The following is a list of prominent people who were born in Worcester, Massachusetts, lived in Worcester, or for whom Worcester is a significant part of their identity.

Academics and inventors

• Richard T. Antoun (1932–2009), Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Binghamton University
• Harvey Ball (1921–2001), inventor of the smiley face
• Alan T. Busby (1895–1992), educator and first African-American alumnus of the University of Connecticut
• Harold W. Chase (1922–1982), educator and United States military officer
• Robert Goddard (1882–1945), father of modern rocketry
• G. Stanley Hall (1846–1924), first president of Clark University
• John Kneller (1916–2009), English-American professor and fifth President of Brooklyn College
• David Green (born 1963), president of Colby College
• Leonard Morse (born 1929), university professor of clinical medicine
• Lawrence Park (1873–1924), art historian, architect, and genealogist
• Francis E. Reed (1852–1917), inventor and industrialist who founded F.E. Reed & Co.
• Daniel B. Wesson (1825–1906), gunsmith, co-founder of Smith & Wesson

Actors and artists

• John Wolcott Adams (1874–1925), artist
• Edith Ella Baldwin (1846–1920), artist
• H. Jon Benjamin, actor best known as the voices of Sterling Archer on Archer, Bob Belcher on Bob's Burgers, and Can of Vegetables in the Wet Hot American Summer franchise
• Christopher Boffoli, photographer
• Elbridge Boyden, architect of Mechanics Hall
• Zara Cully, actress best known for The Jeffersons
• Stephen DiRado, photographer
• Stephen C. Earle, architect
• Paul Fontaine, abstractist colorist painter
• Joslyn Fox, drag queen, contestant on Rupaul’s Drag Race season 6
• Ryan Idol, adult film actor
• Rita Johnson, actress, co-starred opposite Spencer Tracy in Edison, The Man
• Jean Louisa Kelly, actress from Yes, Dear
• Arthur Kennedy, Oscar-nominated, Tony Award-winning actor
• Dorothy Stratton King, painter and printmaker
• Diane and Elaine Klimaszewski, actresses and models best known as the "Coors Light Twins"
• Jarrett J. Krosoczka, children's book author and illustrator; his Punk Farm optioned by DreamWorks Animation
• Denis Leary, actor and comedian
• Tom Lewis, artist and activist
• Joyner Lucas, American rapper
• John Lurie, actor, musician, and composer
• Nora Marlowe (1915–1977), actress
• Eddie Mekka, actor best known for playing Carmine Ragusa on Laverne and Shirley
• Alisan Porter, former child actress and winner of Season 10 of The Voice
• Terri Priest, artist
• Sam Qualiana, actor and filmmaker involved with many low-budget horror films, including Snow Shark (2012)
• Joyce Reopel, artist
• Renee Sands, former child actress and singer from Kids Incorporated and Wild Orchid
• Sam Seder, podcast host of The Majority Report, actor, writer and director
• Joseph Skinger, silversmith, sculptor
• Doug Stanhope, comedian known for abrasive style and for The Man Show
• Lewis Stone (1879–1953), actor, The Secret Six, Grand Hotel, Andy Hardy series
• Erik Per Sullivan, actor, Malcolm in the Middle
• Wu Tsang, filmmaker, artist, and performer
• David Whitney, art curator
• Alicia Witt, actress, singer-songwriter
• Hildegard Woodward, children's book illustrator

Athletes

• Jerry Azumah, former NFL defensive back^[1]
• Tyler Beede (born 1993), baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants
• Frank Carroll, US figure skater and coach, 1960 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, actor^[2]
• Tim Collins, relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals^[3]
• Alana Cook, soccer player for the United States national team^[4]
• Bob Cousy, Hall of Fame basketball player; attended the College of the Holy Cross; currently lives in Worcester^[5]
• Ken Doane, professional wrestler^[6]
• Oliver Drake, relief pitcher who's a free agent
• Rich Gedman, Boston Red Sox catcher, manager of the Worcester Tornadoes^[7]
• Bill Guerin, former Pittsburgh Penguins right winger^[8]
• Aaron Haddad, professional wrestler in WWE^[9]
• Tom Heinsohn, NBA Hall of Fame, Boston Celtics great; attended College of Holy Cross
• Gordon Lockbaum, attended Holy Cross College; twice finished in the top five in the Heisman Trophy balloting^[10]
• Dwayne McClain, former NBA/Professional basketball player. Starred at Villanova in the early/mid 1980s. Attended Holy Name Catholic Central
• Tom Poti, former NHL defenseman^[11]
• J.P. Ricciardi, MLB executive, former general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays^[12]
• José Antonio Rivera, WBA light middleweight champion^{[citation needed]}
• Richard Rodgers II, 3rd-string Tight End for the Philadelphia Eagles; played for St. John's High School
• Edwin Rodríguez, boxer^[13]
• Rosy Ryan – was a professional baseball pitcher. He played ten seasons. Best remembered for his time with the World Series Champion New York Giants
• Tanyon Sturtze, former MLB pitcher^[14]
• Major Taylor, track cycling champion^[15]
• Bill Toomey, gold medal decathlete, 1968 Olympics; attended Worcester Academy
• Leah Van Dale, professional wrestler better known by her ring name Carmella
• Vinnie Yablonski, NFL player^[16]

Musicians

• John Adams, popular composer
• Duncan Arsenault, musician
• Norman Bailey, big band trumpet player from The Lawrence Welk Show
• Jaki Byard, jazz pianist, composer and recording artist^[17]
• Frank Capp, jazz drummer and bandleader
• Luke Caswell, better known as Cazwell, an LGBT rapper
• Wendell Culley, jazz trumpeter from Worcester who played with Noble Sissle, Lionel Hampton, and Count Basie's Orchestra, and many others^[18]
• Don Fagerquist, jazz trumpeter
• Four Year Strong, rock band
• J. Geils, lead in J. Geils Band, attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• J. Geils Band, formed in Worcester as a fraternity party band at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, as Snoopy and the Sopwith Camels
• Georgia Gibbs, 1950s pop singer
• Duke Levine, guitarist^[19]
• The Hotelier, rock band
• Jordan Knight, member of the boy band New Kids On The Block
• Joyner Lucas, rapper
• Arun Luthra, jazz saxophonist, konnakol artist, composer, arranger, band leader^[20]
• Miriam "Mamie" Moffitt, jazz pianist and band leader of Mamie Moffitt and Her Five Jazz Hounds, the first professional jazz ensemble in Worcester^[21]
• Orpheus, band that enjoyed popularity in the 1960s and early 1970s
• Cole Porter, Broadway composer, student at Worcester Academy ca. 1912, born in Peru, Indiana
• Andy Ross, guitarist for rock band OK Go
• Maureen Steele, pop singer and songwriter, one of the very few white artists signed to Motown during the mid 1980s
• Einar Swan, multi-instrumental jazz musician and songwriter of "When Your Lover Has Gone"^[22]
• Boots Ward, jazz drummer, band leader, and Worcester jazz club owner^[23]

Politicians

• Charles Allen (1797–1869), United States Congressman from Massachusetts^[24]
• George Bancroft, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy, founder of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, author of the first comprehensive history of the United States^[25]
• John Binienda, Massachusetts state legislator^[26]
• Alexander H. Bullock, Governor of Massachusetts (1866–1868)^[27]
• Kate Campanale, member of Massachusetts House of Representatives from District 17^[28]
• John Curtis Chamberlain, US Representative^[29]
• Dorothea Dix, reformer and activist
• Dwight Foster, Massachusetts Attorney General and Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court^[30]
• Roger Sherman Baldwin Foster, lawyer^[31]
• Emma Goldman, Lithuanian-American anarchist; owned ice cream parlor in Worcester^[32]
• Thomas Wentworth Higginson, abolitionist, literary mentor to Emily Dickinson^[33]
• Abbie Hoffman, radical activist^[34]
• Abby Kelley Foster, abolitionist, suffragette^[35]
• Joseph T. Higgins, member of the New York State Assembly
• Jim McGovern, US Representative from Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district
• Levi Lincoln Sr., American revolutionary
• Levi Lincoln Jr., Governor of Massachusetts
• William D. Mullins, state representative and baseball player^[36]
• Albert L. Nash, politician and businessman^[37]
• Richard Neal, US Representative from Massachusetts's 1st congressional district
• Kenneth P. O'Donnell, Appointments Secretary and Political Adviser to President John F. Kennedy^[38]
• Robert Owens, businessman and Massachusetts state senator
• John Rucho, politician and businessman^[39]
• Charles F. Sullivan, Mayor of Worcester and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, 1949–1953
• Benjamin Swan, longest-serving Vermont State Treasurer^[40]
• Charles G. Washburn, member of the U.S. House of Representatives

Writers and journalists

• Jane G. Austin, writer
• Mike Barnicle, print and broadcast journalist, social and political commentator
• S. N. Behrman, playwright, author of memoir The Worcester Account
• Robert Benchley, writer and member of the Algonquin Round Table
• Elizabeth Bishop, poet and writer
• John D. Casey, novelist and translator
• John Dufresne, novelist and screenwriter
• Alice Morse Earle, writer
• Esther Forbes, writer
• Samuel Fuller, screenwriter, producer and director
• John Michael Hayes, writer of the Alfred Hitchcock films Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, The Trouble with Harry, and The Man Who Knew Too Much
• Isabel Hornibrook, children's literature writer
• Omar Jimenez, CNN reporter, known for being arrested on live TV while reporting on the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis
• Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney, author and investigative journalist
• Stanley Kunitz, Poet Laureate
• Frank O'Hara, poet
• Charles Olson, modernist poet
• Charlie Pierce (born 1953), American writer/journalist, and panelist on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me
• Normand Poirier, writer
• Olive Higgins Prouty, writer, known for "Now, Voyager" and "Stella Dallas"
• Ernest Lawrence Thayer, poet and journalist, known for "Casey at the Bat"
• Isaiah Thomas, publisher of the Massachusetts Spy
• Stanley Woodward, newspaper editor and sportswriter

Other

• Lillian Asplund, last survivor of the RMS Titanic who remembered the actual sinking
• William Austin Burt, 19th-century explorer and surveyor in Michigan
• Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, convicted child molester, possible serial killer and cannibal
• Timothy Bigelow, Revolutionary War patriot
• Jonas Clark, founder of Clark University
• Edmund L. Daley (1883–1968), U.S. Army major general^[41]
• Edgar C. Erickson (1896–1989), United States Army Major General and Chief of the National Guard Bureau
• Catherine Fiske (1784-1837), school founder
• John Stanley Grauel (1917–1986), Christian Zionist leader
• Samuel Fisk Green (1822–1884), physician and medical missionary, served with the American Ceylon Mission 1847–1873
• Samuel R. Heywood, founder of the Heywood Boot & Shoe Company
• Myra Kraft, philanthropist, wife of New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft
• Royal B. Lord (1899–1963), United States military officer
• Joe Morrone, Connecticut Huskies soccer coach
• Charley Parkhurst, stagecoach driver and horseman
• Irving Price, co-founder of Fisher Price toys and games
• Michael Ritchie, artistic director
• George Edward Rueger (1929–2019), Roman Catholic bishop
• Stephen Salisbury III, founder of the Worcester Art Museum
• Richard B. Sellars (1915–2010), Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson^[42]
• Madeline Singas, American attorney and jurist.
• Ichabod Washburn, founder of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• Steven N. Wickstrom, Army National Guard major general who commanded the 42nd Infantry Division^[43]
• Stillman Witt (1808–1875), Ohio railroad and steel executive, banker^[44]
• Geoffrey Zakarian, Iron Chef, Food Network Channel celebrity chef^[45]