Massachusetts and Boston Statistics Resource Guide: Statistics on Boston & MA Towns

Here is the Massachusetts Municipal Association site that links you to each MA community's official website.

The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, coordinates the Boston Indicators Project in partnership with the City of Boston and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). "For more than ten years, The Boston Indicators Project has been a primary data resource for the Greater Boston community, providing a rich online portal of data while tracking change in ten sectors."

Founded by The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and The Boston Indicators Project (see above), in conjunction with several other academic and foundation groups, the MetroBoston DataCommon is an online tool providing data about the region and each of its cities and towns. They self-identify as "a resource for all those wishing to better understand how the region and its communities are changing, and help residents, planners, city and town officials, educators, and journalists explore options and make informed decisions." Data is organized by topic, and also by geographic units like municipality and census tract.

This table presents some quick data about Boston, including population, business and geography data. Use the toolbar to manipulate the information into a map, chart, etc.

"The Boston Municipal Research Bureau promotes a healthy business and residential climate by advocating for stability and predictability in the basics of city government—tax policies, service delivery and public education. Founded in 1932, the Research Bureau is known for expert research, independent analysis and trusted results." Here is their publications page with links to many interesting reports and data specifically on Boston and its neighborhoods.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority was established in the late 1950s with broad powers to "buy and sell property, the power to acquire property through eminent domain, and the power to grant tax concession. . .to encourage commercial and residential development." Click on a neighborhood icon. More useful data is generally linked further down the page.

This official City website is short on data but does provide PDF neighborhood brochures that provide history and background on the individual neighborhoods of the Hub.

Good for the historical view, this NBER Working Paper (10166) from 2003 "asks how Boston has been able to survive despite repeated periods of crisis and decline. Boston has reinvented itself three times: in the early 19th century as the provider of seafaring human capital for a far flung maritime trading and fishing empire, in the late 19th century as a factory town built on immigrant labor and Brahmin capital, and finally in the late 20th century as a center of the information economy." Data is presented throughout, especially in tables at the end of the report.

This public policy research institute, located at the Kennedy School of Harvard University, has working papers and content worth exploring.