Welcome to Brewster ...
Brewster is located on Cape Cod Bay.
Brewster is located in Barnstable County<1>.
Brewster was settled in 1656 and was incorporated in 1803.
From the Census Estimates for 2019, Brewster has a population of 9,771 people<2> (see below for details).
Brewster is near sea level<3>.
Time Zone: Brewster lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time
Area Codes for Brewster: 508 & 774<4>
The ZIP code for Brewster: 02631<5>
Population Details ...
Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Brewster had an population of 9,771 people. This is a decrease of 0.5% since the 2010 Census (or a decrease of 3.2% since the 2000 Census).
At the time of the 2010 Census, Brewster had a population of 9,820 people. This makes Brewster the county's 10th most populous community.
The population of Brewster represents 0.15% of the total population of Massachusetts (which has 6,547,629 people), making it the state's 182nd most populous community.
With a 2010 count of 9,820 people, the population of Brewster decreased 2.71% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 10,094 people).
More information can be found on the Census Page for Brewster.
Communities Also Named Brewster ...
Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 15 communities that are also named Brewster - they are located in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Brewster.
Websites for Brewster ...
Official Website: www.town.brewster.ma.us/
Communities near Brewster ...
We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Brewster.
- Barnstable
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Barnstable. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<6>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnstable
- Barnstable is located in Barnstable County
- Population from the 2010 Census: 45,193 people
- Barnstable has also been known as:
- Barnstable Village
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Barnstable
- From Brewster to Barnstable
- Barnstable Town
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Barnstable Town have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barnstable Town
- Barnstable Town is located in Barnstable County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 44,535 people
- Yarmouth
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Yarmouth. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<6>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yarmouth
- Yarmouth is located in Barnstable County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 23,166 people
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Yarmouth
- From Brewster to Yarmouth
- Chatham
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - Eastham
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast) - Wellfleet
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wellfleet
- Wellfleet is located in Barnstable County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,728 people
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Wellfleet
- From Brewster to Wellfleet
- Truro
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north) - East Dennis
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for East Dennis
- East Dennis is located in Barnstable County
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to East Dennis
- From Brewster to East Dennis
- North Harwich
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for North Harwich. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<6>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Harwich
- North Harwich is located in Barnstable County
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to North Harwich
- From Brewster to North Harwich
- South Orleans
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for South Orleans have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Orleans
- South Orleans is located in Barnstable County
To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.
We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Brewster. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Brewster.
Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Brewster. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Brewster.
We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Brewster. See our Newspapers Page for Brewster.
Adding Brewster to Our Gazetteer ...
We originally found mention of Brewster in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.
From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Brewster was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<8>
X2X - From that list, the Brewster post office opened in 1804.
We also found Brewster in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (Oct. 1846).
For more details, see References and Mentions for Brewster.
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Brewster: www.town.brewster.ma.us/
The official website for Barnstable County: www.barnstablecounty.org/
The official website for State of Massachusetts: https://www.mass.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | If you're interested in how the shape of Massachusetts' counties, including Barnstable, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. |
| <2> | Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Brewster. |
| <3> | The elevation is an estimate for the area around Brewster - it will be higher in some places and lower in others. |
| <4> | When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 508 code has been Overlayed with the 774 area code. New phone numbers in the Brewster area will be assigned with one of these codes: 508 or 774. As a result, placing a call in the Brewster area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number). |
| <5> | ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a community (such as Brewster). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Brewster or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS). |
| <6> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <7> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <8> | A copy of their list with background information can be found at: https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/ |