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Wayland
Demographic and Related Information
Middlesex County
Population: 12,996
Area: 24.7 sq. miles
Miles from Boston : 18
2010 tax rate: $17.78 per $1,000
Bond rating: Triple A
Demographic Data: Download PDF
The farming community of East Sudbury separated from Sudbury in 1835 to become Wayland. When the Industrial Revolution brought a new train station in 1881 connecting Wayland Center with Boston and Northhampton, Wayland became a busy commuter town. Wayland proved appealing as a summer residence for well-to-do Bostonians who bought country estates, built new homes, or remodeled older farmhouses, stimulating the economy of north Wayland. In contrast, a small mill center developed in Cochituate Village which by the late 1850’s was thickly settled by a new influx of several hundred immigrants.
Today, Wayland is a home to many urban professionals who seek out the excellent schools and the beauty of its protected open spaces. MCAS scores and the percentage of Wayland students bound for four-year colleges are in the top 10 in the region, while more than 40 percent of the town is open space. Supporting conservation land is an important part of the town’s landscape. Nearly 25 percent of the town today is conservation property. Wayland’s open spaces includes 2 public golf courses, a town beach on the shore of Lake Cochituate, Dudley Pond (an 84 acre body of water), Heards Pond (adjacent to the Great Madows National Wildlife Refuge), Mill Pond, and the Sudbury River, which winds along Wayland’s western border with Sudbury.
 With Wayland’s 2005 average single-family sold price between $500,000 and $700,000, town officials are working hard to cultivate affordable housing. Developers are currently proposing 12 units of affordable homes as part of the Route 20 Wayland Commons project, as well as 16 units of affordable homes on town land near the Lincoln border.
In May of this year, Wayland is poised to vote for the construction of a new town center on the former Raytheon site, hoping to bring retail, housing and office uses to town. In addition to the services it will bring to the center of Wayland, this development will bring more tax revenue to the town, 70% of which is earmarked to insure the continued excellence of the public schools. The government is run by Selectmen and a Town Manager with Open Town Meetings.
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