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Boston, Massachusetts
Downtown Boston from the Boston Harbor
Brick rowhouses along Acorn Street
Old State House
Massachusetts State House
Fenway Park ballgame at night
Boston skyline from Charles River
From top, left to right: Downtown (from the Boston Harbor); Acorn Street on Beacon Hill; Old State House; Massachusetts State House; Fenway Park ballgame; Back Bay (from the Charles River)
Flag of Boston, Massachusetts
Flag
Official seal of Boston, Massachusetts
Seal
Official logo of Boston, Massachusetts
Logo
Nickname(s): 
See Nicknames of Boston
Motto(s): 
Sicut patribus sit Deus nobis (Latin)
'As God was with our fathers, so may He be with us'
Country  United States
Region New England
State  Massachusetts
County Suffolk
Historic countries Kingdom of England
Commonwealth of England
Kingdom of Great Britain
Historic colonies Massachusetts Bay Colony, Dominion of New England, Province of Massachusetts Bay
Settled 1625
Incorporated (town)
September 7, 1630
(date of naming, Old Style)
Incorporated (city) March 19, 1822
Named for Boston, Lincolnshire
Government
 • Type Strong mayor / Council
Area
 • State capital city 89.62 sq mi (232.11 km2)
 • Land 48.34 sq mi (125.20 km2)
 • Water 41.28 sq mi (106.91 km2)
 • Urban
1,770 sq mi (4,600 km2)
 • Metro
4,500 sq mi (11,700 km2)
 • CSA 10,600 sq mi (27,600 km2)
Elevation
141 ft (43 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • State capital city 675,647
 • Rank 24th in the United States
1st in Massachusetts
 • Density 13,976.98/sq mi (5,396.54/km2)
 • Metro
4,941,632 (10th)
Demonym(s) Bostonian
Time zone UTC−5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST) UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes
Area codes 617 and 857
FIPS code 25-07000
GNIS feature ID 617565
Primary Airport Logan International Airport
Interstates I-90.svg I-93.svg
Commuter Rail MBTA Commuter Rail
Rapid Transit MBTA subway
Website Boston.gov

Boston, officially the City of Boston, is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States and 24th-most populous city in the country. The city proper covers about 48.4 square miles (125 km2) with a population of 675,647 in 2020, also making it the most populous city in New England. It is the seat of Suffolk County (although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999). The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest MSA in the country. A broader combined statistical area (CSA), generally corresponding to the commuting area and including Providence, Rhode Island, is home to some 8.2 million people, making it the sixth most populous in the United States.

Boston is one of the oldest municipalities in the United States, founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from the English town of the same name. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the siege of Boston. Upon American independence from Great Britain, the city continued to be an important port and manufacturing hub as well as a center for education and culture. The city has expanded beyond the original peninsula through land reclamation and municipal annexation. Its rich history attracts many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone drawing more than 20 million visitors per year. Boston's many firsts include the United States' first public park (Boston Common, 1634), first public or state school (Boston Latin School, 1635) first subway system (Tremont Street subway, 1897), and first large public library (Boston Public Library, 1848).

Today, Boston is a thriving center of scientific research. The Boston area's many colleges and universities make it a world leader in higher education, including law, medicine, engineering and business, and the city is considered to be a global pioneer in innovation and entrepreneurship, with nearly 5,000 startups. Boston's economic base also includes finance, professional and business services, biotechnology, information technology and government activities. Households in the city claim the highest average rate of philanthropy in the United States; businesses and institutions rank among the top in the country for environmental sustainability and investment.

History

Colonial

Boston, 1775bsmall1
Map showing a British tactical evaluation of Boston in 1775

Boston's early European settlers had first called the area Trimountaine (after its "three mountains," only traces of which remain today) but later renamed it Boston after Boston, Lincolnshire, England, the origin of several prominent colonists. The renaming on September 7, 1630 (Old Style) was by Puritan colonists from England who had moved over from Charlestown earlier that year in quest of fresh water. Their settlement was initially limited to the Shawmut Peninsula, at that time surrounded by the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River and connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. The peninsula is thought to have been inhabited as early as 5000 BC.

In 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colony's first governor John Winthrop led the signing of the Cambridge Agreement, a key founding document of the city. Puritan ethics and their focus on education influenced its early history; America's first public school was founded in Boston in 1635. Over the next 130 years, the city participated in four French and Indian Wars, until the British defeated the French and their Indian allies in North America. Boston was the largest town in British North America until Philadelphia grew larger in the mid 18th century.

Revolution through War of 1812

Old State House and State Street, Boston 1801
State Street, 1801

Many of the crucial events of the American Revolution occurred in or near Boston, including the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's midnight ride, the battles of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill, the Siege of Boston, and many others. After the Revolution, Boston's long seafaring tradition helped make it one of the world's wealthiest international ports, with the slave trade, rum, fish, salt, and tobacco being particularly important.

Boston-view-1841-Havell
View of Boston from Dorchester Heights, 1841

Boston's harbor activity was significantly curtailed by the Embargo Act of 1807 (adopted during the Napoleonic Wars) and the War of 1812. Foreign trade returned after these hostilities, but Boston's merchants had found alternatives for their capital investments in the interim. Manufacturing became an important component of the city's economy, and the city's industrial manufacturing overtook international trade in economic importance by the mid-19th century. Boston remained one of the nation's largest manufacturing centers until the early 20th century, and was notable for its garment production and leather-goods industries. A network of small rivers bordering the city and connecting it to the surrounding region facilitated shipment of goods and led to a proliferation of mills and factories. Later, a dense network of railroads furthered the region's industry and commerce.

TremontSt ca1843 Boston byPhilipHarry MFABoston
Tremont Street, 1843

During this period, Boston flourished culturally, as well, admired for its rarefied literary life and generous artistic patronage, with members of old Boston families—eventually dubbed Boston Brahmins—coming to be regarded as the nation's social and cultural elites.

Boston was an early port of the Atlantic triangular slave trade in the New England colonies, but was soon overtaken by Salem, Massachusetts and Newport, Rhode Island. Boston eventually became a center of the abolitionist movement. The city reacted strongly to the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, contributing to President Franklin Pierce's attempt to make an example of Boston after the Anthony Burns Fugitive Slave Case.

In 1822, the citizens of Boston voted to change the official name from the "Town of Boston" to the "City of Boston", and on March 4, 1822, the people of Boston accepted the charter incorporating the City. At the time Boston was chartered as a city, the population was about 46,226, while the area of the city was only 4.7 square miles (12 km2).

1800 beacon hill
Cutting down Beacon Hill in 1811; a view from the north toward the Massachusetts State House
Old City Hall (Boston)
The Old City Hall was home to the Boston city council from 1865 to 1969.

19th Century

In the 1820s, Boston's population grew rapidly, and the city's ethnic composition changed dramatically with the first wave of European immigrants. Irish immigrants dominated the first wave of newcomers during this period, especially following the Irish Potato Famine; by 1850, about 35,000 Irish lived in Boston. In the latter half of the 19th century, the city saw increasing numbers of Irish, Germans, Lebanese, Syrians, French Canadians, and Russian and Polish Jews settling in the city. By the end of the 19th century, Boston's core neighborhoods had become enclaves of ethnically distinct immigrants. Italians inhabited the North End, Irish dominated South Boston and Charlestown, and Russian Jews lived in the West End. Irish and Italian immigrants brought with them Roman Catholicism. Currently, Catholics make up Boston's largest religious community, and the Irish have played a major role in Boston politics since the early 20th century; prominent figures include the Kennedys, Tip O'Neill, and John F. Fitzgerald.

Between 1631 and 1890, the city tripled its area through land reclamation by filling in marshes, mud flats, and gaps between wharves along the waterfront. The largest reclamation efforts took place during the 19th century; beginning in 1807, the crown of Beacon Hill was used to fill in a 50-acre (20 ha) mill pond that later became the Haymarket Square area. The present-day State House sits atop this lowered Beacon Hill. Reclamation projects in the middle of the century created significant parts of the South End, the West End, the Financial District, and Chinatown.

After the Great Boston Fire of 1872, workers used building rubble as landfill along the downtown waterfront. During the mid- to-late 19th century, workers filled almost 600 acres (2.4 km2) of brackish Charles River marshlands west of Boston Common with gravel brought by rail from the hills of Needham Heights. The city annexed the adjacent towns of South Boston (1804), East Boston (1836), Roxbury (1868), Dorchester (including present day Mattapan and a portion of South Boston) (1870), Brighton (including present day Allston) (1874), West Roxbury (including present day Jamaica Plain and Roslindale) (1874), Charlestown (1874), and Hyde Park (1912). Other proposals were unsuccessful for the annexation of Brookline, Cambridge, and Chelsea,

20th Century

The city went into decline by the early to mid-20th century, as factories became old and obsolete and businesses moved out of the region for cheaper labor elsewhere. Boston responded by initiating various urban renewal projects, under the direction of the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) established in 1957. In 1958, BRA initiated a project to improve the historic West End neighborhood. Extensive demolition was met with strong public opposition.

The BRA subsequently re-evaluated its approach to urban renewal in its future projects, including the construction of Government Center. In 1965, the Columbia Point Health Center opened in the Dorchester neighborhood, the first Community Health Center in the United States. It mostly served the massive Columbia Point public housing complex adjoining it, which was built in 1953. The health center is still in operation and was rededicated in 1990 as the Geiger-Gibson Community Health Center. The Columbia Point complex itself was redeveloped and revitalized from 1984 to 1990 into a mixed-income community called Harbor Point Apartments.

By the 1970s, the city's economy had recovered after 30 years of economic downturn. A large number of high rises were constructed in the Financial District and in Boston's Back Bay during this time period. This boom continued into the mid-1980s and resumed after a few pauses. Hospitals such as Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Brigham and Women's Hospital lead the nation in medical innovation and patient care. Schools such as Boston College, Boston University, the Harvard Medical School, Northeastern University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Berklee College of Music, and Boston Conservatory attract students to the area. Nevertheless, the city experienced conflict starting in 1974 over desegregation busing, which resulted in unrest and violence around public schools throughout the mid-1970s.

21st Century

Boston is an intellectual, technological, and political center but has lost some important regional institutions, including the loss to mergers and acquisitions of local financial institutions such as FleetBoston Financial, which was acquired by Charlotte-based Bank of America in 2004. Boston-based department stores Jordan Marsh and Filene's have both been merged into the Cincinnati–based Macy's. The 1993 acquisition of The Boston Globe by The New York Times was reversed in 2013 when it was re-sold to Boston businessman John W. Henry. In 2016, it was announced that General Electric would be moving its corporate headquarters from Connecticut to the Innovation District in South Boston, joining many other companies in this rapidly developing neighborhood.

Boston has experienced gentrification in the latter half of the 20th century, with housing prices increasing sharply since the 1990s. Living expenses have risen; Boston has one of the highest costs of living in the United States and was ranked the 129th most expensive major city in the world in a 2011 survey of 214 cities. Despite cost of living issues, Boston ranks high on livability ratings, ranking 36th worldwide in quality of living in 2011 in a survey of 221 major cities.

On April 15, 2013, two Chechen Islamist brothers detonated a pair of bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring roughly 264.

Geography

Boston Massachusetts 2007 satellite photo
Boston as seen from the International Space Station (ISS)

Boston has an area of 89.6 square miles (232.1 km2)—48.4 square miles (125.4 km2) (54.0%) of land and 41.2 square miles (106.7 km2) (46.0%) of water. The city's official elevation, as measured at Logan International Airport, is 19 ft (5.8 m) above sea level. The highest point in Boston is Bellevue Hill at 330 feet (100 m) above sea level, and the lowest point is at sea level. Situated onshore of the Atlantic Ocean, Boston is the only state capital in the contiguous United States with an oceanic coastline.

The geographical center of Boston is in Roxbury. Due north of the center we find the South End. This is not to be confused with South Boston which lies directly east from the South End. North of the South End is East Boston and southwest of East Boston is the North End.

Author, Unknown – A common local colloquialism

Boston is surrounded by the "Greater Boston" region and is contiguously bordered by the cities and towns of Winthrop, Revere, Chelsea, Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, Watertown, Newton, Brookline, Needham, Dedham, Canton, Milton, and Quincy. The Charles River separates Boston from Watertown and the majority of Cambridge, and the mass of Boston from its own Charlestown neighborhood. To the east lie Boston Harbor and the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (which includes part of the city's territory, specifically Calf Island, Gallops Island, Great Brewster Island, Green Island, Little Brewster Island, Little Calf Island, Long Island, Lovells Island, Middle Brewster Island, Nixes Mate, Outer Brewster Island, Rainsford Island, Shag Rocks, Spectacle Island, The Graves, and Thompson Island). The Neponset River forms the boundary between Boston's southern neighborhoods and the city of Quincy and the town of Milton. The Mystic River separates Charlestown from Chelsea and Everett, and Chelsea Creek and Boston Harbor separate East Boston from Boston proper.

Cityscapes

Sailboats on the Charles River overlook the Boston skyline, as seen from Cambridge.
From left to right: Boston City Hall, the West End, the North End, Charlestown, Boston Harbor, and East Boston
Sunset view of the Boston skyline and Charles River

 

JohnHancockTowerHDRApr09
The John Hancock Tower is the tallest building in Boston, with a roof height of 790 feet (240 m).
USA 09562 Boston Luca Galuzzi 2007
Reflecting pool of the headquarters of the Church of Christ, Scientist. The Prudential Tower and 111 Huntington Avenue are in the background.
USA-Boston-Night0
Former home of the Museum of Natural History, Back Bay
Boston backbay brownstones
Back Bay row houses
USA Massachusetts Boston Foliage
Boston's skyline in the background, with fall foliage in the foreground

Neighborhoods

Boston is sometimes called a "city of neighborhoods" because of the profusion of diverse subsections; the city government's Office of Neighborhood Services has officially designated 23 neighborhoods. More than two-thirds of inner Boston's modern land area did not exist when the city was founded, but was created via the gradual filling in of the surrounding tidal areas over the centuries, notably with earth from leveling or lowering Boston's three original hills (the "Trimountain", after which Tremont Street is named) and with gravel brought by train from Needham to fill the Back Bay.

Downtown and its immediate surroundings consist largely of low-rise masonry buildings (often Federal style and Greek Revival) interspersed with modern highrises, notably in the Financial District, Government Center, and South Boston. Back Bay includes many prominent landmarks, such as the Boston Public Library, Christian Science Center, Copley Square, Newbury Street, and New England's two tallest buildings: the John Hancock Tower and the Prudential Center. Near the John Hancock Tower is the old John Hancock Building with its prominent illuminated beacon, the color of which forecasts the weather. Smaller commercial areas are interspersed among areas of single-family homes and wooden/brick multi-family row houses. The South End Historic District is the largest surviving contiguous Victorian-era neighborhood in the US. The geography of downtown and South Boston was particularly affected by the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (known unofficially as the "Big Dig") which removed the unsightly elevated Central Artery and incorporated new green spaces and open areas.

Climate

Boston Winter Snowfall Counts Distribution
Normal distribution of winter snowfall counts collected at Logan International Airport from 1920–2016. Data is from NWS and NOAA and was procured at The Weather Warehouse. Statistical mean is approximately 43.4 inches and one standard deviation is approximately 22 inches. Note: Winter is defined here as October 1st through April 30th.

Under the Köppen climate classification, Boston has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa or Dfb) that borders a humid subtropical climate or a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfa or Cfb) with some maritime influence. Despite its climate, the city lies at the transition between USDA plant hardiness zones 6b (most of the city) and 7a (Downtown, South Boston, and East Boston neighborhoods). Summers are typically warm to hot, rainy, and humid, while winters oscillate between periods of cold rain and snow, with cold temperatures. Spring and fall are usually mild, with varying conditions dependent on wind direction and jet stream positioning. Prevailing wind patterns that blow offshore minimize the influence of the Atlantic Ocean.

The hottest month is July, with a mean temperature of 73.4 °F (23.0 °C). The coldest month is January, with a mean of 29.0 °F (−1.7 °C). Periods exceeding 90 °F (32 °C) in summer and below freezing in winter are not uncommon but rarely extended, with about 13 and 25 days per year seeing each, respectively. The most recent sub-0 °F (−18 °C) reading occurred on February 14, 2016, when the temperature dipped down to −9 °F (−23 °C), the coldest reading since 1957. In addition, several decades may pass between 100 °F (38 °C) readings, with the most recent such occurrence on July 22, 2011, when the temperature reached 103 °F (39 °C). The city's average window for freezing temperatures is November 9 through April 5. Official temperature records have ranged from −18 °F (−28 °C) on February 9, 1934, up to 104 °F (40 °C) on July 4, 1911; the record cold daily maximum is 2 °F (−17 °C) on December 30, 1917, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is 83 °F (28 °C) on August 2, 1975.

Boston's coastal location on the North Atlantic moderates its temperature, but makes the city very prone to Nor'easter weather systems that can produce much snow and rain. The city averages 43.8 inches (1,110 mm) of precipitation a year, with 43.8 inches (111 cm) of snowfall per season. Snowfall increases dramatically as one goes inland away from the city (especially north and west of the city)—away from the moderating influence of the ocean. Most snowfall occurs from December through March, as most years see no measurable snow in April and November, and snow is rare in May and October. There is also high year-to-year variability in snowfall; for instance, the winter of 2011–12 saw only 9.3 in (23.6 cm) of accumulating snow, but the previous winter, the corresponding figure was 81.0 in (2.06 m).

Fog is fairly common, particularly in spring and early summer, and the occasional tropical storm or hurricane can threaten the region, especially in late summer and early autumn. Due to its situation along the North Atlantic, the city often receives sea breezes, especially in the late spring, when water temperatures are still quite cold and temperatures at the coast can be more than 20 °F (11 °C) colder than a few miles inland, sometimes dropping by that amount near midday. Thunderstorms occur from May to September, that are occasionally severe with large hail, damaging winds and heavy downpours. Although downtown Boston has never been struck by a violent tornado, the city itself has experienced many tornado warnings. Damaging storms are more common to areas north, west, and northwest of the city. Boston has a relatively sunny climate for a coastal city at its latitude, averaging over 2,600 hours of sunshine per annum.

Climate data for Boston (Logan Airport), 1981−2010 normals, extremes 1872−present
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 72
(22)
73
(23)
89
(32)
94
(34)
97
(36)
100
(38)
104
(40)
102
(39)
102
(39)
90
(32)
83
(28)
76
(24)
104
(40)
Mean maximum °F (°C) 56.4
(13.6)
57.7
(14.3)
67.6
(19.8)
80.7
(27.1)
87.3
(30.7)
92.1
(33.4)
94.9
(34.9)
93.3
(34.1)
87.9
(31.1)
79.1
(26.2)
70.5
(21.4)
61.3
(16.3)
96.2
(35.7)
Average high °F (°C) 35.8
(2.1)
38.7
(3.7)
45.4
(7.4)
55.6
(13.1)
66.0
(18.9)
75.9
(24.4)
81.4
(27.4)
79.6
(26.4)
72.4
(22.4)
61.4
(16.3)
51.5
(10.8)
41.2
(5.1)
58.8
(14.9)
Average low °F (°C) 22.2
(−5.4)
24.7
(−4.1)
31.1
(−0.5)
40.6
(4.8)
49.9
(9.9)
59.5
(15.3)
65.4
(18.6)
64.6
(18.1)
57.4
(14.1)
46.5
(8.1)
38.0
(3.3)
28.2
(−2.1)
44.1
(6.7)
Mean minimum °F (°C) 4.1
(−15.5)
8.5
(−13.1)
14.7
(−9.6)
30.7
(−0.7)
40.8
(4.9)
49.6
(9.8)
57.3
(14.1)
55.4
(13.0)
45.8
(7.7)
34.9
(1.6)
24.2
(−4.3)
11.1
(−11.6)
2.3
(−16.5)
Record low °F (°C) −13
(−25)
−18
(−28)
−8
(−22)
11
(−12)
31
(−1)
41
(5)
50
(10)
46
(8)
34
(1)
25
(−4)
−2
(−19)
−17
(−27)
−18
(−28)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 3.36
(85)
3.25
(83)
4.32
(110)
3.74
(95)
3.49
(89)
3.68
(93)
3.43
(87)
3.35
(85)
3.44
(87)
3.94
(100)
3.99
(101)
3.78
(96)
43.77
(1,112)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 12.9
(33)
10.9
(28)
7.8
(20)
1.9
(4.8)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
trace 1.3
(3.3)
9.0
(23)
43.8
(111)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 11.3 9.8 11.6 11.2 12.0 10.9 9.6 9.4 8.6 9.4 10.6 11.6 126.0
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 6.7 5.3 4.2 0.7 0 0 0 0 0 0.1 0.8 4.6 22.4
Average relative humidity (%) 62.3 62.0 63.1 63.0 66.7 68.5 68.4 70.8 71.8 68.5 67.5 65.4 66.5
Mean monthly sunshine hours 163.4 168.4 213.7 227.2 267.3 286.5 300.9 277.3 237.1 206.3 143.2 142.3 2,633.6
Percent possible sunshine 56 57 58 57 59 63 65 64 63 60 49 50 59
Source: NOAA (relative humidity and sun 1961−1990)

Demographics

Historical population
Year Pop. ±%
1680* 4,500 —    
1690* 7,000 +55.6%
1700* 6,700 −4.3%
1710* 9,000 +34.3%
1722 10,567 +17.4%
1742 16,382 +55.0%
1765 15,520 −5.3%
1790 18,320 +18.0%
1800 24,937 +36.1%
1810 33,787 +35.5%
1820 43,298 +28.1%
1830 61,392 +41.8%
1840 93,383 +52.1%
1850 136,881 +46.6%
1860 177,840 +29.9%
1870 250,526 +40.9%
1880 362,839 +44.8%
1890 448,477 +23.6%
1900 560,892 +25.1%
1910 670,585 +19.6%
1920 748,060 +11.6%
1930 781,188 +4.4%
1940 770,816 −1.3%
1950 801,444 +4.0%
1960 697,197 −13.0%
1970 641,071 −8.1%
1980 562,994 −12.2%
1990 574,283 +2.0%
2000 589,141 +2.6%
2010 617,594 +4.8%
2020 675,647 +9.4%
*=population estimate.
Source: United States Census records and Population Estimates Program data.
2010–2020
Source: U.S. Decennial Census
Boston income donut
Per capita income in the Greater Boston area, by US Census block group, 2000. The dashed line shows the boundary of the City of Boston.
Race and ethnicity 2010- Boston (5559894531)
Map of racial distribution in Boston, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, or Other (yellow)

In 2020, Boston was estimated to have 691,531 residents living in 266,724 households—a 12% population increase over 2010. The city is the third-most densely populated large U.S. city of over half a million residents, and the most densely populated state capital. Some 1.2 million persons may be within Boston's boundaries during work hours, and as many as 2 million during special events. This fluctuation of people is caused by hundreds of thousands of suburban residents who travel to the city for work, education, health care, and special events.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 21.9% at age 19 and under, 14.3% from 20 to 24, 33.2% from 25 to 44, 20.4% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.9 males. There were 252,699 households, of which 20.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them, 25.5% were married couples living together, 16.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 54.0% were non-families. 37.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 3.08. From an estimate in 2005, Boston has one of the largest per capita LGBT populations in the United States.

The median household income in Boston was $51,739, while the median income for a family was $61,035. Full-time year-round male workers had a median income of $52,544 versus $46,540 for full-time year-round female workers. The per capita income for the city was $33,158. 21.4% of the population and 16.0% of families were below the poverty line. Of the total population, 28.8% of those under the age of 18 and 20.4% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line. Boston has a significant racial wealth gap with White Bostonians having an median net worth of $247,500 compared to an $8 median net worth for non-immigrant Black residents and $0 for Dominican immigrant residents.

In 1950, Whites represented 94.7% of Boston's population. From the 1950s to the end of the 20th century, the proportion of non-Hispanic Whites in the city declined. In 2000, non-Hispanic Whites made up 49.5% of the city's population, making the city majority minority for the first time. However, in the 21st century, the city has experienced significant gentrification, during which affluent Whites have moved into formerly non-White areas. In 2006, the US Census Bureau estimated non-Hispanic Whites again formed a slight majority but as of 2010, in part due to the housing crash, as well as increased efforts to make more affordable housing more available, the non-White population has rebounded. This may also have to do with increased Latin American and Asian populations and more clarity surrounding US Census statistics, which indicate a non-Hispanic White population of 47 percent (some reports give slightly lower figures).

Historical racial/ethnic composition
Race/ethnicity 2019 2010 1990 1970 1940
Non-Hispanic Whites 44.9% 47.0% 59.0% 79.5% 96.6%
Black 22.2% 24.4% 23.8% 16.3% 3.1%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 19.6% 17.5% 10.8% 2.8% 0.1%
Asian 9.7% 8.9% 5.3% 1.3% 0.2%
Two or more races 2.6% 3.9%
Native American 0.4% 0.4% 0.3% 0.2%
Boston Chinatown Paifang
Chinatown, with its paifang gate, is home to many Chinese and also Vietnamese restaurants.
US Navy 090315-N-8110K-011 A crowd along a parade route in South Boston cheers Sailors from the guided-missile frigate USS Taylor (FFG 50) as they march in the 108th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade
U.S. Navy sailors march in Boston's annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. Irish Americans constitute the largest ethnicity in Boston.
Were a gay and happy family wagon
Boston gay pride march, held annually in June

People of Irish descent form the largest single ethnic group in the city, making up 15.8% of the population, followed by Italians, accounting for 8.3% of the population. People of West Indian and Caribbean ancestry are another sizable group, at over 15%.

In Greater Boston, these numbers grew significantly, with 150,000 Dominicans according to 2018 estimates, 134,000 Puerto Ricans, 57,500 Salvadorans, 39,000 Guatemalans, 36,000 Mexicans, and over 35,000 Colombians. East Boston has a diverse Hispanic/Latino population of Salvadorans, Colombians, Guatemalans, Mexicans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and even Portuguese-speaking people from Portugal and Brazil. Hispanic populations in southwest Boston neighborhoods are mainly made up of Dominicans and Puerto Ricans, usually sharing neighborhoods in this section with African Americans and Blacks with origins from the Caribbean and Africa especially Cape Verdeans and Haitians. Neighborhoods such as Jamaica Plain and Roslindale have experienced a growing number of Dominican Americans.

Over 27,000 Chinese Americans made their home in Boston city proper in 2013.

Ancestry

According to the 2012–2016 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the largest ancestry groups in Boston, Massachusetts are:

3.67% 2.74% 4.97% 6.02% 2.65% 4.57% 0.75% 3.61% 2.29% 3.33% 2.09% 3.08% 2.43% 3.27% 1.24% 2.18% 1.07% 1.22% 1.26% 1.36% 0.74% 0.22% 0.54% 0.45% 0.00% 0.50%

Ancestry Percentage of
Boston
population
Percentage of
Massachusetts
population
Percentage of
United States
population
City-to-State
Difference
City-to-USA
Difference
Irish 14.06% 21.16% 10.39% −7.10%
Italian 8.13% 13.19% 5.39% −5.05%
other West Indian 6.92% 1.96% 0.90%
Dominican 5.45% 2.60% 0.68%
Puerto Rican 5.27% 4.52% 1.66%
Chinese 4.57% 2.28% 1.24%
German 4.57% 6.00% 14.40% −1.43% −9.83%
English 4.54% 9.77% 7.67% −5.23% −3.13%
American 4.13% 4.26% 6.89% −0.13% −2.76%
Sub-Saharan African 4.09% 2.00% 1.01%
Haitian 3.58% 1.15% 0.31%
Polish 2.48% 4.67% 2.93% −2.19% −0.45%
Cape Verdean 2.21% 0.97% 0.03%
French 1.93% 6.82% 2.56% −4.89% −0.63%
Vietnamese 1.76% 0.69% 0.54%
Jamaican 1.70% 0.44% 0.34%
Russian 1.62% 1.65% 0.88% −0.03%
Asian Indian 1.31% 1.39% 1.09% −0.08%
Scottish 1.30% 2.28% 1.71% −0.98% −0.41%
French Canadian 1.19% 3.91% 0.65% −2.71%
Mexican 1.12% 0.67% 11.96% −10.84%
Arab 1.10% 1.10% 0.59%

Demographic breakdown by ZIP Code

Income

Data is from the 2008–2012 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.

Rank ZIP code (ZCTA) Per capita
income
Median
household
income
Median
family
income
Population Number of
households
1 02110 (Financial District) $152,007 $123,795 $196,518 1,486 981
2 02199 (Prudential Center) $151,060 $107,159 $146,786 1,290 823
3 02210 (Fort Point) $93,078 $111,061 $223,411 1,905 1,088
4 02109 (North End) $88,921 $128,022 $162,045 4,277 2,190
5 02116 (Back Bay/Bay Village) $81,458 $87,630 $134,875 21,318 10,938
6 02108 (Beacon Hill/Financial District) $78,569 $95,753 $153,618 4,155 2,337
7 02114 (Beacon Hill/West End) $65,865 $79,734 $169,107 11,933 6,752
8 02111 (Chinatown/Financial District/Leather District) $56,716 $44,758 $88,333 7,616 3,390
9 02129 (Charlestown) $56,267 $89,105 $98,445 17,052 8,083
10 02467 (Chestnut Hill) $53,382 $113,952 $148,396 22,796 6,351
11 02113 (North End) $52,905 $64,413 $112,589 7,276 4,329
12 02132 (West Roxbury) $44,306 $82,421 $110,219 27,163 11,013
13 02118 (South End) $43,887 $50,000 $49,090 26,779 12,512
14 02130 (Jamaica Plain) $42,916 $74,198 $95,426 36,866 15,306
15 02127 (South Boston) $42,854 $67,012 $68,110 32,547 14,994
Massachusetts $35,485 $66,658 $84,380 6,560,595 2,525,694
Boston $33,589 $53,136 $63,230 619,662 248,704
Suffolk County $32,429 $52,700 $61,796 724,502 287,442
16 02135 (Brighton) $31,773 $50,291 $62,602 38,839 18,336
17 02131 (Roslindale) $29,486 $61,099 $70,598 30,370 11,282
United States $28,051 $53,046 $64,585 309,138,711 115,226,802
18 02136 (Hyde Park) $28,009 $57,080 $74,734 29,219 10,650
19 02134 (Allston) $25,319 $37,638 $49,355 20,478 8,916
20 02128 (East Boston) $23,450 $49,549 $49,470 41,680 14,965
21 02122 (Dorchester-Fields Corner) $23,432 $51,798 $50,246 25,437 8,216
22 02124 (Dorchester-Codman Square-Ashmont) $23,115 $48,329 $55,031 49,867 17,275
23 02125 (Dorchester-Uphams Corner-Savin Hill) $22,158 $42,298 $44,397 31,996 11,481
24 02163 (Allston-Harvard Business School) $21,915 $43,889 $91,190 1,842 562
25 02115 (Back Bay, Longwood, Museum of Fine Arts/Symphony Hall area) $21,654 $23,677 $50,303 29,178 9,958
26 02126 (Mattapan) $20,649 $43,532 $52,774 27,335 9,510
27 02215 (Fenway-Kenmore) $19,082 $30,823 $72,583 23,719 7,995
28 02119 (Roxbury) $18,998 $27,051 $35,311 24,237 9,769
29 02121 (Dorchester-Mount Bowdoin) $18,226 $30,419 $35,439 26,801 9,739
30 02120 (Mission Hill) $17,390 $32,367 $29,583 13,217 4,509

Religion

OldSouthChurchBoston
Old South Church, a United Church of Christ congregation first organized in 1669

According to a 2014 study by the Pew Research Center, 57% of the population of the city identified themselves as Christians, with 25% attending a variety of Protestant churches and 29% professing Roman Catholic beliefs; 33% claim no religious affiliation, while the remaining 10% are composed of adherents of Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Baháʼí and other faiths.

As of 2010, the Catholic Church had the highest number of adherents as a single denomination in the Greater Boston area, with more than two million members and 339 churches, followed by the Episcopal Church with 58,000 adherents in 160 churches. The United Church of Christ had 55,000 members and 213 churches.

The city has a Jewish population of an estimated 248,000 Jews within the Boston metro area. More than half of Jewish households in the Greater Boston area reside in the city itself, Brookline, Newton, Cambridge, Somerville, or adjacent towns.

Culture

Old State House Boston Massachusetts2
The Old State House, a museum on the Freedom Trail and the site of the Boston Massacre
2009 HanoverSt Boston
Hanover Street in the North End is known for its restaurants.

Boston shares many cultural roots with greater New England, including a dialect of the non-rhotic Eastern New England accent known as the Boston accent and a regional cuisine with a large emphasis on seafood, salt, and dairy products. Boston also has its own collection of neologisms known as Boston slang.

OldCornerBookstore08
In the nineteenth century, the Old Corner Bookstore became a gathering place for writers, including Emerson, Thoreau, and Margaret Fuller. Here James Russell Lowell printed the first editions of The Atlantic Monthly.

Boston has been called the "Athens of America" for its literary culture, earning a reputation as "the intellectual capital of the United States." In the nineteenth century, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, James Russell Lowell, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in Boston. Some consider the Old Corner Bookstore to be the "cradle of American literature," the place where these writers met and where The Atlantic Monthly was first published. In 1852, the Boston Public Library was founded as the first free library in the United States. Boston's literary culture continues today thanks to the city's many universities and the Boston Book Festival.

Music is afforded a high degree of civic support in Boston. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is one of the "Big Five," a group of the greatest American orchestras, and the classical music magazine Gramophone called it one of the "world's best" orchestras. Symphony Hall (located west of Back Bay) is home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the related Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, which is the largest youth orchestra in the nation, and to the Boston Pops Orchestra. The British newspaper The Guardian called Boston Symphony Hall "one of the top venues for classical music in the world," adding that "Symphony Hall in Boston was where science became an essential part of concert hall design." Other concerts are held at the New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall. The Boston Ballet performs at the Boston Opera House. Other performing-arts organizations located in the city include the Boston Lyric Opera Company, Opera Boston, Boston Baroque (the first permanent Baroque orchestra in the US), and the Handel and Haydn Society (one of the oldest choral companies in the United States). The city is a center for contemporary classical music with a number of performing groups, several of which are associated with the city's conservatories and universities. These include the Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Boston Musica Viva. Several theaters are located in or near the Theater District south of Boston Common, including the Cutler Majestic Theatre, Citi Performing Arts Center, the Colonial Theater, and the Orpheum Theatre.

There are several major annual events, such as First Night which occurs on New Year's Eve, the Boston Early Music Festival, the annual Boston Arts Festival at Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park, the annual Boston gay pride parade and festival held in June, and Italian summer feasts in the North End honoring Catholic saints. The city is the site of several events during the Fourth of July period. They include the week-long Harborfest festivities and a Boston Pops concert accompanied by fireworks on the banks of the Charles River.

Several historic sites relating to the American Revolution period are preserved as part of the Boston National Historical Park because of the city's prominent role. Many are found along the Freedom Trail, which is marked by a red line of bricks embedded in the ground.

The city is also home to several art museums and galleries, including the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The Institute of Contemporary Art is housed in a contemporary building designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in the Seaport District. Boston's South End Art and Design District (SoWa) and Newbury St. are both art gallery destinations. Columbia Point is the location of the University of Massachusetts Boston, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, and the Massachusetts Archives and Commonwealth Museum. The Boston Athenæum (one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States), Boston Children's Museum, Bull & Finch Pub (whose building is known from the television show Cheers), Museum of Science, and the New England Aquarium are within the city.

Boston has been a noted religious center from its earliest days. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston serves nearly 300 parishes and is based in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (1875) in the South End, while the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts serves just under 200 congregations, with the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (1819) as its episcopal seat. Unitarian Universalism has its headquarters on Beacon Hill. The Christian Scientists are headquartered in Back Bay at the Mother Church (1894). The oldest church in Boston is First Church in Boston, founded in 1630. King's Chapel was the city's first Anglican church, founded in 1686 and converted to Unitarianism in 1785. Other churches include Christ Church (better known as Old North Church, 1723), the oldest church building in the city, Trinity Church (1733), Park Street Church (1809), Old South Church (1874), Jubilee Christian Church, and Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on Mission Hill (1878).

Parks and recreation

Boston common 20060619
Boston Common seen from the Prudential Tower

Boston Common, located near the Financial District and Beacon Hill, is the oldest public park in the United States. Along with the adjacent Boston Public Garden, it is part of the Emerald Necklace, a string of parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to encircle the city. The Emerald Necklace includes Jamaica Pond, Boston's largest body of freshwater, and Franklin Park, the city's largest park and home of the Franklin Park Zoo. Another major park is the Esplanade, located along the banks of the Charles River. The Hatch Shell, an outdoor concert venue, is located adjacent to the Charles River Esplanade. Other parks are scattered throughout the city, with the major parks and beaches located near Castle Island; in Charlestown; and along the Dorchester, South Boston, and East Boston shorelines.

Boston's park system is well-reputed nationally. In its 2013 ParkScore ranking, The Trust for Public Land reported that Boston was tied with Sacramento and San Francisco for having the third-best park system among the 50 most populous US cities. ParkScore ranks city park systems by a formula that analyzes the city's median park size, park acres as percent of city area, the percent of residents within a half-mile of a park, spending of park services per resident, and the number of playgrounds per 10,000 residents.

Infrastructure

Transportation

RedLineCharlesMGH
An MBTA Red Line train departing Boston for Cambridge. Bostonians depend heavily on public transit, with over 1.3 million Bostonians riding the city's buses and trains daily (2013).

Logan International Airport, in East Boston and operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport), is Boston's principal airport. Nearby general aviation airports are Beverly Municipal Airport to the north, Hanscom Field to the west, and Norwood Memorial Airport to the south. Massport also operates several major facilities within the Port of Boston, including a cruise ship terminal and facilities to handle bulk and container cargo in South Boston, and other facilities in Charlestown and East Boston.

Downtown Boston's streets grew organically, so they do not form a planned grid, unlike those in later-developed Back Bay, East Boston, the South End, and South Boston. Boston is the eastern terminus of I-90, which in Massachusetts runs along the Massachusetts Turnpike. The elevated portion of the Central Artery, which carried most of the through traffic in downtown Boston, was replaced with the O'Neill Tunnel during the Big Dig, substantially completed in early 2006. The former and current Central Artery follow I-93 as the primary north–south artery from the city. Other major highways include US 1, which carries traffic to the North Shore and areas south of Boston, US 3, which connects to the northwestern suburbs, Massachusetts Route 3, which connects to the South Shore and Cape Cod, and Massachusetts Route 2 which connects to the western suburbs. Surrounding the city is Massachusetts Route 128, a partial beltway which has been largely subsumed by other routes (mostly I-95 and I-93).

With nearly a third of Bostonians using public transit for their commute to work, Boston has the Fourth-highest rate of public transit usage in the country. The city of Boston has a higher than average percentage of households without a car. In 2015, 35.4 percent of Boston households lacked a car, which decreased slightly to 33.8 percent in 2016. The national average was 8.7 percent in 2016. Boston averaged 0.94 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8. Boston's public transportation agency, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates the oldest underground rapid transit system in the Americas, and is the fourth-busiest rapid transit system in the country, with65.5 mi (105 km) of track on four lines. The MBTA also operates busy bus and commuter rail networks, and water shuttles.

Boston South Station - panoramio
South Station, the busiest rail hub in New England, is a terminus of Amtrak and numerous MBTA rail lines.
Ruggles Bluebikes station 04
Bluebikes in Boston

Amtrak intercity rail to Boston is provided through four stations: South Station, North Station, Back Bay, and Route 128. South Station is a major intermodal transportation hub and is the terminus of Amtrak's Northeast Regional, Acela Express, and Lake Shore Limited routes, in addition to multiple MBTA services. Back Bay is also served by MBTA and those three Amtrak routes, while Route 128, in the southwestern suburbs of Boston, is only served by the Acela Express and Northeast Regional. Meanwhile, Amtrak's Downeaster to Brunswick, Maine terminates in North Station, and is the only Amtrak route to do so.

Nicknamed "The Walking City", Boston hosts more pedestrian commuters than do other comparably populated cities. Owing to factors such as necessity, the compactness of the city and large student population, 13 percent of the population commutes by foot, making it the highest percentage of pedestrian commuters in the country out of the major American cities. In 2011, Walk Score ranked Boston the third most walkable city in the United States. As of 2015, Walk Score still ranks Boston as the third most walkable US city, with a Walk Score of 80, a Transit Score of 75, and a Bike Score of 70.

Between 1999 and 2006, Bicycling magazine named Boston three times as one of the worst cities in the US for cycling; regardless, it has one of the highest rates of bicycle commuting. In 2008, as a consequence of improvements made to bicycling conditions within the city, the same magazine put Boston on its "Five for the Future" list as a "Future Best City" for biking, and Boston's bicycle commuting percentage increased from 1% in 2000 to 2.1% in 2009. The bikeshare program Bluebikes, originally called Hubway, launched in late July 2011, logging more than 140,000 rides before the close of its first season. The neighboring municipalities of Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline joined the Hubway program in the summer of 2012. In 2016, there are 1,461 bikes and 158 docking stations across the city. PBSC Urban Solutions provides bicycles and technology for this bike-sharing system.

In 2013, the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metropolitan statistical area (Boston MSA) had the seventh-lowest percentage of workers who commuted by private automobile (75.6 percent), with 6.2 percent of area workers traveling via rail transit. During the period starting in 2006 and ending in 2013, the Boston MSA had the greatest percentage decline of workers commuting by automobile (3.3 percent) among MSAs with more than a half-million residents.

Gallery

Twin towns and Sister cities

Boston has nine official sister cities as recognized by Sister Cities International.

City Country Since References
Kyoto Japan 1959
Strasbourg France 1960
Barcelona Spain 1980
Hangzhou China 1982
Padua Italy 1983
Melbourne Australia 1985
Taipei Taiwan 1996
Sekondi-Takoradi Ghana 2001
Belfast United Kingdom 2014

Boston has less formal friendship or partnership relationships with three additional cities.

City Country Since References
Boston, Lincolnshire United Kingdom 1999
Haifa Israel 1999
Valladolid Spain 2007

Economy

Top publicly traded Boston companies for 2018
(ranked by revenues)
with City and U.S. ranks
Source: Fortune 500
Bos. Corporation US Revenue
(in millions)
1 General Electric 18 $122,274
2 Liberty Mutual 68 $42,687
3 State Street 259 $11,774
4 American Tower 419 $6,663.9
Top City Employers
Source: MA Executive Office of Labor
and Workforce Development
Rank Company/Organization
1 Brigham and Women's Hospital
2 Massachusetts General Hospital
3 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
4 Boston Children's Hospital
5 Boston Medical Center
6 Boston University School of Medicine
7 Boston University
8 Floating Hospital for Children
9 John Hancock Life Insurance Co.
10 Liberty Mutual Group Inc.
Circle frame-1.svg

Distribution of Greater Boston NECTA Labor Force (2016)      Nat'l resources & mining (0%)     Construction (5%)     Manufacturing (8%)     Trade, transportation & utilities (15%)     Information (3%)     Finance & real estate (8%)     Professional & business services (15%)     Educational & health services (28%)     Leisure & hospitality (9%)     Other services (4%)

A global city, Boston is placed among the top 30 most economically powerful cities in the world. Encompassing $363 billion, the Greater Boston metropolitan area has the sixth-largest economy in the country and 12th-largest in the world.

Boston's colleges and universities exert a significant impact on the regional economy. Boston attracts more than 350,000 college students from around the world, who contribute more than US$4.8 billion annually to the city's economy. The area's schools are major employers and attract industries to the city and surrounding region. The city is home to a number of technology companies and is a hub for biotechnology, with the Milken Institute rating Boston as the top life sciences cluster in the country. Boston receives the highest absolute amount of annual funding from the National Institutes of Health of all cities in the United States.

The city is considered highly innovative for a variety of reasons, including the presence of academia, access to venture capital, and the presence of many high-tech companies. The Route 128 corridor and Greater Boston continue to be a major center for venture capital investment, and high technology remains an important sector.

Tourism also composes a large part of Boston's economy, with 21.2 million domestic and international visitors spending $8.3 billion in 2011. Excluding visitors from Canada and Mexico, over 1.4 million international tourists visited Boston in 2014, with those from China and the United Kingdom leading the list. Boston's status as a state capital as well as the regional home of federal agencies has rendered law and government to be another major component of the city's economy. The city is a major seaport along the East Coast of the United States and the oldest continuously operated industrial and fishing port in the Western Hemisphere.

In the 2018 Global Financial Centres Index, Boston was ranked as having the thirteenth most competitive financial services center in the world and the second most competitive in the United States. Boston-based Fidelity Investments helped popularize the mutual fund in the 1980s and has made Boston one of the top financial centers in the United States. The city is home to the headquarters of Santander Bank, and Boston is a center for venture capital firms. State Street Corporation, which specializes in asset management and custody services, is based in the city. Boston is a printing and publishing center—Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is headquartered within the city, along with Bedford-St. Martin's Press and Beacon Press. Pearson PLC publishing units also employ several hundred people in Boston. The city is home to three major convention centers—the Hynes Convention Center in the Back Bay, and the Seaport World Trade Center and Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on the South Boston waterfront. The General Electric Corporation announced in January 2016 its decision to move the company's global headquarters to the Seaport District in Boston, from Fairfield, Connecticut, citing factors including Boston's preeminence in the realm of higher education. Boston is home to the headquarters of several major athletic and footwear companies including Converse, New Balance, and Reebok. Rockport, Puma and Wolverine World Wide, Inc. headquarters or regional offices are just outside the city.

In 2019, a yearly ranking of time wasted in traffic listed Boston area drivers lost approximately 164 hours a year in lost productivity due to the area's traffic congestion. This amounted to $2,300 a year per driver in costs.

Sports

131023-F-PR861-033 Hanscom participates in World Series pregame events
Fenway Park is the oldest professional baseball stadium still in use.

Boston has teams in the four major North American professional sports leagues plus Major League Soccer, and, as of 2019, has won 39 championships in these leagues. It is one of eight cities (along with Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Washington) to have won championships in all four major American sports leagues. It has been suggested that Boston is the new "TitleTown, USA", as the city's professional sports teams have won twelve championships since 2001: Patriots (2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016 and 2018), Red Sox (2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018), Celtics (2008), and Bruins (2011). This love of sports made Boston the United States Olympic Committee's choice to bid to hold the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, but the city cited financial concerns when it withdrew its bid on July 27, 2015.

The Boston Red Sox, a founding member of the American League of Major League Baseball in 1901, play their home games at Fenway Park, near Kenmore Square, in the city's Fenway section. Built in 1912, it is the oldest sports arena or stadium in active use in the United States among the four major professional American sports leagues, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League. Boston was the site of the first game of the first modern World Series, in 1903. The series was played between the AL Champion Boston Americans and the NL champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Persistent reports that the team was known in 1903 as the "Boston Pilgrims" appear to be unfounded. Boston's first professional baseball team was the Red Stockings, one of the charter members of the National Association in 1871, and of the National League in 1876. The team played under that name until 1883, under the name Beaneaters until 1911, and under the name Braves from 1912 until they moved to Milwaukee after the 1952 season. Since 1966 they have played in Atlanta as the Atlanta Braves.

Celtics game versus the Timberwolves, February, 1 2009
The Celtics play at the TD Garden.

The TD Garden, formerly called the FleetCenter and built to replace the old, since-demolished Boston Garden, is adjoined to North Station and is the home of two major league teams: the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association. The arena seats 18,624 for basketball games and 17,565 for ice hockey games. The Bruins were the first American member of the National Hockey League and an Original Six franchise. The Boston Celtics were founding members of the Basketball Association of America, one of the two leagues that merged to form the NBA. The Celtics, along with the Los Angeles Lakers, have the distinction of having won more championships than any other NBA team, both with seventeen. The venue is also set to host the 2020 Laver Cup, an international men's tennis tournament consisting of two teams: Team Europe and Team World, the latter of which consisting of non-European players. This will be the 4th edition of the tournament, and the first time Boston has hosted an ATP tournament since 1999, where Marat Safin defeated Greg Rusedski.

While they have played in suburban Foxborough since 1971, the New England Patriots of the National Football League were founded in 1960 as the Boston Patriots, changing their name after relocating. The team won the Super Bowl after the 2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016 and 2018 seasons. They share Gillette Stadium with the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer. The Boston Breakers of Women's Professional Soccer, which formed in 2009, played their home games at Dilboy Stadium in Somerville. The Boston Storm of the United Women's Lacrosse League was formed in 2015.

Harvard Stadium aerial axonometric
Harvard Stadium, the first collegiate athletic stadium built in the U.S.

The area's many colleges and universities are active in college athletics. Four NCAA Division I members play in the area—Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, and Northeastern University. Of the four, only Boston College participates in college football at the highest level, the Football Bowl Subdivision. Harvard participates in the second-highest level, the Football Championship Subdivision. The Boston Cannons of the MLL play at Harvard Stadium.

Boston has Esports teams as well, such as the Overwatch League's Boston Uprising. Established in 2017, they were the first team to complete a perfect stage with 0 losses.

One of the best known sporting events in the city is the Boston Marathon, the26.2 mi (42.2 km) race which is the world's oldest annual marathon, run on Patriots' Day in April. On April 15, 2013, two explosions killed three people and injured hundreds at the marathon. Another major annual event is the Head of the Charles Regatta, held in October.

Education

Primary and secondary education

Boston Latin School - 0403002015a - City of Boston Archives
Boston Latin School was established in 1635 and is the oldest public high school in the US.

The Boston Public Schools enroll 57,000 students attending 145 schools, including the renowned Boston Latin Academy, John D. O'Bryant School of Math & Science, and Boston Latin School. The Boston Latin School was established in 1635 and is the oldest public high school in the US. Boston also operates the United States' second-oldest public high school and its oldest public elementary school. The system's students are 40% Hispanic or Latino, 35% Black or African American, 13% White, and 9% Asian. There are private, parochial, and charter schools as well, and approximately 3,300 minority students attend participating suburban schools through the Metropolitan Educational Opportunity Council. In September 2019, the city formally inaugurated Boston Saves, a program that provides every child enrolled in the city's kindergarten system a savings account containing $50 to be used toward college or career training.

Higher education

Boston college town map
Map of Boston-area universities

Some of the most renowned and highly ranked universities in the world are near Boston. Three universities with a major presence in the city, Harvard, MIT, and Tufts, are just outside of Boston in the cities of Cambridge and Somerville, known as the Brainpower Triangle. Harvard is the nation's oldest institute of higher education and is centered across the Charles River in Cambridge, though the majority of its land holdings and a substantial amount of its educational activities are in Boston. Its business school and athletics facilities are in Boston's Allston neighborhood, and its medical, dental, and public health schools are located in the Longwood area.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) originated in Boston and was long known as "Boston Tech"; it moved across the river to Cambridge in 1916. Tufts University's main campus is north of the city in Somerville and Medford, though it locates its medical and dental schools in Boston's Chinatown at Tufts Medical Center, a 451-bed academic medical institution that is home to a full-service hospital for adults and the Floating Hospital for Children.

Five members of the Association of American Universities are in Greater Boston (more than any other metropolitan area): Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, Boston University, and Brandeis University. Furthermore, Greater Boston contains seven Highest Research Activity (R1) Universities as per the Carnegie Classification. This includes, in addition to the aforementioned five, Boston College, and Northeastern University. This is, by a large margin, the highest concentration of such institutions in a single metropolitan area. Hospitals, universities, and research institutions in Greater Boston received more than $1.77  billion in National Institutes of Health grants in 2013, more money than any other American metropolitan area. This high density of research institutes also contributes to Boston's high density of early career researchers, which, due to high housing costs in the region, have been shown to face housing stress.

Great Dome, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Aug 2019
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is often cited as among the world's top universities
Aerial of the Harvard Business School campus
Harvard Business School, one of the country's top business schools

Greater Boston has more than 50 colleges and universities, with 250,000 students enrolled in Boston and Cambridge alone. The city's largest private universities include Boston University (also the city's fourth-largest employer), with its main campus along Commonwealth Avenue and a medical campus in the South End, Northeastern University in the Fenway area, Suffolk University near Beacon Hill, which includes law school and business school, and Boston College, which straddles the Boston (Brighton)–Newton border. Boston's only public university is the University of Massachusetts Boston on Columbia Point in Dorchester. Roxbury Community College and Bunker Hill Community College are the city's two public community colleges. Altogether, Boston's colleges and universities employ more than 42,600 people, accounting for nearly seven percent of the city's workforce.

Smaller private colleges include Babson College, Bentley University, Boston Architectural College, Emmanuel College, Fisher College, MGH Institute of Health Professions, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Simmons University, Wellesley College, Wheelock College, Wentworth Institute of Technology, New England School of Law (originally established as America's first all female law school), and Emerson College.

Metropolitan Boston is home to several conservatories and art schools, including Lesley University College of Art and Design, Massachusetts College of Art, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, New England Institute of Art, New England School of Art and Design (Suffolk University), Longy School of Music of Bard College, and the New England Conservatory (the oldest independent conservatory in the United States). Other conservatories include the Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music, which has made Boston an important city for jazz music.

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Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Boston para niños

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