Indian-American wealth in Massachusetts: Route 128 versus the I-495 belt

Massachusetts has about 144,100 residents of Asian Indian descent, up about 21% from the 2015–2019 survey [1][2]. Half live in Middlesex County, home to Cambridge, Lexington and much of the state's research and tech economy [4].

Our database shows two distinct groups: an upper tier in Boston, Cambridge and Brookline, and a much larger set of $1M+ households in the suburbs along Route 128 and Interstate 495.

• 144,091 residents of Asian Indian descent (alone or in combination) in Massachusetts, 2020–2024 average [1], or 2.0% of the state's population [3] and 2.8% of the US total [1].
• +20.5% versus the 2015–2019 estimate of 119,570 [1][2] (our calculation).
• 6,060 people in the HeyAlbert database placed in Massachusetts at an estimated $1M+, of whom 776 are in our $5M+ bands [8].

Where Massachusetts's Indian-American residents live, by county

The Census Bureau's American Community Survey counts 144,091 people who report Asian Indian ancestry, alone or with another group, across Massachusetts's 14 counties [1][4]. Middlesex County alone holds 50% of them, and the three largest counties together hold 77% [4] (our calculation).

County	2020–2024	2015–2019	Change	Share of county
Middlesex County	71,482	58,958	21%	4.4%
Norfolk County	20,709	16,368	27%	2.8%
Worcester County	18,993	14,538	31%	2.2%
Suffolk County	13,799	12,489	10%	1.8%
Essex County	6,396	6,321	1%	0.8%
Bristol County	4,193	3,635	15%	0.7%
Hampden County	2,574	1,373	87%	0.6%
Plymouth County	2,440	1,889	29%	0.5%
Hampshire County	2,153	2,265	-5%	1.3%
Berkshire County	545	557	-2%	0.4%

Asian Indian alone or in any combination. Sources: ACS 5-year estimates [4][5]; county totals from Table B01003 (2020–2024). Change and share are our calculations. Estimates carry margins of error; small counties move a lot between surveys.

Middlesex County has about 71,000 residents of Asian Indian descent, up about 21% [4][5]. Worcester County, which takes in the I-495 corridor towns west of Boston, grew about 31%, and Norfolk about 27% [4][5]. Lexington and Burlington are the most concentrated larger places, at about 11% and 9% [6][7].

The most concentrated communities

Raw counts favor big cities. Ranking places of 20,000+ residents by the share who report Asian Indian ancestry gives a different map [6][7]:

Place	Asian Indian residents	Total population	Share
Lexington CDP	3,908	34,295	11.4%
Burlington CDP	2,463	26,274	9.4%
Cambridge	6,639	118,796	5.6%
Malden	3,221	65,906	4.9%
Arlington CDP	2,153	46,350	4.6%
Brookline CDP	2,866	63,266	4.5%
Franklin Town	1,415	33,154	4.3%
Quincy	4,338	102,114	4.2%

Places with 20,000+ residents and at least 1,000 Asian Indian residents. CDP = census-designated place. Sources: ACS 2020–2024 5-year, Tables B02018 and B01003 [6][7]; shares are our calculation.

What the HeyAlbert database shows in Massachusetts

HeyAlbert builds profiles of Indian-American individuals with an estimated net worth of $1M or more from public records, and every estimate is tied to a cited source. Our database currently places 6,060 such people in Massachusetts [8]. That is a count of people we have found and estimated, not a census of wealthy households: our coverage is partial and uneven, as the next section explains.

Estimated net-worth band	People in our database
$1M–5M	5,284
$5M–15M	561
$25M+ (probable)	109
$25M+ (likely)	106
Total, $1M+	6,060

Source: HeyAlbert database [8]. Bands are estimates from public evidence; “likely” and “probable” describe our confidence in the $25M+ tier. Cells under 25 are suppressed.

City	$1M+	of which $5M+	of which $25M+
Lexington	574	61	<25
Boston	315	179	71
Cambridge	284	104	<25
Shrewsbury	231	<25	<25
Brookline	204	56	<25
Acton	181	<25	<25
Westford	164	<25	<25
Hopkinton	158	<25	<25
Andover	154	<25	<25
Needham	142	<25	<25
Wellesley	130	31	<25
Newton Centre	126	<25	<25

Source: HeyAlbert database [8]. Cities with 25+ people at $1M+ (54 in Massachusetts); cells under 25 shown as <25. The city is where our sources place the person; for some records it is a workplace or filing address rather than a home.

Lexington has the most people in our Massachusetts set (574), followed by Boston (315) and Cambridge (284) [8]. The upper tiers are urban: Boston has 179 people at $5M+ and 71 at $25M+, and Cambridge 104 at $5M+ [8]. The I-495 belt towns of Shrewsbury, Acton, Westford and Hopkinton each have more than 150 people in our set, but fewer than 25 each in the $5M+ bands [8].

Why our Massachusetts count looks the way it does

Each estimate in our database rests on a primary piece of public evidence. The mix of that evidence differs a lot from state to state, depending on which records we have been able to process, and it shapes the counts above more than any real difference in wealth does [8].

Primary evidence for the estimate	People	Share
Home value (public assessor or listing records)	4,941	82%
Other public signals (executive roles, company filings, gifts, pay)	948	16%
Physician (licensed, specialty-based estimate)	170	3%

Source: HeyAlbert database [8], people at $1M+ in Massachusetts. Categories under 25 not shown.

About 82% of our Massachusetts estimates rest on home values [8]. The state's high home prices mean many professional households in the suburbs cross $1M through property alone. The Boston and Cambridge upper tier is better documented by executive roles, company filings and gifts, which make up most of the rest [8].

Giving signals

215 of the 6,060 people in our Massachusetts set (3.5%) have at least one public giving signal, such as a named gift on a donor roll or a role at a charity [8]. By cause, counting each person once per cause:

Cause area	People with a signal
Education	59
Other causes	55
Human services	43
Health	39
Arts and culture	29

Source: HeyAlbert database [8]. Causes with fewer than 25 people not shown. A person can appear under more than one cause.

What it means if you work with these families

Massachusetts combines a deep professional base in biotech, academia, software and medicine with a small, very wealthy urban tier. The I-495 towns are growing fastest and are full of dual-career families with equity compensation. Boston and Cambridge are where founders, investors and senior executives cluster, and where institutional giving is concentrated.

Methodology

Census figures are American Community Survey 5-year estimates for 2020–2024 and 2015–2019, Table B02018, using “Asian Indian, alone or in any combination,” which counts people who report Asian Indian ancestry together with another group as well as alone [1][2]. Total population comes from Table B01003 [3]. The Census Bureau changed how it codes detailed race responses in 2020, so part of the change between the two periods may reflect coding rather than migration. All estimates carry margins of error; differences of a few percent between small areas should not be over-read. Shares and growth rates are our calculations.

HeyAlbert counts are aggregates from our database as of October 2026 [8]. They include people we identified as likely of Indian origin with an estimated net worth of $1M or more, based on public records such as property assessments, professional licenses, patents, SEC filings and donor rolls. Coverage is partial: we have not found everyone, and what we have found depends on which public records exist and which we have processed in each state. These counts are not population totals and should not be read as the number of wealthy Indian-American households in Massachusetts. Any cell under 25 is suppressed, and we publish aggregates only, never individual records.

Related research

• How many billion-dollar startups have Indian-born founders?
• How does equity compensation drive wealth for Indian American tech executives?
• What are the largest gifts by Indian Americans to US universities?
• Which US states have the largest and wealthiest Indian American populations?

HeyAlbert finds Indian-American families worth $1M+ and tells you who to call, with every fact cited. See who is in Massachusetts at heyalbert.site.

Sources

1. ACS 2020–2024 5-year estimates, Table B02018 (Asian alone or in any combination by selected groups), all states. US Census Bureau. https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B02018?g=010XX00US$0400000 (data: machine-readable)
2. ACS 2015–2019 5-year estimates, Table B02018, all states. US Census Bureau. https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2019.B02018?g=010XX00US$0400000 (data: machine-readable)
3. ACS 2020–2024 5-year estimates, Table B01003 (total population), all states. US Census Bureau. https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=010XX00US$0400000 (data: machine-readable)
4. ACS 2020–2024 5-year estimates, Table B02018, all counties. US Census Bureau. https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B02018?g=010XX00US$0500000 (data: machine-readable)
5. ACS 2015–2019 5-year estimates, Table B02018, all counties. US Census Bureau. https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2019.B02018?g=010XX00US$0500000 (data: machine-readable)
6. ACS 2020–2024 5-year estimates, Table B02018, places in Massachusetts. US Census Bureau. https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B02018?g=040XX00US25$1600000 (data: machine-readable)
7. ACS 2020–2024 5-year estimates, Table B01003, places in Massachusetts. US Census Bureau. https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=040XX00US25$1600000 (data: machine-readable)
8. HeyAlbert database, aggregate counts (October 2026 snapshot); how we build it is described on our methodology page. HeyAlbert. https://heyalbert.site/research/methodology/