Located about 15 miles due west of Boston, Dover is a residential town nestled on the south banks of the Charles River. Almost all of the residential zoning requires one acre or larger. As recently as the early 1960's, 75% of its annual town budget was allocated to snow removal as it is one of the very few towns in Massachusetts which has no state highways going through it. Dover was founded in 1836.
Dover shares its highly ranked public school system with the town of Sherborn. In addition to Sherborn, Dover is bordered by the towns of Natick, Wellesley, Needham, Dedham, Westwood, Walpole, and Medfield.
For geographic and demographic information on the census-designated place Dover, please see the article Dover (CDP), Massachusetts.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 39.9 km² (15.4 mi²). 39.7 km² (15.3 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.52% water.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there are 5,558 people, 1,849 households, and 1,567 families residing in the town. The population density is 140.0/km² (362.6/mi²). There are 1,884 housing units at an average density of 47.5 persons/km² (122.9 persons/mi²). The racial makeup of the town is 95.18% White, 0.41% African American, 0.04% Native American, 3.63% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.05% from other races, and 0.67% from two or more races. 1.19% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 1,849 households out of which 46.0% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 77.0% are married couples living together, 5.5% have a woman whose husband does not live with her, and 15.2% are non-families. 12.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 5.9% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.01 and the average family size is 3.29.
In the town the population is spread out with 31.6% under the age of 18, 3.7% from 18 to 24, 23.9% from 25 to 44, 29.6% from 45 to 64, and 11.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 40 years. For every 100 females there are 95.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 92.8 males.
The median income for a household in the town is $141,818, and the median income for a family is $157,168. Males have a median income of $100,000 versus $56,473 for females. The per capita income for the town is $64,899. 3.0% of the population and 2.3% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 2.5% are under the age of 18 and 7.1% are 65 or older.