ZIP code 02134

ZIP 02134 is a mid-size town in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, with 17,637 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #152 of 539 ranked by population — larger than 71% of them. The median age here is 28.3 years against 39.1 nationally, a distinctly younger profile, typical of places with students, military posts or a fast-growing family population. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in ZIP 02134 earn a median of $75,317 a year, 4.1% below the national figure of $78,538. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 23.5% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 02134 is valued at $586,700, 93.4% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $2,269 a month, 61.4% above the national figure, or roughly $27,228 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 36.2% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is a stretch on median earnings. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 7.8×, 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. 13.2% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, a renter-majority market, so rent figures matter more here than the home-value line. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

Home values sit at 7.8× 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 28.3 means a large student or early-career population; income medians in places like this understate household resources, since many residents are supported from outside the address.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. 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.

ZIP 02134 is tabulated inside Suffolk County, Massachusetts, one of 35 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 539 across Massachusetts. This is a mid-sized suburban ZIP inside a county that is split across many delivery areas. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 02134 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 02134 reports a median household income of $75,317, 17% below the $91,111 county median, and 30% below the $107,198 typical MA ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $586,700, 15% below the county figure and 22% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $2,269 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

A taxable purchase made inside 02134 carries 6.25% at the register, assembled from the Boston jurisdiction stack: the Massachusetts state rate plus every county, municipal and special district levy that reaches this address. Because those district boundaries were drawn for schools, transit and hospital funding rather than for mail delivery, two addresses inside 02134 can legitimately fall under different totals — the rate shown here is the one that applies to the dominant jurisdiction.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 02134 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.