Worcester is a relatively large city located in the state of Massachusetts. With a population of 211,286 people and 46 associated neighborhoods, Worcester is the second largest community in Massachusetts. Worcester has a large stock of pre-World War II architecture, making it one of the older and more historic cities in the country.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Worcester is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Worcester is a city of professionals, service providers, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Worcester who work in office and administrative support (10.28%), management occupations (9.65%), and teaching (7.64%). Also of interest is that Worcester has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. Telecommuters are a relatively large percentage of the workforce: 10.71% of people work from home. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce it is high relative to the nation. 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. Worcester is a nice balance between life in a moderately big city and the interesting diversions and culture that come from having a big college student population. The thousands of students who arrive on campus every fall will find that Worcester has plenty of amenities and opportunities for them, while residents of Worcester enjoy the lectures, music, art, and economic trickle-down that colleges typically provide. "Town and Gown" complement each other in Worcester. The education level of Worcester citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 34.09% of adults in Worcester have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in Worcester in 2022 was $35,825, which is low income relative to Massachusetts, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $143,300 for a family of four. However, Worcester contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Worcester is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Worcester home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Worcester residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Worcester also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 24.91% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Worcester include Irish, Italian, English, French, and Polish. Foreign born people are also an important part of Worcester's cultural character, accounting for 23.17% of the city’s population. The most common language spoken in Worcester is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and African languages.
