Boston, MA

Census Place

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2023 Population

663,972

0.296% 1-year decline

US Senator

Elizabeth Warren

Democratic Party

US Senator

Ed Markey

Democratic Party

2023 Poverty Rate

16.9%

3.47% 1-year decrease

About

The 5 largest ethnic groups in Boston, MA are White (Non-Hispanic) (44.5%), Black or African American (Non-Hispanic) (20.3%), Asian (Non-Hispanic) (9.92%), Two+ (Hispanic) (8.05%), and Other (Hispanic) (6.01%).

N/A of the households in Boston, MA reported speaking a non-English language at home as their primary shared language. This does not consider the potential multi-lingual nature of households, but only the primary self-reported language spoken by all members of the household.

87.1% of the residents in Boston, MA are U.S. citizens.

The largest universities in Boston, MA are Boston University (12,366 degrees awarded in 2022), Northeastern University (9,235 degrees), and University of Massachusetts-Boston (3,980 degrees).

Most people in Boston, MA drove alone to work, and the average commute time was 30.2 minutes. The average car ownership in Boston, MA was 1 car per household.

Photo by Robbie Shade

United States Massachusetts Suffolk County, MA Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

Population & Diversity

Boston, MA is home to a population of 664k people, from which 87.1% are citizens. As of N/A, N/A% of Boston, MA residents were born outside of the country (N/A people).

In 2023, there were 2.2 times more White (Non-Hispanic) residents (295k people) in Boston, MA than any other race or ethnicity. There were 134k Black or African American (Non-Hispanic) and 65.9k Asian (Non-Hispanic) residents, the second and third most common ethnic groups.

Population & Diversity

Citizenship

87.1%

2023 Citizenship

86.8%

2022 Citizenship

The following chart shows US citizenship percentages in Boston, MA compared to that of it's neighboring and parent geographies.

Diversity

Race and Ethnicity

The 3 largest ethnic groups in Boston, MA

White (Non-Hispanic)
295k ± 2k
Black or African American (Non-Hispanic)
134k ± 2.34k
Asian (Non-Hispanic)
65.9k ± 1.14k

18.9%

Hispanic Population

126k people

18.9% of the people in Boston, MA are hispanic (126k people).

The following chart shows the 7 races represented in Boston, MA as a share of the total population.

Economy

The economy of Boston, MA employs N/A people. The largest industries in Boston, MA are , and the highest paying industries are Management of Companies & Enterprises ($113,355), Finance & Insurance ($105,513), and Professional, Scientific, & Technical Services ($100,296).

Employment

Occupations

N/A

N/A Value

± N/A

The most common job groups, by number of people living in Boston, MA, are Management Occupations (49,234 people), Business & Financial Operations Occupations (36,313 people), and Office & Administrative Support Occupations (34,352 people). This chart illustrates the share breakdown of the primary jobs held by residents of Boston, MA.

Unemployment Insurance Claims

Data is only available at the state level. Showing data for false.

This chart shows weekly unemployment insurance claims in Massachusetts (not-seasonally adjusted) compared with the four states with the most similar impact.

The most recent data point uses Advance State Claims data, which can be revised in subsequent weeks.

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Industries

Employment by Industries

N/A

N/A Value

± N/A

The most common employment sectors for those who live in Boston, MA, are . This chart shows the share breakdown of the primary industries for residents of Boston, MA, though some of these residents may live in Boston, MA and work somewhere else. Census data is tagged to a residential address, not a work address.

Median Earnings by Industry

$69,413

Median earning men ± $1,770

$55,788

Median earning women ± $1,536

The industries with the best median earnings for men in 2023 are Finance & Insurance, & Real Estate & Rental & Leasing ($108,571), Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services ($95,460), and Public Administration ($94,787).

The industries with the best median earnings for women in 2023 are Finance & Insurance, & Real Estate & Rental & Leasing ($88,490), Construction ($81,125), and Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services ($79,141).

Employment by Industry Sector

Data is only available at the state level. Showing data for Massachusetts.

Y-Axis

2.61%

Year-over-year growth

Employment change between February 2022 and February 2023

As of February 2023, there are 3.67M people employed in Massachusetts. This represents a 2.61% increase in employment when compared to February 2022.

Right after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, during April 2020, a general dip can be seen across industry sectors, resulting in an overall decline in employment by 17.5%.

The following chart shows monthly employment numbers for each industry sector in Massachusetts.

Education

Most students graduating from Universities in Boston, MA are White (18,880 and 53.7%), followed by Asian (5,054 and 14.4%), Hispanic or Latino (4,375 and 12.4%), and Black or African American (3,206 and 9.12%).

The median tuition costs in Boston, MA are $42,925 for private four year colleges, and $7,786 and $31,468 respectively, for public four year colleges for in-state students and out-of-state students.

Completions

Concentrations

In 2022, the most common concentation for Bachelors Degree recipients in Boston, MA was N/A with N/A degrees awarded.

This visualization illustrates the percentage of students graduating with a Bachelors Degree from schools in Boston, MA according to their major.

Universities

Gender

Race

Largest Universities by degrees awarded

Boston University
12,366 degrees awarded
Northeastern University
9,235 degrees awarded
University of Massachusetts-Boston
3,980 degrees awarded

In 2022, the institution with the largest number of graduating students was Boston University with 12,366 degrees awarded.

Student Diversity

In 2022, 18,232 men were awarded degrees from institutions in Boston, MA, which is 0.66 times less than the 27,626 female students who received degrees in the same year.

In 2022 the most common race/ethnicity group awarded degrees at institutions was White students. These 18,880 degrees mean that there were 3.74 times more degrees awarded to White students then the next closest race/ethnicity group, Asian, with 5,054 degrees awarded.

Awarded Degrees over Time

The graph shows the evolution of awarded degrees by degrees. Under the paragraphs, the average number of awarded degrees by university in each degree is shown.

Working Population

Educational Pyramid

Data is only available at the state level. Showing data for Massachusetts.

Measure

In 2022, 1.17% of men over 25 years of age had not completed any academic degree (no schooling), while 1.24% of women were in the same situation.

This visualization shows the gender distribution of the population according to the academic level reached.

Educational Attainment

Data is only available at the state level. Showing data for Massachusetts.

Race

The most common educational levels obtained by the working population in 2022 were Bachelors Degree (1.35M), High School or Equivalent (1.34M), and Graduate Degree (1.03M).

This visualization illustrates the percentage distribution of the population according to the highest educational level reached. You can filter the data by race by using the selector above.

Housing & Living

People in Boston, MA have an average commute time of 30.2 minutes, and they drove alone to work. Car ownership in Boston, MA is lower than the national average, with an average of 1 car per household.

Equity

Income by Location

Use the dropdown to filter by race/ethnicity.

Race/Ethnicity

The following map shows all of the places in Boston, MA colored by their Median Household Income (Total).

Household Income

Please note that the buckets used in this visualization were not evenly distributed by ACS when publishing the data.

N/A

Median Household Income

± N/A

N/A

Number of Households

± N/A

The following chart displays the households in Boston, MA distributed between a series of income buckets compared to the national averages for each bucket. The largest share of households have an income in the $200k+ range.

Wage Distribution

The closest comparable wage GINI for Boston, MA is from Massachusetts.

0.48

2022 Wage GINI in Massachusetts

0.48

2021 Wage GINI in Massachusetts

In 2022, the income inequality in Massachusetts was 0.48 according to the GINI calculation of the wage distribution. Income inequality had a 0.047% growth from 2021 to 2022, which means that wage distribution grew somewhat less even. The GINI for Massachusetts was higher than than the national average of 0.478. In other words, wages are distributed less evenly in Massachusetts in comparison to the national average.

This chart shows the number of workers in Massachusetts across various wage buckets compared to the national average.

Transportation

Commuter Transportation

Most Common Commute in 2023

Drove Alone (34.1%)
Public Transit (24%)
Worked At Home (18.8%)

In 2023, 34.1% of workers in Boston, MA drove alone to work, followed by those who used public transit to get to work (24%) and those who worked at home (18.8%).

The following chart shows the number of households using each mode of transportation over time, using a logarithmic scale on the y-axis to help better show variations in the smaller means of commuting.

Commute Time

30.2 minutes

Average Travel Time

Using averages, employees in Boston, MA have a longer commute time (30.2 minutes) than the normal US worker (26.6 minutes). Additionally, 2.3% of the workforce in Boston, MA have "super commutes" in excess of 90 minutes.

The chart below shows how the median household income in Boston, MA compares to that of it's neighboring and parent geographies.

Car Ownership

1 car

Average Number

The following chart displays the households in Boston, MA distributed between a series of car ownership buckets compared to the national averages for each bucket. The largest share of households in Boston, MA have 1 car.

Poverty

Poverty & Diversity

16.9% of the population for whom poverty status is determined in Boston, MA (105k out of 624k people) live below the poverty line, a number that is higher than the national average of 12.4%. The largest demographic living in poverty are Females 18 - 24, followed by Females 25 - 34 and then Males 18 - 24.

The most common racial or ethnic group living below the poverty line in Boston, MA is N/A, followed by N/A and N/A.

The Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who classifies as impoverished. If a family's total income is less than the family's threshold than that family and every individual in it is considered to be living in poverty.

Social Needs

Data only available at the state level.

Most prevalent states

California
35,798 individuals
New York
5,087 individuals
Florida
4,915 individuals

In 2017, California had the highest estimated number of chronically homeless individuals in the nation, at 35,798. New York has the second highest (5,087), followed by Florida (4,915).

The following map shows the estimated number of chronically homeless individuals by state over multiple years.

The following chart shows the number of people with health coverage by gender.

Uninsured People

N/A%

Uninsured

N/A%

Employer Coverage

N/A%

Medicaid

N/A%

Medicare

N/A%

Non-Group

N/A%

Military or VA

The following chart shows how the percent of uninsured individuals in Boston, MA changed over time compared with the percent of individuals enrolled in various types of health insurance.

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