Cambridge, MA (02138)

Cambridge, MA (ZIP 02138) sits in Middlesex County within the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metro area. The page draws on 2 federal data feeds retrieved Apr 27. Top health signal: Obesity comes in below the national average at 21.0%. NCES lists 5 schools serving the area, 5 non-charter. 10 colleges and universities serve the area, with median in-state tuition of $56,166. IRS data shows average household income (AGI) of $280,511, well above the ~$45K national average per return. BLS QCEW puts average annual pay at $113,704 per worker — about 74% above the US average and a clear high-wage signal. The CDC SVI flags housing & transportation (75th percentile) as this ZIP's standout vulnerability dimension, sitting well above its overall 28th-percentile score. FEMA has issued 35 federal disaster declarations affecting this ZIP since 1985 — a high-frequency exposure profile. Premature-mortality burden is comparatively low at 4,416 years of potential life lost per 100,000 (County Health Rankings, 2025). Fast-food restaurants outnumber grocery stores roughly 5-to-1 per capita (USDA Food Environment Atlas) — a "food swamp" pattern often linked to higher diet-related disease prevalence. IRS migration data (2022-2023) shows a net loss of 11,848 residents (5,318 households) — the ZIP's primary county is shrinking. Healthcare access is the area's quieter strength; school options sit on the lighter side, so families may find themselves looking at districts a few ZIPs over. Notable: median household income $118,320, fair market rent of $4,230 for a two-bedroom, and a typical home value of $1,142,125, down 0.7% over the past year. Every figure on this page links to its underlying federal dataset with a retrieval date so you can audit the freshness yourself.

Demographics

HUD Fair Market Rents represent the 40th percentile of standard-quality rental housing in this area. FY2026 data.

Home values

Source: Zillow Research, ZHVI All Homes (SFR, Condo/Co-op) Time Series (zillow.com/research/data). Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) is copyrighted by Zillow, Inc.

New housing construction

Apartment construction (5+ unit buildings) accounts for 70% of new units this year — the area is densifying, not just adding single-family stock.

Based on county-level data (2024).

Source: U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (census.gov/construction/bps). Public domain. BPS reports annual residential building permits from local permit-issuing jurisdictions, aggregated to county. A permit reflects intent to build, not a completed unit — actual construction lags by 6-24 months for multifamily projects.

Income & tax statistics

Source: IRS Statistics of Income — Individual Income Tax Statistics by ZIP Code (irs.gov). Public domain. Dollar columns reported in thousands by the IRS; figures here display real dollars. Total ZCTA AGI for the area was $4059.0M across all reported brackets.

Business & employment

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ZIP Business Patterns (census.gov). Public domain. ZBP covers establishments with paid employees; Census suppresses employment and payroll values when fewer employers operate in a ZIP than would protect their confidentiality.

Employment & wages

That is roughly 74% above the US national average of $65,470 per worker.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (bls.gov/cew). Public domain. QCEW is derived from state unemployment-insurance filings and covers ~95% of US jobs. Figures are county-level totals assigned to ZIPs whose primary county matches; small-employer cells are suppressed by BLS to protect employer confidentiality.

Unemployment

Based on Middlesex County, MA data (2024).

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics (bls.gov/lau). Public domain. LAUS publishes monthly and annual labor-force estimates for every US county. Figures are county-level totals assigned to ZIPs whose primary county matches.

Banking access

Based on FDIC-insured branch offices as of June 30, 2024.

Source: FDIC Summary of Deposits (fdic.gov). Annual June-30 snapshot of every FDIC-insured branch and the deposits booked there. Figures cover all institutions reporting a branch address in this ZIP.

Community health centers

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and Look-Alike sites provide primary care on a sliding-fee scale, regardless of ability to pay. Active sites only; data refreshed 2026.

Source: HRSA Bureau of Primary Health Care (data.hrsa.gov). Per-ZIP counts of active service-delivery sites operated by Health Center Program grantees and Look-Alike organizations.

Alternative-fuel stations

Active public stations only. Snapshot taken 2026; AFDC's underlying registry refreshes continuously as stations open and close.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy via NREL (afdc.energy.gov). Per-ZIP counts of active public alternative-fuel stations (electric, hydrogen, propane, CNG, biodiesel, E85, LNG, renewable diesel) and EV charging-port totals.

Public libraries

Public libraries provide free WiFi, computer access, children's programming, job-seeking resources, and meeting space — community infrastructure beyond books. FY2023 outlet inventory from the federal Public Libraries Survey.

Source: Institute of Museum and Library Services (imls.gov). Per-ZIP counts of active public-library outlets — central buildings, branches, and bookmobiles — operated by federally reporting library systems.

Social Vulnerability Index

The Social Vulnerability Index uses U.S. Census data to identify communities most at risk during public health emergencies and natural disasters. Higher percentiles indicate greater vulnerability. Tract-level scores are aggregated to this ZCTA via Census 2020 ZCTA→Tract crosswalk, weighted by land-area share. Source: atsdr.cdc.gov. Public domain.

Federal Disaster Declarations

FEMA declares disasters at the county level; counts here include every federally declared disaster touching any county that overlaps this ZIP. Statewide declarations and pre-1964 records without county granularity are excluded. Program flags reflect which FEMA assistance categories were activated (Individual Assistance, Households, Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation). Source: fema.gov/openfema. Public domain.

Air quality

Based on Middlesex County data (2024).

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System (epa.gov). Public domain. Only counties with EPA AQS monitoring stations appear here (~30% of US counties); rural ZIPs whose primary county has no monitor will not show this section.

Community health profile

Low birth weight (under 2,500 g) accounts for 7.1% of live births in this county — an early-life health input that downstream outcomes track against.

Based on Middlesex data (2025 CHR release).

Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (countyhealthrankings.org). Annual release. Underlying source datasets vary by measure (CDC BRFSS, NCHS Vital Statistics, AHA, USDA Food Environment Atlas, and others). Figures are county-level and assigned to every ZIP whose primary county matches.

Food access

Among low-income residents, 2.6% are low-access — those without a supermarket within 1 mile (urban) or 10 miles (rural).

Per-1,000 figures show how many of each store type exist in Middlesex County, MA for every 1,000 residents. Higher grocery and supercenter density usually means easier access to fresh food; higher convenience-store-only density (with low grocery rate) often signals a food swamp.

Source: USDA Economic Research Service, Food Environment Atlas (ers.usda.gov). County-level metrics fanned to ZIP via the primary county in the Census ZCTA-county relationship file. Variable years differ per family (stores ~2020, low-access ~2019).

Who’s moving in and out

Incoming households reported an average AGI of $104,353 versus departing households' $124,945.

Source: U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income, Migration Data (irs.gov). Public domain. Migration is measured by year-over-year changes in the address on individual tax returns; figures are county-level totals attributed to ZIPs whose primary county matches. Foreign migration contributes to inflow/outflow totals but does not appear in the top-county lists. Small flows are suppressed by IRS to protect taxpayer confidentiality.

Data sources used on this page

Health profile

Crude prevalence estimates from CDC PLACES, derived from BRFSS small-area modeling. Population-level figures only.

Schools in this ZIP

5 schools serve this ZIP, including 5 non-charter.

Schools listed from NCES Common Core of Data via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal.

Colleges & universities nearby

• Harvard University

  Cambridge, MA · 02138

  4-Year

  In-state tuition

  $61,676

  Out-of-state tuition

  $61,676

  Acceptance rate

  3.6%

  Graduation rate

  97.5%

  Median earnings (10 yr)

  $101,817

  Median student debt

  $14,000

• Lesley University

  Cambridge, MA · 02138

  4-Year

  In-state tuition

  $34,256

  Out-of-state tuition

  $34,256

  Acceptance rate

  96.9%

  Graduation rate

  59.9%

  Median earnings (10 yr)

  $51,173

  Median student debt

  $21,000

• Longy School of Music of Bard College

  Cambridge, MA · 02138

  4-Year

  In-state tuition

  $55,275

  Out-of-state tuition

  $55,275

  Acceptance rate

  —

  Graduation rate

  54.5%

  Median earnings (10 yr)

  $46,543

  Median student debt

  $24,254

• Northeastern University

  Boston, MA · 02115

  4-Year

  In-state tuition

  $66,162

  Out-of-state tuition

  $66,162

  Acceptance rate

  5.2%

  Graduation rate

  90.5%

  Median earnings (10 yr)

  $92,538

  Median student debt

  $24,250

• University of Massachusetts-Boston

  Boston, MA · 02125

  4-Year

  In-state tuition

  $15,908

  Out-of-state tuition

  $38,125

  Acceptance rate

  83.8%

  Graduation rate

  50.2%

  Median earnings (10 yr)

  $65,865

  Median student debt

  $21,974

• Bunker Hill Community College

  Boston, MA · 02129

  2-Year

  In-state tuition

  $6,168

  Out-of-state tuition

  $11,112

  Acceptance rate

  —

  Graduation rate

  16.3%

  Median earnings (10 yr)

  $47,618

  Median student debt

  $10,500

• Tufts University

  Medford, MA · 02155

  4-Year

  In-state tuition

  $70,704

  Out-of-state tuition

  $70,704

  Acceptance rate

  11.5%

  Graduation rate

  93.4%

  Median earnings (10 yr)

  $83,214

  Median student debt

  $16,250

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  Cambridge, MA · 02139

  4-Year

  In-state tuition

  $62,396

  Out-of-state tuition

  $62,396

  Acceptance rate

  4.5%

  Graduation rate

  96.2%

  Median earnings (10 yr)

  $143,372

  Median student debt

  $14,768

• Suffolk University

  Boston, MA · 02108

  4-Year

  In-state tuition

  $47,550

  Out-of-state tuition

  $47,550

  Acceptance rate

  82.3%

  Graduation rate

  60.4%

  Median earnings (10 yr)

  $67,506

  Median student debt

  $26,889

• Emerson College

  Boston, MA · 02116

  4-Year

  In-state tuition

  $57,056

  Out-of-state tuition

  $57,056

  Acceptance rate

  51.3%

  Graduation rate

  78.2%

  Median earnings (10 yr)

  $62,832

  Median student debt

  $23,000

Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (collegescorecard.ed.gov). Public domain data. Earnings figures reflect median earnings 10 years after entry for federally-aided students.

What these numbers say together

Frequently Asked Questions — ZIP 02138

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