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Welcome to Chatham ...

Chatham is located in Barnstable County<1>.

Chatham was settled in 1665 and was incorporated in 1712.

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Chatham has a population of 5,983 people<2> (see below for details).

Chatham is near sea level<3>.

Time Zone: Chatham lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Chatham: 508 & 774<4>

The ZIP code for Chatham: 02633<5>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Chatham had an population of 5,983 people. This is a decrease of 2.32% since the 2010 Census (or a decrease of 9.69% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Chatham had a population of 6,125 people. This makes Chatham the county's 11th most populous community.

The population of Chatham represents 0.09% of the population of Massachusetts (which has 6,547,629 people), making it the state's 228th most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 6,125 people, the population of Chatham decreased 7.55% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 6,625 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Chatham.

Communities Also Named Chatham ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 26 communities that are also named Chatham - they are located in Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois (2), Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland (3), Michigan, Minnesota (2), Mississippi, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio (2), Ontario, Pennsylvania, Quebec, Virginia and Wyoming.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Chatham.

Communities near Chatham ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Chatham.

  • Barnstable
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Yarmouth
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Dennis
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Dennis is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dennis
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 13,890 people
  • Brewster
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Orleans
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Orleans is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Orleans
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 5,802 people
  • Eastham
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
  • Wellfleet
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
  • South Harwich
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • South Harwich is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Harwich
  • South Orleans
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • South Orleans is located in Barnstable County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for South Orleans
  • Harwich Port
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)

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 Chatham. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Chatham.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Chatham. 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 Chatham.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Chatham. See our Newspapers Page for Chatham.

Adding Chatham to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Chatham 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 (so far) for Chatham was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the Chatham post office opened in 1797.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Chatham.

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 Chatham.
<3>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Chatham - 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 Chatham area will be assigned with one of these codes: 508 or 774. As a result, placing a call in the Chatham 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 Chatham). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Chatham or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
<6>A copy of the Blevins & Helbock Post Office list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/