AreaProfile

02474Arlington, Massachusetts

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 02474.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signals: opportunity, growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
SchoolsTop 5% of 4,422 published ZIP areas87
Housing affordability4266th of 6,685 published ZIP areas71
Climate5355th of 6,789 published ZIP areas62
Physical resilienceTop 13% of 6,709 published ZIP areas88
AccessTop 15% of 6,791 published ZIP areas99
Economic stabilityTop 2% of 6,742 published ZIP areas88
The quick read

Rent takes 17% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 6.2 times that income.

Natural-hazard exposure is lower than in most comparable published ZIP profiles, placing 02474 in the top 13% for physical resilience.

A major airport is 9 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
28,642
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$150,560
Top 4% nationally
Density
9,366/sq mi
3.1 sq mi of land
Median age
38.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Arlington
Massachusetts
Metro area
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
Nearest major airport
BOS
9 mi · General Edward Lawrence Logan Intl
Median home value
$933,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

76% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 98% of measured US ZIP areas.

Household income is higher than at least 96% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$8,128$150,560Top 4%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$6,017$88,030Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate4.6%Bottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute34.7 minTop 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher76.3%Top 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Labor force participation77.0%Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$89,620Top 8%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$66,620Top 8%2025 OEWS
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024151k124k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $150,560 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides72,420$40,910
General and Operations Managers70,950$133,800
Registered Nurses64,240$106,180
Retail Salespersons64,150$36,850
Fast Food and Counter Workers60,130$36,290
Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners43,160$46,550

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

57% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 71% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 12.7 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
12.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
56.7%
Top 14% in Massachusetts
Reading proficiency
70.8%
Top 11% in Massachusetts
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
ThompsonArlington53713.857%70%
Gibbs SchoolArlington52912.6
HardyArlington38211.652%69%
John A BishopArlington37512.561%75%

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Massachusetts’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $2,179 takes 17% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 6.2 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
17.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
6.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$2,179
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$933,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income6.20Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate61.2%Bottom 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±61912,629Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$95$2,179Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$32,057$933,200Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.4%Bottom 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.5%Bottom 15%2024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 85°F and January a low of 18°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 42.6 inches.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BEDFORD HANSCOM FLD, 7.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation42.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low18°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high85°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing46°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

88 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are hurricane, earthquake and heat wave.

Ice stormModerate
EarthquakeElevated
Heat waveModerate
HurricaneModerate
DroughtModerate

Low or minimal exposure: inland flooding, lightning, strong wind, cold wave, tornado, wildfire, winter weather, coastal flooding, landslide, hail.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 9 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
General Edward Lawrence Logan IntlBOS9 mi10,083 ft
Manchester Boston RgnlMHT38 mi9,250 ft
Rhode Island TF Green IntlPVD50 mi8,700 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

Customize your score

What matters to you?

Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.

Area Score
Your Score

Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2019-20 school year; 2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

02474 vs Arlington

How this ZIP area compares with Arlington as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

02474
Arlington
Median household income
$150,560
vs
$150,701
Per capita income
$88,030
vs
$91,718
Population density
9,366/sq mi
vs
9,014/sq mi
Median home value
$933,200
vs
$933,800
Median gross rent
$2,179
vs
$2,082
Homeownership rate
61.2%
vs
61.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher
76.3%
vs
76.1%
Poverty rate
4.6%
vs
5.4%
Median age
38.9
vs
41.6

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.