The Brookline community is rich in races, languages and ethnicities, with a third of the population speaking a language other than English and about the same proportion being foreign-born.

Since 2000, the overall population in Brookline has grown 10% to almost 63,000 residents. In the past decade, the largest growth has been in the Asian population, which increased 19%, followed by Latinos (14%). The white population is still the largest group with about 70% of the total but it declined 3% over that time period.

Brookline’s share of residents speaking a language other than English at home, 33%, is quite a bit higher than the state (24%) and nation (22%). Similarly, 31% of Brookline residents were born abroad, compared to 17% in the state and 14% in the nation. As foreign-born Americans and their descendants have historically been a main driver of population growth, Brookline’s trajectory appears to be toward increasing diversity.

Like much of the U.S., Brookline has a population that is aging, though less rapidly than the state and nation. Brookline’s 60- to 84-year-olds grew 20% since 2007-11, compared to increases of 32% in the state and 33% in the nation. Brookline also had an 8% increase in youth under 20. Just 8% of Brookline residents had a disability, lower than the state and nation (12% and 13%).

A community’s civic spirit shows up to a degree in voter statistics. In 2021, 78% of Brookline’s voting-age population was registered to vote. That’s been fairly consistent since 2018, but is down 5 percentage points from a high of 83% in 2012.

In the 2020 presidential election, 60% of voting-age Brookline residents voted, similar to previous elections and up from 54% in 2000. In 2018, 52% of Brookliners voted in midterm elections, higher than the 39% turnout in 2014.