Watertown, MA

Watertown profile

Living in Watertown

Watertown is a medium-sized city located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 35,939 people and six constituent neighborhoods, Watertown is the 50th largest community in Massachusetts. Much of the housing stock in Watertown was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.

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

Watertown is a decidedly white-collar city, with fully 91.98% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Watertown is a city of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Watertown who work in management occupations (12.65%), teaching (11.19%), and business and financial occupations (9.98%).

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

Of important note, Watertown is also a city of artists. Watertown has more artists, designers and people working in media than 90% of the communities in America. This concentration of artists helps shape Watertown’s character.

Watertown, while not large, also appears to be attractive to some younger, educated professionals, who help shape the character of the city.


Like elsewhere in America, most people in Watertown use a private automobile to get to work. But notably, a substantial number of Watertown‘s citizens do make use of public transit in their daily commute, primarily riding the bus. This helps more people get to work with less air pollution, and require fewer highways to get them there.

Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Watertown. 65.93% of adults here have a 4-year degree or graduate degree, whereas the national average for all cities and towns is just 21.84%.

The per capita income in Watertown in 2018 was $55,997, which is wealthy relative to Massachusetts and the nation. This equates to an annual income of $223,988 for a family of four.

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

In addition, Watertown has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (21.44%).

The most common language spoken in Watertown is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.