ZIP code 02148

ZIP 02148 is a small city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with 65,509 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #2 of 539 ranked by population — larger than 99% of them. The median age here is 35.8 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. At this size the Census also publishes one-year estimates; the five-year values used here are steadier and let you compare against smaller neighbours on the same basis.

Households in ZIP 02148 earn a median of $95,298 a year, 21.3% above the national figure of $78,538. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 13.3% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 02148 is valued at $607,500, 100.2% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $2,066 a month, 46.9% above the national figure, or roughly $24,792 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 26% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 6.4×, 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. 42.1% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, a renter-majority market, so rent figures matter more here than the home-value line. 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 6.4× 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. Median income runs above the national figure while poverty also runs above it — a split distribution, not a uniformly comfortable place. Averages hide that; the two numbers together do not.

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.

ZIP 02148 is tabulated inside Middlesex County, Massachusetts, one of 81 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 539 across Massachusetts. This is a dense urban ZIP, where a single postal boundary can hold more residents than an entire rural county. 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 02148 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 02148 reports a median household income of $95,298, 30% below the $136,382 county median, and 11% below the $107,198 typical MA ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $607,500, 13% below the county figure and 26% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $2,066 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Massachusetts charges 6.25% statewide, and no local sales tax is layered on top, so the state rate is the full amount collected in 02148.

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 02148 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.