Demographics of Massachusetts
For example, while some Bay Staters are leaving, others are moving there including European, Asian, Hispanic, African, Middle Eastern, North American, and Australian immigrants.
Most Bay Staters live within a 60-mile radius of the State House on Beacon Hill, often called Greater Boston: the City of Boston, neighboring cities and towns, the North Shore, South Shore, the northern, western, and southern suburbs, and most of southeastern and central Massachusetts.
[5] Massachusetts has a density of 895 people per square mile,[6] making it the third most dense of the fifty states (fifth including District of Columbia and Puerto Rico).
[11] Data from the American Community Survey 2022, which includes women ages 15–50, suggests a slightly lower fertility rate (4.3%).
Massachusetts also has the fastest growing population of South Asians, including Indian people, who are concentrated in such areas of Greater Boston as Shrewsbury, Woburn, Malden, Quincy, Somerville, and Cambridge.
Fall River and New Bedford on the south coast have large populations of Portuguese, Brazilian, and Cape Verdean heritage, all of which are also prevalent in the Taunton and Brockton areas.
Although a number of the Native American people in New England died in King Philip's War of 1675 or fled the region,[20] some remained.
For example, the Wampanoag tribe maintains at reservations at Aquinnah; at Grafton, on Martha's Vineyard; and at Mashpee, on Cape Cod.
[23] Note: Births in table don't add up, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.
As of 2010, 78.93% (4,823,127) of Massachusetts residents age 5 and older spoke English at home as a primary language, while 7.50% (458,256) spoke Spanish, 2.97% (181,437) Portuguese, 1.59% (96,690) Chinese (which includes Cantonese and Mandarin), 1.11% (67,788) French, 0.89% (54,456) French Creole, 0.72% (43,798) Italian, 0.62% (37,865) Russian, and Vietnamese was spoken as a main language by 0.58% (35,283) of the population over the age of five.
[2] This slow growth is likely attributable to the fact that Massachusetts continues to attract top scholars and researchers from across the United States as well as large numbers of immigrants, combined with steady emigration away from the state towards New Hampshire and southern and western regions of the U.S. because of high housing costs, weather, and traffic.
Following the shift to a high-tech economy and the numerous factory closures, few jobs remain for low skilled male workers, who are dropping out of the workforce in large numbers.
[47] In October 2008, Connie Paige of The Boston Globe reported that the number of homeless in Massachusetts had reached an all-time high, primarily due to mortgage foreclosures and the national economic crisis.
It is a multi-service center providing shelter, counseling, health care, housing assistance, and other support services.
It was funded by $3 million in grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the Massachusetts Medical Society, and Alliance Charitable Foundation,[49] and the United States Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
[51] Due to economic constraints in 2010, Governor Deval Patrick had to cut the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 2011 budget so dental care for the majority of adults, including most homeless people, covered by MassHealth (Medicaid) would no longer be provided except for cleaning and extractions, with no fillings, dentures, or restorative care.
[56][57] In October 2017, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced the hire of a full-time outreach manager for the Boston Public Library (BPL), whose focus would be to work with staff to provide assessment, crisis intervention, and intensive case management services to homeless individuals who frequent the library.
