Medford is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 58,744 people and 14 associated neighborhoods, Medford is the 21st largest community in Massachusetts. Medford has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

Medford home prices are not only among the most expensive in Massachusetts, but Medford real estate also consistently ranks among the most expensive in America.

Also of interest is that Medford has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.

One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 22.17% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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.

One thing noticeable about Medford, although not a huge city, is that it has a large population of people who are young, single, educated, and upwardly-mobile career starters. That’s because Medford is full of single people in their 20s and 30s and who have undergraduate or graduate degrees and are starting careers in professional occupations. This makes Medford a pretty good place for young, educated career starters looking to find many people like themselves, with good opportunities for friendships, socializing, romance, and fun.

Medford is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery.

In Medford, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 31.96 minutes each day getting to work, which is significantly higher than the national average. One bright side is that local public transit is widely used, so it may be an option to avoid the headache of driving in the heavy traffic by leaving the car at home and taking transit. In addition, the city is also quite pedestrian-friendly, because many neighborhoods are very dense and have amenities close enough together that people find it feasible to get around on foot.

Although the majority of commuting trips in the city are by private automobile, Medford is somewhat unusual for a city of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the subway helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Medford area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.

If knowledge is power, Medford is a pretty powerful place. 57.59% of the adults in Medford 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 Medford in 2022 was $61,508, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $246,032 for a family of four. However, Medford contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Medford is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Medford home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Medford residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Medford include Irish, Italian, English, German, and Polish.

Foreign born people are also an important part of Medford's cultural character, accounting for 24.16% of the city’s population.

The most common language spoken in Medford is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and French Creole.