In addition, Melrose is home to many people who could be described as "urban sophisticates". Urban sophisticates are people who are both educated and wealthy, and thus tend to be older, richer, and more established than young professionals. "Urban sophisticates" is not just about being educated and well-off financially: it is a point of view and state of mind, one that you might call 'urbaneness'. But such people can and do regularly live in small towns, suburbs and rural areas, as well as in big cities. They read, support the arts and high-end shops, and love travel.
Because of many things, Melrose is a very good place for families to consider. With an enviable combination of good schools, low crime, college-educated neighbors who tend to support education because of their own experiences, and a high rate of home ownership in predominantly single-family properties, Melrose really has some of the features that families look for when choosing a good community to raise children. Is Melrose perfect? Of course not, and if you like frenetic nightlife, it will be far from your cup of tea. But overall this is a solid community, with many things to recommend it as a family-friendly place to live.
In Melrose, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 36.05 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.
For the size of the city, public transportation in Melrose is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the subway. For Melrose, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.
Do you have a 4-year college degree or graduate degree? If so, you may feel right at home in Melrose. 61.28% 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 Melrose in 2022 was $60,957, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $243,828 for a family of four.
Melrose is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Melrose home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Melrose residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Melrose include Irish, Italian, English, German, and Polish.
In addition, Melrose has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (15.44%).
The most common language spoken in Melrose is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.
