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 educated, wealthy, executives and professionals, who have urbane tastes in books, food, and travel, whether they actually live in a big city, or choose to reside in a small town. In big or medium-sized cities, urban sophisticates tend to frequent art institutions such as opera, symphonies, ballet, live theatre, and museums. One downside of living in Wakefield, however, is that residents on average have to contend with a long commute, spending on average 31.52 minutes every day commuting to work. However, local public transit is widely used. For those who would prefer to avoid driving entirely and leave their car at home, it may be an option to use the transit instead. For the size of the town, public transportation in Wakefield is quite heavily used. Mostly, people who use it for their daily commute are taking the subway. For Wakefield, the benefits are reduced air pollution and congestion on the highways.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.
