Worcester is a relatively large city located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 207,621 people and 46 associated neighborhoods, Worcester is the second largest community in Massachusetts. Much of the housing stock in Worcester was built prior to World War II, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.Unlike some cities, Worcester isn’t mainly white- or blue-collar. Instead, the most prevalent occupations for people in Worcester are a mix of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Worcester is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Worcester who work in office and administrative support (10.28%), management occupations (9.65%), and teaching (7.64%). Also of interest is that Worcester 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 Worcester telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 10.71% 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. Combining city textures and college town sensibilities, Worcester really has a nice blend of characteristics. While not a huge city, Worcester is big enough to offer a healthy dose of diversion, opportunity, and amenity to its residents and to the thousands of college students who descend on it every fall. Its size and diversity makes Worcester more than just a college town, but removing the students from the equation would undeniably change Worcester’s character and quality of life. The education level of Worcester citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 34.09% of adults in Worcester have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in Worcester in 2022 was $35,825, which is low income relative to Massachusetts, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $143,300 for a family of four. However, Worcester contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Worcester is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Worcester home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Worcester residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Worcester also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 24.91% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Worcester include Irish, Italian, English, French, and Polish. Worcester also has a high percentage of its population that was born in another country: 23.17%. The most common language spoken in Worcester is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.
