County Hampden County, Massachusetts - Population, Income & Demographics

The median income of households in Hampden County, Massachusetts was $71,306. An estimated 6% of households had income below $10,000 a year and 10.1% had income of $200,000 or more.

An estimated 72.7% of households received earnings. An estimated 34.4% of households received Social Security and an estimated 23.7 % of households received retirement income other than Social Security. The average income from Social Security was $21,534. These income sources are not mutually exclusive; that is, some households received income from more than one source.

In 2020-2024, 16.3 % of people were in poverty. An estimated 22.9% of children under 18 were below the poverty level, compared with 14.5% of people 65 years old and over. An estimated 14.6% of people 18 to 64 years were below the poverty level.

In 2020-2024, 25.5 % of households received SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). An estimated 41.6% of households that received SNAP had children under 18, and 38.6% of households that received SNAP had one or more people 60 years and over. An estimated 34.4% of all households receiving SNAP were families with a female householder and no spouse present.

Among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in Hampden County, Massachusetts in 2020-2024, 97% had health insurance coverage and 3% did not have health insurance coverage. Private coverage was 61.9% and public coverage was 49.3%, respectively. The percentage of children under the age of 19 with no health insurance coverage was 2.5%.

In 2020-2024, Hampden County, Massachusetts had a total population of 462,815 - 237,689 (51.4%) females and 225,126 (48.6%) males. The median age was 40 years. An estimated 20.9% of the population was under 18 years, 32.6% was 19 to 44 years, 25.4% was 45 to 64 years, and 18.3 % was 65 years and older.

In 2020-2024, there were 184,471 households in Hampden County, Massachusetts. The average household size was 2.44 people.

Married-couple households made up 39.9% of the households in Hampden County, Massachusetts while cohabiting couple households made up 8.7% of households. Female householders with no spouse or partner present were 32.7% of all households, while 18.7% of households had male householders with no spouse or partner present. Some households had one person, as 14% of households were male householders living alone, and 17.3% were female householders living alone, for a total of 31.3% of all households.

In Hampden County, Massachusetts, 28.1% of all households had one or more people under the age of 18; 33.5% of all households had one or more people 65 years and over.

In 2020-2024, an estimated 90.6% of the people living in Hampden County, Massachusetts were U.S. natives. 63.4% of the Hampden County, Massachusetts population were living in the state where they were born.

Approximately 9.4% of Hampden County, Massachusetts residents in 2020-2024 were foreign-born. 60.2% of foreign-born were naturalized U.S. citizens and an estimated 64.4 % entered the country before the year 2010.

Foreign-born residents of Hampden County, Massachusetts come from different parts of the world. The bar graph below displays the percentage of foreign-born from each world region of birth in 2020-2024 for Hampden County, Massachusetts.

Among people at least five years old living in Hampden County, Massachusetts in 2020-2024, 25.6 % spoke a language other than English at home. Spanish was spoken by 17.4% of people at least five years old; 11% reported that they did not speak English "very well."

In 2020-2024, 91.7 % of the people at least one year old living in Hampden County, Massachusetts were living in the same house one year earlier.

In 2020-2024, 87.2 % of people 25 years and over had at least graduated from high school and 29.3% had a bachelor's degree or higher. An estimated 12.8% did not complete high school.

The total school enrollment in Hampden County, Massachusetts was 108,230 in 2020-2024. Nursery school enrollment was 6,698 and kindergarten through 12th grade enrollment was 73,321. College or graduate school enrollment was 28,211.

In Hampden County, Massachusetts, among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2020-2024, 16.9 % reported a disability. The likelihood of having a disability varied by age - from 8% of people under 18 years old, to 14.8% of people 18 to 64 years old, and to 34.6% of those 65 and over.

In Hampden County, Massachusetts, 56.4 % of the population 16 and over were employed; 39.9% were not currently in the labor force.

An estimated 78.2% of the people employed were private wage and salary workers; 16.4% were federal, state, or local government workers; and 5.4 % were self-employed in their own (not incorporated) business.

In 2020-2024, the civilian employed population 16 years and older in Hampden County, Massachusetts worked in the following industries:

An estimated 76% of Hampden County, Massachusetts workers drove to work alone in 2020-2024, and 7.9% carpooled. Among those who commuted to work, it took them on average 22.7 minutes to get to work.

In 2020-2024, Hampden County, Massachusetts had a total of 197,591 housing units. Of these housing units, 61.2% were single-family houses either not attached to any other structure or attached to one or more structures (commonly referred to as "townhouses" or "row houses"). 37.3% of the housing units were located in multi-unit structures, or those buildings that contained two or more apartments. 1.3% were mobile homes, while any remaining housing units were classified as "other," which included boats, recreational vehicles, vans, etc.

3.2% of the housing inventory was comprised of houses built since 2010, while 27.9% of the houses were first built in 1939 or earlier. The median number of rooms in all housing units in Hampden County, Massachusetts was 5.4 rooms, and of these housing units 57.2% had three or more bedrooms.

In 2020-2024, Hampden County, Massachusetts had 184,471 housing units that were occupied or had people living in them, while the remaining 13,120 were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, the percentage of these houses occupied by owners (also known as the homeownership rate) was 62.2% while renters occupied 37.8%. The average household size of owner-occupied houses was 2.58 and in renter-occupied houses it was 2.21.

3.2% of householders of these occupied houses had moved into their house since 2021, while 13.7% moved into their house in 1989 or earlier. Households without a vehicle available for personal use comprised 12% and another 16.3% had three or more vehicles available for use.

The following chart provides the primary fuel used to heat houses in Hampden County, Massachusetts:

In 2020-2024, the median property value for owner-occupied houses in Hampden County, Massachusetts was $298,800.

Of the owner-occupied households, 64.2 % had a mortgage. 35.8% owned their houses "free and clear," that is without a primary mortgage or loan on the house. The median monthly housing costs for owners with a mortgage was $1,966 and for owners without a mortgage it was $824.

For renter-occupied houses, the median gross rent for Hampden County, Massachusetts was $1,136. Gross rent includes the monthly contract rent and any monthly payments made for electricity, gas, water and sewer, and any other fuels to heat the house.