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Middlesex County, MA — Physical therapy Saturation

How many physical therapy exist per person present — residents plus daytime workers — by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Establishment data: Census ZBP 2023. Population: ACS 2024 5-year. 98 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Physical therapy clinics · Occupational therapy offices · Speech therapy offices · Audiology offices. Counted together because official statistics use one 621340 code.

Measured density: Range spans bands — 0.72× the U.S. rate (between 0.72× and 1.05× once withheld ZIP cells are counted)

Why a range: Census does not publish a ZIP-by-industry count when that ZIP has 0–2 businesses. 61 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 46 of them with residents. Each could hold 0, 1, or 2 businesses: counting them all as 0 gives the low end, counting them all as 2 gives the high end — the data cannot say where the truth sits. The density range uses only the populated cells, since ZIPs without residents are excluded from per-person rates. How ranges work

Range spans the U.S. rate   Middlesex County physical therapy — 72–105% of the U.S. rate

197 physical therapy are counted in Middlesex County — 0.9 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 72% of the U.S. rate of 1.3.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has risen 28% between 2015 and 2023 (106 → 136). That set is smaller than today's county total. 2020–2021 were pandemic-distorted, and Census rounds counts, so small moves are within noise.

Measured supply density is highest in 02420 (Lexington), 02458 (Newton), 01720 (Acton) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 01752 (Marlborough), 02138 (Cambridge), 01887 (Wilmington).

Census County Business Patterns (2023) puts the county-wide count at 242 establishments, including locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA — so it can run slightly above the sum of the ZIP rows on this page. It is annual, so it lags more than QCEW.

Measured density: Middlesex County sits at 72% of the U.S. rate for physical therapy. 46 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 72% and 105% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 02420 and 02458; the lowest measured density is in 01752 and 02138.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing physical therapy and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more. Treat low density as a question to check, not an answer.

Physical therapy
197–319
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (61 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
0.9
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
1.3
per 10,000 present
County index
0.72×
vs. U.S.
Latest year (CBP)
242
2023 — $96M annual payroll
Residents
1,653,842
83 ZIPs with data
Workers
958,530
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
1,668,956
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
+2.5%
+41,378 people
Net migration 2024
+19,403
international +29,046, domestic −9,643
Jobs located here
944,369
LODES 2022, −0.8% since 2019

Middlesex County had an estimated 1,668,956 residents on July 1, 2024 — 2.5% more than in 2020 (+41,378). In the latest year it gained 24,024 people: births minus deaths +4,525, international migration +29,046, domestic migration −9,643. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

944,369 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (−0.8% since 2019), and 822,882 employed residents lived there (−2.2% since 2019). LODES counts wage and salary jobs covered by unemployment insurance plus federal jobs; it excludes the self-employed and military, and counts jobs rather than unique people. 2019→2022 spans the pandemic, so read it as one change, not a trend.

Population and migration say whether the customer base is growing. They do not say whether people want another business of this type. Definitions and limits →  ·  Full county detail →

ZIP gaining residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
01432 Ayer
+10.7%
01748 Hopkinton
+10.0%
02149 Everett
+8.5%
ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
01464 Shirley
−8.6%
01821 Billerica
−8.1%
01803 Burlington
−5.0%

ACS 5-year estimates for 2015–2019 and 2020–2024. Only ZIPs with at least 2,000 residents in both windows and a change larger than the survey margin of error (90%) are listed — small ZIPs move a lot on paper without a real signal.

Nonemployer businesses (no paid employees)

Nonemployer businesses
576
no paid employees (2024)
Receipts
$25.4M
published gross receipts
Receipts per business
$44K
gross, not profit

Census Nonemployer Statistics counts businesses with no paid employees — a separate universe from the employer establishments counted above; a business is in one or the other, never both. They are not storefronts by definition: many are home-based, mobile, or part-time.

We show them beside the density index, not inside it. In categories such as nail and beauty salons, child care, and pet care, one-person businesses can outnumber employer establishments, so the employer-only count understates how many businesses exist. That is not evidence of higher demand.

Receipts are gross revenue reported for these businesses — not profit, and not the size of the local market. Census publishes this only at county level, so it is not shown on the ZIP map. See methodology.

Saturation map

Each ZIP area is shaded by its density of this business type per person present (residents + workers) vs. the U.S. average. Click any ZIP to zoom to its boundary, see its numbers, and switch to aerial imagery. Individual mapped shops appear as dots at street level — Show locations zooms you in to them (scroll or double-click to zoom).

Basemap:
Under 50% 50–100% 100–150% 150–250% 250%+ 0–2 (not published) / no data ZIP total (dot size) Mapped shop (OpenStreetMap, street level)

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles by OpenFreeMap.

White dots are ZIP totals from the official Census count — the bigger the dot, the more physical therapy in that ZIP. They are aggregated, not individual shops. Turquoise dots are individual locations mapped in OpenStreetMap, shown only at street level; they are crowd-sourced and indicative, may be incomplete, and do not equal the official counts. Only the official ZIP totals feed the saturation index.

Market trend — up 28% since 2015

Number of physical therapy in Middlesex County across 2015–2023, on a consistent set of ZIP codes present in every year — so changes are real, not ZIP-boundary artifacts. 2015/2018 are pre-pandemic baselines; 2020/2021 are COVID-distorted.

106
2015
118
2018
121
2020
119
2021
133
2022
136
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
02420 Lexington
338%
02458 Newton
317%
01720 Acton
243%
02465 West Newton
239%
01824 Chelmsford
233%
02476 Arlington
198%
01450 Groton
189%
01760 Natick
180%
01862 North Billerica
176%
01776 Sudbury
175%
02176 Melrose
169%
01876 Tewksbury
162%
01742 Concord
161%
01801 Woburn
154%
01778 Wayland
149%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
01752 Marlborough
37%
02138 Cambridge
38%
01887 Wilmington
64%
02148 Malden
65%
02155 Medford
75%
02143 Somerville
75%
01886 Westford
79%
02421 Lexington
82%
02144 Somerville
83%
01702 Framingham
84%
01730 Bedford
88%
01880 Wakefield
89%
01748 Hopkinton
90%
01852 Lowell
92%
01749 Hudson
95%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few physical therapy may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. We rank only residential and mixed ZIPs here; employment hubs and visitor destinations are listed separately below. ZIPs where Census did not publish a count (0–2 businesses) are not ranked: they may be the least served of all, but the data cannot tell 0 from 1 or 2. Verify those locally.

Employment hubs & destinations

These ZIPs have far more workers (or visitors) than residents, so their counts are driven by daytime and visitor demand — not a place to read "shortage" from resident numbers alone.

ZIPNeighborhoodType ResidentsWorkersPhysical therapyIndex
02451Waltham Employment hub 17,39359,760 6 99%
01434Devens Employment hub 1,5644,918 0–2 —
02142Cambridge Employment hub 4,73731,327 0–2 —
02462Newton Lower Falls Employment hub 1,4705,891 0–2 —

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

All ZIP codes

Click a column header to sort. Index = physical therapy per 10,000 people present (residents + 0.5×workers) ÷ the U.S. average. 100% = exactly average.

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersPhysical therapy Per 10kIndexStatus
02420Lexington 16,2154,413 8 4.3 338% Very high density
02458Newton 13,0508,239 7 4.1 317% Very high density
01720Acton 23,52610,629 9 3.1 243% High density
02465West Newton 11,6972,691 4 3.1 239% High density
01824Chelmsford 26,65020,094 11 3.0 233% High density
02476Arlington 17,7083,887 5 2.5 198% High density
01450Groton 11,3561,923 3 2.4 189% High density
01760Natick 36,78221,689 11 2.3 180% High density
01862North Billerica 12,12911,110 4 2.3 176% High density
01776Sudbury 19,2705,788 5 2.3 175% High density
02176Melrose 29,6505,241 7 2.2 169% High density
01876Tewksbury 31,00414,955 8 2.1 162% High density
01742Concord 18,44811,358 5 2.1 161% High density
01801Woburn 41,93947,661 13 2.0 154% High density
01778Wayland 14,0333,272 3 1.9 149% Above average
02472Watertown 35,62017,292 8 1.8 141% Above average
01867Reading 25,6126,756 4 1.4 107% Above average
02467Chestnut Hill 23,00114,964 4 1.3 102% Above average
02478Belmont 27,1757,481 4 1.3 101% Above average
01803Burlington 26,27440,471 6 1.3 100% Above average
02451Waltham 17,39359,760 6 1.3 99% Below average
01851Lowell 33,40313,356 5 1.2 97% Below average
01749Hudson 20,0779,145 3 1.2 95% Below average
01852Lowell 37,1449,846 5 1.2 92% Below average
01748Hopkinton 19,35813,167 3 1.2 90% Below average
01880Wakefield 27,79314,674 4 1.1 89% Below average
01730Bedford 14,70723,516 3 1.1 88% Below average
01702Framingham 39,78912,859 5 1.1 84% Below average
02144Somerville 25,4485,471 3 1.1 83% Below average
02421Lexington 18,08020,781 3 1.1 82% Below average
01886Westford 24,6909,553 3 1.0 79% Below average
02143Somerville 25,51311,442 3 1.0 75% Below average
02155Medford 61,73022,673 7 1.0 75% Below average
02148Malden 65,90612,471 6 0.8 65% Below average
01887Wilmington 23,33626,779 3 0.8 64% Below average
02138Cambridge 38,50946,771 3 0.5 38% Far below average
01752Marlborough 41,64743,679 3 0.5 37% Far below average
01431Ashby 3,211224 0–2 — — Not published
01432Ayer 8,5214,132 0–2 — — Not published
01434Devens 1,5644,918 0–2 — — Not published
01460Littleton 10,2806,243 0–2 — — Not published
01463Pepperell 11,6971,887 0–2 — — Not published
01464Shirley 6,9761,571 0–2 — — Not published
01469Townsend 6,8201,363 0–2 — — Not published
01471Groton —360 0–2 — — Not published
01472West Groton —147 0–2 — — Not published
01474West Townsend 2,280106 0–2 — — Not published
01701Framingham 32,61828,173 0–2 — — Not published
01703Framingham —27 0–2 — — Not published
01704Framingham —12 0–2 — — Not published
01718Acton 4047 0–2 — — Not published
01719Boxborough 5,4963,309 0–2 — — Not published
01721Ashland 18,8734,438 0–2 — — Not published
01731Hanscom Afb 2,110168 0–2 — — Not published
01741Carlisle 5,239556 0–2 — — Not published
01746Holliston 15,0945,337 0–2 — — Not published
01754Maynard 10,7123,080 0–2 — — Not published
01770Sherborn 4,427471 0–2 — — Not published
01773Lincoln 4,8911,992 0–2 — — Not published
01775Stow 7,165957 0–2 — — Not published
01805Burlington —4,971 0–2 — — Not published
01821Billerica 30,14315,332 0–2 — — Not published
01826Dracut 32,6295,452 0–2 — — Not published
01827Dunstable 3,408224 0–2 — — Not published
01850Lowell 17,7401,500 0–2 — — Not published
01853Lowell —406 0–2 — — Not published
01854Lowell 30,0817,284 0–2 — — Not published
01863North Chelmsford 9,7962,960 0–2 — — Not published
01864North Reading 15,7656,881 0–2 — — Not published
01865Nutting Lake —5 0–2 — — Not published
01866Pinehurst —16 0–2 — — Not published
01879Tyngsboro 12,5503,772 0–2 — — Not published
01888Woburn —534 0–2 — — Not published
01890Winchester 23,4066,381 0–2 — — Not published
02139Cambridge 40,03357,246 0–2 — — Not published
02140Cambridge 21,2049,129 0–2 — — Not published
02141Cambridge 14,51715,363 0–2 — — Not published
02142Cambridge 4,73731,327 0–2 — — Not published
02145Somerville 27,4956,587 0–2 — — Not published
02149Everett 50,04514,514 0–2 — — Not published
02153Medford —168 0–2 — — Not published
02180Stoneham 23,3557,742 0–2 — — Not published
02238Cambridge —2,153 0–2 — — Not published
02452Waltham 15,8088,200 0–2 — — Not published
02453Waltham 31,59122,576 0–2 — — Not published
02454Waltham —592 0–2 — — Not published
02455North Waltham —34 0–2 — — Not published
02459Newton Center 18,44912,295 0–2 — — Not published
02460Newtonville 10,0992,429 0–2 — — Not published
02461Newton Highlands 6,9752,905 0–2 — — Not published
02462Newton Lower Falls 1,4705,891 0–2 — — Not published
02464Newton Upper Falls 3,8333,819 0–2 — — Not published
02466Auburndale 8,67916,302 0–2 — — Not published
02468Waban 5,773345 0–2 — — Not published
02471Watertown —772 0–2 — — Not published
02474Arlington 28,6423,974 0–2 — — Not published
02475Arlington Heights —49 0–2 — — Not published
02493Weston 11,5793,311 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Waltham

The numbers above tell you how the market looks. To find a specific storefront, these marketplaces list available retail space for lease.

LoopNet
Largest commercial marketplace
Browse Waltham retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Waltham retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Waltham retail space →

Open vacancy data (actual empty units) is only published by some cities; where it exists we show it directly. Listings above are third-party.

Census withholds some ZIP-by-industry cells to protect small businesses. 0–2 means the cell was not published (Census publishes industry counts only at 3+ per ZIP), so the ZIP is left unranked rather than counted as zero. ~ means the count is estimated from the broader industry group and can be off by a business or two.

Follow Middlesex County and physical therapy

When a data vintage changes or a section of this report is revised, we post it to a public update feed. No email address, no account, no tracking — and nothing is sent unless something actually changed.

Subscribe to updates (RSS) How these numbers are built →

Methodology & sources

Establishments. U.S. Census ZIP Code Business Patterns (ZBP 2023), NAICS 621340 — offices of physical, occupational and speech therapists, and audiologists. Counts establishments with paid employees. ZBP is published annually with a ~2-year lag.

Fresh county signal. This industry has no clean QCEW series, so the freshest county signal is Census County Business Patterns 2023: 242 establishments and $96M in annual payroll county-wide. This count includes locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA, so it can be slightly higher than the sum of the ZIP rows. CBP is annual and slower than QCEW. It cannot be broken down by ZIP.

Population. U.S. Census American Community Survey 2024 5-year ZCTA population (table B01003). Workers are the ZIP's total employment from the same 2023 ZBP file.

Demand ("people present"). Demand comes from residents and daytime workers: residents + 0.5 × workers. This is the single documented assumption in the model and can be tuned.

Index. index = (ZIP establishments ÷ ZIP demand × 10,000) ÷ the U.S. average for this industry (1.29 per 10,000 present). It is a supply-side density measure; it does not capture income, rent, tourism, or whether locals actually want more.

Read the full methodology →  ·  Data sources & vintages →

BizGapMap — free, no-login small-business saturation reports for major U.S. counties. Built entirely from public U.S. Census, BLS, and IRS data (ZBP 2023, ACS 2024 5-year, PEP 2024, LODES, QCEW, IRS SOI). No forecasts, no revenue guesses — withheld cells are marked, and the few derived counts are labelled as estimates.