Today, Holden is primarily a high-income residential “bedroom community” for the surrounding urban areas, particularly the city of Worcester, offering residents a blend of rural feel and suburban amenities. It is a town with a relatively affluent, highly educated populace, with a large percentage of the working population employed in professional or administrative capacities. While there is a strong presence of local small businesses, the town’s major employers are rooted in public services and regional institutions, such as the Wachusett Regional School District and, regionally, UMass Memorial Health Care. The town is known for its safety, highly-rated public schools (part of the first regional school district in Massachusetts), and its significant amount of protected open space, watershed, and recreational areas.