2026 Compare Cities Economy:
Northampton, MA vs Fairfax, VA

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Highlights
- Household income in Fairfax, is 63% more than it is in Northampton and is 42% above the National Average.
- Northampton unemployment rate is 4.5%.
- Fairfax unemployment rate is 4.3%.
 Northampton, MAFairfax, VAUnited States
 Unemployment Rate  Unlock4.3%6.0%
 Recent Job Growth  Unlock2.0%1.6%
 Future Job Growth37.4%  Unlock33.5%
 Sales Taxes6.3%  Unlock6.2%
 Income Taxes  Unlock5.8%4.6%
 Income per Cap.$41,663  Unlock$37,638
 Household Income  Unlock$118,492$69,021
 Family Median Income$105,741  Unlock$85,028
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 Est. Households By Income
 Northampton, MAFairfax, VAUnited States
 Income Less Than 15K  Unlock5.3%9.4%
 Income between 15K and 20K3.8%  Unlock3.8%
 Income between 20K and 30K  Unlock5.4%8.1%
 Income between 30K and 40K9.0%  Unlock8.0%
 Income between 40K and 50K  Unlock4.9%7.6%
 Income between 50K and 60K5.5%  Unlock7.2%
 Income between 60K and 75K  Unlock5.1%9.6%
 Income between 75K and 100K11.1%  Unlock12.8%
 Income between 100K and 150K  Unlock15.5%16.3%
 Income between 150K and 200K9.8%  Unlock7.8%
 Income greater than 200K  Unlock26.7%9.5%
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 Population By Occupation
 Northampton, MAFairfax, VAUnited States
 Management, business, finance16.1%  Unlock16.4%
 Engineering, computers, science  Unlock15.2%6.5%
 Community, social services4.7%  Unlock1.8%
 Legal  Unlock3.5%1.2%
 Education, library16.2%  Unlock6.2%
 Arts, design, media, sports, entertainment  Unlock2.6%2.0%
 Healthcare practitioners and technology9.4%  Unlock6.2%
 Healthcare support  Unlock1.7%3.3%
 Firefighters, law enforcement1.6%  Unlock2.1%
 Food preparation, serving  Unlock6.1%5.4%
 Building maintenance2.3%  Unlock3.6%
 Personal care  Unlock4.0%2.6%
 Sales, office, administrative support14.0%  Unlock20.9%
 Farming, fishing, forestry  Unlock0.0%0.6%
 Construction, extraction, maintenance/repair3.3%  Unlock8.1%
 Production, transportation, material moving  Unlock6.5%13.1%
Reviews for Northampton    6 Reviews

I was born in Northampton in the 1960"s and have lived other places but always came back to live here. My two children were born here too. What draws be back to  More

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The greater Northampton, MA area is generally a pretty good place to live, if you're interested in Western MA or southern New England in general. MA is more affordable  More

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Northampton is a very progressive, diverse, liberal small city where you will find so much to do in just the downtown area alone. Music, shopping, restaurants, bars,  More

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Reviews for Fairfax    28 Reviews

I lived in the area for 17 years through high school until I eventually became a truck driver. Having now seen most states extensively, I wanted to fairly review what  More

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Living in Fairfax, or any of the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC, means dealing with highways that are a Gordian knot of converging lanes and overpasses, making long  More

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Over 11 years ago

The Cost of living here is high. Though the standard of living is also high, unless you're making over 50,000/year, it's difficult to both live and build any sort of  More

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