Cost of Living in Waltham
Waltham's cost of living runs genuinely above national figures, driven substantially by housing rather than an outsized property tax burden.
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Learn moreA real, substantial housing cost
Zillow's typical home value ran $757,100 (June 2026, +1.5% YoY); Redfin separately cited a $792,000 median sale price (November 2025) -- a real, disclosed spread between a value-index measure and an actual sale price (base record).
A property tax bill close to, not above, the state average
Waltham's FY2026 residential rate of $10.32 per $1,000 (a 1.032% effective rate), applied against the typical home value, implies an approximate $7,813 annual bill -- close to Massachusetts's own $7,838 statewide average single-family bill, a real, non-alarmist data point (base record).
A genuinely high household income base
Waltham's median household income ran $120,216 in 2024, up from $116,560 in 2023 -- a real, sourced income base consistent with its biotech/university-driven economy (base record).
Massachusetts's statewide flat 5% income tax applies identically
Massachusetts's real flat 5% income tax (plus the 4% surtax above $1,107,750 of taxable income) applies the same in Waltham as anywhere else in the state -- see massachusetts.js.
Key takeaways
- Typical home value ($757,100, Zillow) and median sale price ($792,000, Redfin) both run genuinely, substantially above national figures.
- Waltham's implied property tax bill (~$7,813) runs close to Massachusetts's own $7,838 statewide average, not dramatically above it.
- Median household income ($120,216, 2024) runs genuinely high, consistent with the biotech/university economic base.
- Massachusetts's flat 5% income tax and 4% millionaires surtax apply statewide, not as a Waltham-specific cost.
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