Wakefield is a medium-sized town located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 27,810 people and five associated neighborhoods, Wakefield is the 73rd largest community in Massachusetts. Housing costs in Wakefield are among some of the highest in the nation, although real estate prices here don't compare to real estate prices in the most expensive communities in Massachusetts.Wakefield is a decidedly white-collar town, with fully 87.01% of the workforce employed in white-collar jobs, well above the national average. Overall, Wakefield is a town of professionals, managers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Wakefield who work in management occupations (17.00%), sales jobs (9.43%), and business and financial occupations (9.06%). Also of interest is that Wakefield has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 22.21% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. 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. In addition, Wakefield 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. In Wakefield, however, the average commute to work is quite long. On average, people spend 31.52 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. Although the majority of commuting trips in the town are by private automobile, Wakefield is somewhat unusual for a town of its size for having a substantial number of people who use public transportation. For a lot of people, the subway helps to get to and from their jobs every morning, which benefits everyone in the Wakefield area by reducing both traffic and air pollution.If knowledge is power, Wakefield is a pretty powerful place. 57.01% of the adults in Wakefield have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns. The per capita income in Wakefield in 2022 was $67,001, which is upper middle income relative to Massachusetts, and wealthy relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $268,004 for a family of four. Wakefield is a somewhat ethnically-diverse town. The people who call Wakefield home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Wakefield residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Important ancestries of people in Wakefield include Irish, Italian, English, German, and Polish. The most common language spoken in Wakefield is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Chinese.
