Economic Profile

Watertown is home to more than 1000 employers, from beloved mom-and-pop shops that have been around for more than 40 years to incubator spaces for climate tech and life sciences companies. Watertown strongly supports small businesses: 94% of employers here employ 50 or fewer employees. At the same time, Watertown’s transportation and distribution networks, friendly business climate, and affordable office and lab space offer key components for any company’s growth. The proximity to Boston and Cambridge – with their talent pools, venture capital access and industry concentrations – also generates opportunities for businesses of all sizes.

Key Stats

  • Watertown businesses secured 267 patents for advances in everything from wireless power systems to vaccine delivery mechanisms to cold-brewing coffee. (U.S. PTO, 2020-2024)
  • 2023 public and private investments: $2 million public investment in Watertown companies by Mass Life Sciences Center + $555 million in private venture capital (MassBio)
    • 4th highest totals in the state of Massachusetts
  • Two business membership organizations: Watertown Business Coalition and Charles River Chamber of Commerce
  • Workforce base of more than 20,000 employees
  • More than 3 million square feet of lab/R&D space

It’s also no coincidence that Gov. Healey chose Watertown’s Via Separations as the place to announce her $1.3 billion climate tech investment bill in early 2024. Via Separations has already attracted more than $10 million in public funding and $38 million in private investment for their advances in membrane filtration that reduce energy and waste, applicable across a spectrum of industries. 

Watertown’s economy is diversified; some of the unique employers who call Watertown home include: 

  • Perkins School for the Blind, the first school for the blind in the United States
  • Seven Cycles, the nation’s largest custom manufacturer of titanium and carbon-fiber bicycles
  • Cambridge Scientific Labs, an incubator space that has produced more than a dozen start-up companies and which ranks as one of the biggest women-owned businesses in Massachusetts
  • New England Sports Network (NESN), this 40-year-old sports media broadcaster is the biggest television network in New England and reaches more than 4 million households 
  • Radiation Monitoring Devices, manufacturers of radiation detection devices for more than 40 years and occupying the original manufacturing space for the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, one of the first manufacturers of steam-powered cars in the early 1900s 
  • 85 restaurants (in 4 square miles!) -  from independent coffeeshops to fusion concepts to celebrity chefs, representing cuisines from Europe, the Americas, Nepal, the Caribbean, Armenia, Japan, Persia, India, and Thailand