Gardner is a medium-sized city located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 20,974 people and five associated neighborhoods, Gardner is the 92nd largest community in Massachusetts. Gardner has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.

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

A relatively large number of people in Gardner telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 11.98% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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 downside of living in Gardner, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 30.67 minutes every day commuting to work.

The population of Gardner overall has a level of education that is slightly above the US average for all US cities and towns of 21.84%. Of adults 25 and older in Gardner, 22.77% have at least a bachelor's degree.

The per capita income in Gardner in 2022 was $34,248, which is low income relative to Massachusetts, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $136,992 for a family of four. However, Gardner contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

Gardner is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Gardner home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Gardner residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Gardner include French Canadian, French, English, Irish, and Italian.

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