Amherst (/ˈæmərst/ ⓘ)[4] is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley.

Amherst is one of several Massachusetts municipalities that have city forms of government but retain "The Town of" in their official names.

Lying 22 miles (35 km) north of the city of Springfield, Amherst is considered the northernmost town in the Hartford–Springfield Metropolitan Region, "The Knowledge Corridor".

Amherst is also located in the Pioneer Valley, which encompasses Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin counties.

[citation needed] The earliest known document of the lands now comprising Amherst is the deed of purchase dated December 1658 between John Pynchon of Springfield and three native inhabitants, referred to as Umpanchla, Quonquont, and Chickwalopp.

Amherst was first visited by Europeans no later than 1665, when Nathaniel Dickinson surveyed the lands for its mother town Hadley.

Popular belief has it that he supported the American side in the Revolutionary War and resigned his commission rather than fight for the British.

Baron Amherst actually remained in the service of the Crown during the war—albeit in Great Britain rather than North America—where he organized the defense against the proposed Franco-Spanish Armada of 1779.

Nonetheless, his previous service in the French and Indian War meant he remained popular in New England.

Amherst is also infamous for recommending, in a letter to a subordinate, the use of smallpox-covered blankets in warfare against the Native Americans along with any "other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race".

This point is located in the Mount Holyoke Range, which forms the so-called "Tofu Curtain".

Amherst has a humid continental climate that under the Köppen system marginally falls into the warm-summer category (Dfb).

The largest industry is education, health, and social services, in which 51.9% of employed persons work.

These statistics given above include some but not all of the large student population, roughly 30,000 in 2010, many of whom only reside in the town part of the year.

Amherst is part of the Eighth Massachusetts Governor's Council district and has been represented by Tara Jacobs since January 2023.

[58] In the 2000 United States Presidential Election, Amherst was one of a small number of places that delivered more votes for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader (who took 24% of the vote) than Republican candidate George W. Bush, who received just 13%.

[59] The town is part of the Amherst Regional School District along with Leverett, Pelham, and Shutesbury.

UMass Transit buses operate via a proof-of-payment system, in which there are random inspections of student identification cards and bus passes and transfers.

Peter Pan Bus Lines provides service between Amherst and Springfield, Boston, and other locations in New England.

More frequent Amtrak service to New York City and Washington, D.C., is available from Union Station in Springfield.

[65] For example, an entry from the March 27, 2015 police report reads: "2:48 a.m.—An Ann Whalen Apartments resident awoke to find someone on her balcony looking into her bedroom.