As of 2007, the estimated population of Brighton is 42,789, a 2.81% loss from the 2000 Census. The population density is 14,797 per mi, slightly higher than the citywide average of 12,166 per mi. The median age is 32.2. The largest measured age cohort is 25-34, which comprises 32.52% of the population. (Note: depending on methodology, college students might not be counted.) Fifty-nine percent of the population have never been married.
The population was 78% white, 12% Asian American, 3.5% black or African American, and nearly 7% Hispanic of any race.
Thirty-three percent of Brighton has graduated from a four-year college.
The median home price is $495,000 compared with $217,200 for the country as a whole, and the cost of living is 30% higher than the national average. Brighton has a comparatively older housing stock. The median home age was 58 years and 42% of homes were built before 1939.
The largest religious group (45%) is Catholic, with Protestants and other Christians making up the second-largest, at 10% of the population. The next largest religious identification is Judaism (4%), with Islam at 2%.
Brighton is accessible via the B line of Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's (MBTA) Green Line as well as its local bus routes (57 - Kenmore Square to Watertown Yard, 64 - Oak Square to Central Square (Cambridge) via Cambridge Street, 65 - Kenmore Square to Brighton Center via Longwood Medical District, 70 - Waltham to Central Square (Cambridge) via Western Avenue and 86 - Cleveland Circle to Harvard Square via Market Street) and inner-express bus routes (501 - Brighton Center to Financial District and 503 - Brighton Center to Copley Square). The C branch of the Green line terminates in Brighton, and the D branch of the Green line runs nearby, though not through Brighton.
While 47% of the population of Brighton drives alone to work, 36% uses mass transit, compared with 71% and 15% respectively for the United States as a whole.