East Brookfield is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 2,224 at the 2020 United States Census. The census-designated place of East Brookfield (CDP) is located in the town. The village of Union Chapel is also located in the town.

East Brookfield was first settled by Europeans in 1664 as part of the Quaboag Plantation lands. It became part of the new town of Brookfield in 1673, and was officially incorporated as a separate town in on March 24, 1920, making it the newest town (by date of incorporation) in Massachusetts.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 10.4 square miles (27 km), of which 9.8 square miles (25 km²) is land and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km), or 5.11%, is water. East Brookfield is bordered on the north by North Brookfield, on the west by Brookfield, on the south by Sturbridge and Charlton, and on the east by Spencer.

Most community life in East Brookfield centers around Route 9, particularly the stretch closest to Lake Lashaway, on the road from Spencer to North Brookfield. Within a block of this stretch are found all of the town’s churches, its school and former schools, most of its retail businesses and its current and former municipal office buildings. The latter is on Depot Square, a triangular crossroads near the post office and Redmans Hall, the site of the Senior Center and some town meetings.

West of the town center is the Quaboag River plains, known locally as “the Flats”. The CSX Boston-to-Selkirk rail line runs parallel to Main Street through this section. North of Main Street is the town’s main water body, Lake Lashaway. Southwest of the town center are the Quaboag and Quacumquasit Ponds (also known as North and South ponds). On Quacumquasit Pond is a YMCA residential summer camp, Camp Frank A. Day. Bordering the ponds, in the geographic center of town, is a sparsely populated marshland.

South of the marshes is sparsely populated woodland, formerly a village called Podunk—today marked only by a small cemetery along Podunk Road near the Sturbridge town line—and a hilly area called High Rocks. During his youth, the vaudeville entertainer George M. Cohan spent his summers with his relatives in Podunk. He loved East Brookfield, and made the term “Podunk” famous, describing it in his comedy acts. Other entertainers started mentioning Podunk, and the word entered the language, standing for any archetypal “backwater” town.

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,097 people, 778 households, and 599 families residing in the town. The population density was 213.0 inhabitants per square mile (82.2/km²). There were 849 housing units at an average density of 86.2 per square mile (33.3/km). The racial makeup of the town was 98.52% White, 0.43% Black or African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.14% Asian, 0.14% from other races, and 0.52% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.76% of the population.