusetts statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 78.8 / 100 (High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Massachusetts statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Needham sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Needham compares to similar-size Massachusetts cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.