Somerville, MA
Middlesex County · Massachusetts · United States
Home to 25,009 people across 1.092 square miles.
At a glance
02144 by the numbers
Every figure below comes from the 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the Census Gazetteer, or is computed from those. Margins of error are shown where they matter.
Location
Where 02144 is
| Coordinates | 42.400077, -71.123088 |
|---|---|
| Time zone | America/New_York |
| County | Middlesex County |
| State | Massachusetts (MA) |
| Land area | 1.092 mi² |
| Coordinate source | Census ZCTA internal point |
Local time
America/New_York
Current weather
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Distance to major cities
Straight-line, computed from coordinates
| Boston, MA | 4.3 mi |
|---|---|
| New York, NY | 189.2 mi |
| Philadelphia, PA | 269.7 mi |
| Chicago, IL | 845.1 mi |
People
Who lives in 02144
25,009 residents in 11,217 households, averaging 2.23 people per household. The largest age group is 25-34 at 33.9% of residents.
Age distribution
Share of residents by age band
Households
Composition and size
| Total households | 11,217 |
|---|---|
| Average household size | 2.23 |
| Family households | 36.2% |
| Living alone | 33.0% |
| Median age | 32 years |
| Households with internet | 93.8% |
Race & ethnicity
Census race categories. Hispanic or Latino origin is asked separately and overlaps these groups.
Income & work
What people earn in 02144
The median household here earns $140,591 a year, above the US median of $70,109, which puts 02144 ahead of 95% of American ZIP codes. 11.3% of residents live below the poverty line.
Compared to the US
This ZIP against the national median
| Median household income | $140,591 ±$12,078 |
|---|---|
| Per capita income | $78,130 |
| Poverty rate | 11.3% |
| Unemployment rate | 2.6% |
| Labor force participation | 81.0% |
Household income distribution
Share of households in each bracket
Educational attainment among residents 25 and older: 75.2% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 95.9% finished high school.
Housing
Homes and rent in 02144
A typical home is valued at $987,000, and median rent runs $2,654 a month. This is a renter-majority area — 62.0% of occupied homes are rented, and the typical building went up in 1938.
Costs
Typical values
| Median home value | $987,000 |
|---|---|
| Median gross rent | $2,654/mo |
| Median year built | 1938 |
| Housing units | 11,881 |
| Vacancy rate | 5.6% |
Own vs. rent
Of 11,217 occupied units
| Owner households | 4,266 |
|---|---|
| Renter households | 6,951 |
Building types
Units by structure size
Getting to work
How 02144 commutes
30.3% of workers drove alone, and the average one-way trip takes 34.1 minutes. 29.2% work from home.
Mode of transport
Workers 16 and older
Travel time
Mean commute 34.1 minutes
Overview
Understanding ZIP code 02144
ZIP code 02144 is assigned to Somerville, MA, and falls within Middlesex County. Like every US postal code, it began as a mail-routing device rather than a geographic boundary — the US Postal Service groups delivery routes under a single code so carriers and sorting equipment can process mail efficiently. Today it also serves as a practical shorthand for the area itself: roughly 25,009 people live inside it.
At 22,902 residents per square mile spread over 1.092 square miles, 02144 reads as a dense urban area. It is a populous postal code, and density shapes almost everything else on this page — how people get to work, whether they own or rent, and what housing costs.
Household earnings here sit well above the national picture. The median household income of $140,591 places 02144 in the upper reaches of American postal codes, ahead of 95% of them. The US median for comparison is $70,109. Bear in mind that median income describes the midpoint household, not the average — it is not pulled upward by a handful of very high earners the way a mean would be.
Living here
What life in Somerville looks like
Housing in 02144 costs far above the national median. A typical home is valued at $987,000 against a US median of $207,500, and median gross rent runs $2,654 a month. The split between owning and renting is fairly even at 38.0% owner-occupied, which tends to indicate a mix of housing types rather than one dominant form.
The building stock is dominated by small multi-family buildings of two to four units, which account for 63.4% of housing units here. The median construction year is 1938, making the housing here largely pre-war.
The population skews younger than the country as a whole, with a median age of 32 against 42 nationally. The average household holds 2.23 people, and 36.2% are family households.
Getting to work takes 34.1 minutes on average one way. The dominant mode is drove alone at 30.3% of workers, while 24.5% take public transit, 29.2% work from home. Commute patterns are one of the better proxies for how a place actually functions day to day.
Where to stay
Where to stay in Somerville, MA
Somerville sits in a densely built environment, and accommodation in and around 02144 tends to reflect that — full-service hotels, boutique properties and serviced apartments packed close together, usually within walking distance of transit. Rates in dense urban codes move sharply with the calendar: midweek business demand and weekend leisure demand can price very differently.
Local housing costs are a rough guide to nightly rates: median rent in 02144 runs $2,654 a month, which is high, and hotel pricing in expensive residential areas usually follows the same curve. For reference, Boston, MA is about 4.3 miles away in a straight line, which is worth factoring in if you are comparing a stay here against one closer to the city centre.
Availability and pricing change constantly, so the live search below will give you a more accurate picture than any figure we could publish here. It opens results for this area on Booking.com.
Opens Booking.com in a new tab. We are not affiliated with Booking.com and receive nothing from this link.
Practical uses
What ZIP code 02144 is used for
Beyond addressing mail, 02144 does a lot of quiet administrative work. Retailers use it to calculate shipping and sales tax at checkout. Insurers use it to set premiums, since risk profiles vary geographically. Employers and marketers use it to define service areas. Government agencies use it to route benefits and organise reporting. If you have ever been asked for a postal code by a form that clearly does not intend to send you anything, this is why.
For anyone weighing a move, 02144 offers a compact profile of Somerville: 25,009 residents, a median household income of $140,591, 75.2% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and an unemployment rate of 2.6%. A handful of figures like these answer more relocation questions than most neighbourhood guides do.
One caution worth repeating: a postal code is not a neighbourhood. 02144 may cover parts of several distinct areas, and a single neighbourhood in Somerville may be split across more than one code. Boundaries also shift as USPS adjusts delivery routes. Treat the figures here as describing a delivery area, which is what they actually measure.
Nearby
ZIP codes near 02144
The eight closest postal codes by centroid distance, each with its own full profile. You can also browse every Massachusetts ZIP code or use the ZIP Express Lookup to search by city, county or time zone.
Other ZIP codes in Somerville
Somerville is served by 3 postal codes.
More in Middlesex County
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Questions
Common questions about 02144
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Methodology
Where this data comes from
- Postal geography — GeoNames open postal code database (CC BY 4.0), cross-checked against the US Census Gazetteer.
- Demographics, income, housing, commute — US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-Year Estimates, ZIP Code Tabulation Area 02144. Tables B01001, B01002, B01003, B02001, B03003, B08301, B08303, B11001, B15003, B17001, B19001, B19013, B19301, B23025, B25002, B25003, B25024, B25035, B25064, B25077, B28002.
- Land and water area — US Census Bureau 2023 Gazetteer Files.
- Weather — NOAA National Weather Service, fetched live in your browser.
- Map — OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).