Chatham, MA population, income and ZIP codes

Chatham CDP is a small town in Massachusetts, with 1,614 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #205 of 248 ranked by population — larger than 17% of them. The median age here is 67.4 years against 39.1 nationally, a markedly older profile that usually tracks retirees staying put and younger households leaving for work. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Chatham CDP earn a median of $82,269 a year, 4.8% above the national figure of $78,538 and 17% below the $99,537 median for the 222 Massachusetts cities we cover. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 10% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Chatham CDP is valued at $1,550,000, 410.9% above the national figure and 212% above the $497,400 peer median, while median gross rent runs $924 a month, 34.3% below the national figure, or roughly $11,088 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 13.5% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 18.8×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 79.5% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

Home values sit at 18.8× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere. A median age of 67.4 puts Chatham CDP well into retirement-weighted territory, which pulls median household income down even where household wealth is high, because retirement draws are counted differently from wages.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.