Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston, the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England, and its surrounding areas, home to 4,941,632. The most stringent definition of the region, used by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, consists of most of the eastern third of mainland Massachusetts, excluding the Merrimack Valley and most of Southeastern Massachusetts, though most definitions (including the U.S. Census definition) include much of these areas and portions of southern New Hampshire.
While the city of Boston covers and has 675,647 residents as of the 2020 census, the urbanization has extended well into surrounding areas and the Combined Statistical Area (CSA in the rest of the document), which includes the Providence, Rhode Island, Manchester, New Hampshire, Cape Cod and Worcester areas, has a population of more than 8.4 million people, making it one of the most populous such regions in the U.S.
Some of Greater Boston's most well-known contributions involve the region's higher education and medical institutions. Greater Boston has been influential upon American history and industry. The region and the state of Massachusetts are global leaders in biotechnology, health care, engineering, higher education, finance, and maritime trade.
Greater Boston is ranked tenth in population among US metropolitan statistical areas, home to 4,941,632 people as of the 2020 United States census, and seventh among combined statistical areas, with a population of 8,493,824. The area has hosted many people and sites significant to American culture and history, particularly American literature, politics, and the American Revolution.
Plymouth was the site of the first colony in New England, founded in 1620 by the Pilgrims, passengers of the Mayflower. In 1692, the town of Salem and surrounding areas experienced one of America's most infamous cases of mass hysteria, the Salem witch trials. In the late 18th century, Boston became known as the "Cradle of Liberty" for the agitation there that led to the American Revolution.
The Greater Boston region has played a powerful scientific, commercial, and cultural role in the history of the United States. Before the American Civil War, the region was a center for the abolitionist, temperance, and transcendentalist movements. In 2004, Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to legally recognize same-sex marriage as a result of the decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Boston. Many prominent American political dynasties have hailed from the Boston region, including the Adams and Kennedy families.
Harvard University in Cambridge is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, founded in 1636, with the largest financial endowment of any university, and whose Law School has spawned a contemporaneous majority of United States Supreme Court justices. Kendall Square in Cambridge has been called "the most innovative square mile on the planet", in reference to the high concentration of entrepreneurial start-ups and quality of innovation which have emerged in the vicinity of the square since 2010. Both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also in Cambridge, have been ranked among the most highly regarded academic institutions in the world.
Geography Boundary definitions Metropolitan Area
The most restrictive definition of the Greater Boston area is the region administered by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. The MAPC is a regional planning organization created by the Massachusetts legislature to oversee transportation infrastructure and economic development concerns in the Boston area. The MAPC includes 101 cities and towns that are grouped into eight subregions. These include most of the area within the region's outer circumferential highway, I-495. In 2013, the population of the MAPC district was 3.2 million, which was 48% of the total population of Massachusetts, in an area of , of which 39% is forested and an additional 11% is water, wetland, or other open space.
The cities and towns included in this definition are:
New England City and Town Area Two definitions are used by the United States Census to define the Boston–Cambridge–Newton, MA–NH Metro Area or Boston–Cambridge–Newton, MA–NH Metropolitan NECTA, which is defined as a New England City and Town Area. The metro area definition is based on counties, while the NECTA definition is based on city and town boundaries. Counties included in the county-based definition include:
Essex County, Massachusetts Middlesex County, Massachusetts Norfolk County, Massachusetts Plymouth County, Massachusetts Suffolk County, Massachusetts Rockingham County, New Hampshire Strafford County, New Hampshire
The NECTA definition includes all of the communities from the MAPC definition, as well as the Merrimack Valley communities, parts of southern New Hampshire (northward to Milford and Hampton, and the Taunton area.
Combined Statistical Area The widest definition of the metropolitan area based on commuting patterns, is defined by the U.S. Census as the Boston–Worcester–Providence combined statistical area. This area consists of the following counties in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire:
Massachusetts Barnstable County, Massachusetts Bristol County, Massachusetts Essex County, Massachusetts Middlesex County, Massachusetts Norfolk County, Massachusetts Plymouth County, Massachusetts Suffolk County, Massachusetts Worcester County, Massachusetts New Hampshire Belknap County, New Hampshire Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Merrimack County, New Hampshire Rockingham County, New Hampshire Strafford County, New Hampshire Rhode Island Bristol County, Rhode Island Kent County, Rhode Island Newport County, Rhode Island Providence County, Rhode Island Washington County, Rhode Island
The total population for the extended region was estimated at 7,493,824 at the 2020 census.
Subregions Massachusetts Central Massachusetts Montachusett-North County South County Blackstone River Valley North Shore Cape Ann Merrimack Valley MetroWest Southeastern Massachusetts Cape Cod South Coast South Shore New Hampshire Lakes Region Seacoast Rhode Island Blackstone Valley East Bay
Climate
Most of the Boston area has humid subtropical climates (Cfa under the Köppen climate classification system), with high humidity and precipitation year-round. The northwestern regions near New Hampshire and Worcester have humid continental Dfa and Dfb conditions due to January means being below and July means below .
Demographics
Greater Boston has a sizable Jewish community, estimated at between 210,000 people, and 261,000 or 5–6% of the Greater Boston metro population, compared with about 2% for the nation as a whole. Contrary to national trends, the number of Jews in Greater Boston has been growing, fueled by the fact that 60% of children in Jewish mixed-faith families are raised Jewish, compared with roughly one in three nationally. The 2020 PRRI Atlas found that 35% of the Boston metro area identified as Protestant while 26% identified as Catholic.
The City of Boston also has one of the largest LGBT populations per capita. As of 2006, it ranks fifth of all major cities in the country (behind San Francisco, and slightly behind Seattle, Atlanta, and Minneapolis), with 12.3% of the city identifying as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. County2025 Estimate2020 CensusChangeAreaDensityMiddlesex County, Massachusetts Essex County, Massachusetts Suffolk County, Massachusetts Norfolk County, Massachusetts Plymouth County, Massachusetts Rockingham County, New Hampshire Strafford County, New Hampshire Total
The 40 most diverse Census tracts in the Boston CSA: RankCity or neighborhoodCensus tractPopulation% White% Black% Hispanic% Asian% multiracial or other1Dorchester9163,13812321526142Pawtucket1614,6072824281183Pawtucket1514,4722424291234Pawtucket1644,9382926212205Dorchester9123,2343024226186Dorchester921016,4513022113167Brockton51154,3082132132328Brockton5113,0402833151249New Bedford65191,94226113312910Mission Hill808013,88532203510211Pawtucket1542,25835203501112Brockton51143,71624361422313Brockton51092,53124361612414Brockton51033,79823381522415Brockton51043,70619381522516Dorchester909013,73038182120417Worcester7333,76238103712418Providence263,09823223910619Malden34154,78039231419520Cambridge35242,12627391612521South End712023,13139192415322Brockton5113015,33439311121723Providence152,99428134114424South Boston613,09841152911425Lynn20722,93930124213226Cambridge35496,0583530920527South Boston611012,23220214214228Brockton51167,21142291021629Roxbury8013,35015432811130Lowell31145,98644111426531Brockton51086,33918441222232Mission Hill810014,89045141919233Malden34186,55446201316534South Boston6071,89319204610535Brockton51075,6564631841136Brockton51124,84947261111337Somerville3514044,28947722131138Lynn20713,51318114819339Framingham3831014,92323104811840Mission Hill8114,091482115132
The 40 census tracts in the Boston CSA with the highest percentage of residents who identify as Hispanic or Latino: RankCity or NeighborhoodCensus TractPopulation% Hispanic or Latino1Lawrence25253,810942Lawrence25092,193933Lawrence25043,858904Lawrence25032,101895Lawrence25133,721896Lawrence25121,356867Lawrence25074,756868Lawrence2511,782859Chelsea16024,0438310Lawrence25065,5998311Lawrence25145,0537712Chelsea1601017,5517613Lawrence25012,3297514Lawrence25165,9777415Lawrence25112,9377316Lawrence25025,5247217Chelsea16042,7167118Chelsea1605015,6047119Providence168,5407020Lawrence25156,1497021Worcester7320013,3276722East Boston5062,0636723East Boston5025,2316624East Boston5074,5046525East Boston509014,1656526Providence26,4526427Providence43,7616428Providence146,6936329Providence53,0406330Central Falls115,5346331Lawrence25086,9326332Chelsea1605024,4606233Methuen25244,1756234Providence173,7446235Providence187,1146136Central Falls1114,1766137East Boston501015,1156138Lawrence25175,1456139Providence37,7146040Central Falls1084,76359
Census tracts in the Boston CSA with the highest percentage of residents who identify as Black American: RankCity or NeighborhoodCensus TractPopulation% Black1Mattapan1011013,115842Mattapan1011024,396843Mattapan1010015,480834Mattapan10033,303805Mattapan10022,787786Mattapan1010024,979777Dorchester9232,893778Roxbury822,815749Roxbury8173,8207110Hyde Park14047,6507111Roxbury9014,5717112Dorchester9193,8607013Dorchester10044,8656814Roxbury8193,1156615Roxbury9245,2776616Roxbury8182,8986517Mattapan10015,5106418Roxbury8152,1346219Roxbury8215,0256220Roxbury8031,7696021Roxbury9033,1795822Dorchester10094,0725823Dorchester10055,9095524Hyde Park14036,3825425Dorchester924,9455426Roxbury9022,2335327Dorchester9183,4525228Roxbury9043,6595229Roxbury8143,0035030Roxbury804012,7105031Roslindale1401061,9014932Dorchester9173,0694733Dorchester9142,7414634Brockton51086,3394435Roxbury8053,0964436Roxbury8013,3504337Randolph4203027,7034238Roxbury8134,7604239Dorchester9223,3494240Randolph4202026,30340
Census tracts in the Boston CSA with the highest percentage of residents who identify as Asian American: