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Data on this report is based on areas within the legal city boundary, outlined in black on the map. Any additional neighborhoods shown on the map are associated with the city by name and are included for reference only.

New Bedford, MA
Real Estate & Demographic Data






New Bedford profile


Living in New Bedford



New Bedford 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 100,682 people and 31 associated neighborhoods, New Bedford is the ninth largest community in Massachusetts. New Bedford has an unusually large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities.

One of the nice things about New Bedford is that it is nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Because of this, visitors and locals will often go to these areas to take in the scenery or to enjoy waterfront activities.

In terms of college education, the citizens of New Bedford rank slightly lower than the national average. 16.41% of adults 25 and older in New Bedford have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree, while 21.84% of adults have a 4-year degree or higher in the average American community.

The per capita income in New Bedford in 2018 was $29,591, which is low income relative to Massachusetts, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $118,364 for a family of four. However, New Bedford contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.

New Bedford is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call New Bedford home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of New Bedford residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. New Bedford also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 23.45% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in New Bedford include Portuguese, Cape Verdean, Irish, French, and English.

In addition, New Bedford has a lot of people living here who were born outside of the US (20.17%).

The most common language spoken in New Bedford is English. Other important languages spoken here include Portuguese and Spanish.