Population and employment growth in the counties of Metropolitan Boston
The following table shows the population and employment growth and decline in the years 2000 – 2006 in the counties that are included in Metropolitan Boston (what the federal government calls Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH), as well as for the metropolitan area itself.
The counties are Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk counties in Massachusetts, and Strafford and Rockingham counties in New Hampshire. If you’re not quite familiar with these counties, it might help to know that Boston is in Suffolk, Brookline in Norfolk, Cambridge, Framingham and Lowell in Middlesex, and Haverhill and Lawrence in Essex.
The population figures for 2000 is from the 2000 Census, while the figures for all others years are from the United States Census Bureau’s estimates of each county’s population on July 1 each year.
The employment numbers are from the Census Bureau’s County Business Patterns survey series. The employment numbers are for mid-March of each year. Note that the employment number is for the number of people employed in that county, not the number of county residents who are employed.
Please note that the rows that show the change in population and employment show the change from 2000 to year, not year-to-year.
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | ||
| Essex | ||||||||
| Population | 723,419 | 731,127 | 733,688 | 733,047 | 731,560 | 730,922 | 731,501 | |
| Change | n/a | 1.07% | 1.42% | 1.33% | 1.13% | 1.04% | 1.17% | |
| Employed | 282,366 | 284,473 | 276,507 | 273,718 | 275,148 | 271,276 | 268,696 | |
| Change | n/a | 0.75% | -2.07% | -3.06% | -2.56% | -3.93% | -4.84% | |
| Middlesex | ||||||||
| Population | 1,465,396 | 1,476,610 | 1,473,811 | 1,471,174 | 1,468,444 | 1,465,097 | 1,466,744 | |
| Change | n/a | 0.77% | 0.57% | 0.39% | 0.21% | -0.02% | 0.09% | |
| Employed | 852,954 | 871,013 | 797,012 | 794,436 | 787,300 | 790,777 | 811,945 | |
| Change | n/a | 2.12% | -6.56% | -6.86% | -7.70% | -7.29% | -4.81% | |
| Norfolk | ||||||||
| Population | 650,308 | 653,755 | 654,304 | 653,075 | 652,874 | 651,358 | 652,529 | |
| Change | n/a | 0.53% | 0.61% | 0.43% | 0.39% | 0.16% | 0.34% | |
| Employed | 337,566 | 344,196 | 351,072 | 319,604 | 328,104 | 326,967 | 342,859 | |
| Change | n/a | 1.02% | 4.00% | -5.32% | -2.80% | -3.14% | 1.57% | |
| Plymouth | ||||||||
| Population | 472,822 | 478,370 | 482,558 | 484,906 | 486,326 | 487,931 | 488,444 | |
| Change | n/a | 1.17% | 2.06% | 2.56% | 2.86% | 3.20% | 3.31% | |
| Employed | 147,759 | 150,808 | 149,160 | 153,655 | 153,150 | 153,894 | 158,376 | |
| Change | n/a | 2.06% | 0.95% | 4.00% | 3.65% | 4.15% | 7.19% | |
| Suffolk | ||||||||
| Population | 689,807 | 705,168 | 708,692 | 708,010 | 705,620 | 707,170 | 710,139 | |
| Change | n/a | 2.23% | 2.74% | 2.64% | 2.29% | 2.52% | 2.95% | |
| Employed | 571,117 | 579,254 | 563,403 | 551,775 | 548,381 | 554,555 | 553,016 | |
| Change | n/a | 1.42% | -1.35% | -3.39% | -3.98% | -2.90% | -3.17% | |
| Rockingham | ||||||||
| Population | 277,359 | 283,441 | 287,156 | 289,108 | 290,724 | 293,207 | 295,545 | |
| Change | n/a | 2.19% | 3.53% | 4.24% | 4.82% | 5.71% | 6.56% | |
| Employed | 125,342 | 128,759 | 129,047 | 123,968 | 129,151 | 129,749 | 131,327 | |
| Change | n/a | 2.76% | 2.96% | -1.10% | 3.04% | 3.52% | 4.81% | |
| Strafford | ||||||||
| Population | 112,233 | 114,510 | 116,083 | 117,142 | 118,319 | 119,129 | 120,772 | |
| Change | n/a | 2.03% | 3.39% | 4.38% | 5.42% | 6.14% | 7.61% | |
| Employed | 35,416 | 35,523 | 37,050 | 37,564 | 37,964 | 38,480 | 38,737 | |
| Change | n/a | 0.30% | 4.61% | 6.07% | 7.19% | 8.65% | 9.38% | |
| Metropolitan Boston (Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH) | ||||||||
| Population | 4,391,344 | 4,442,981 | 4,456,292 | 4,456,462 | 4,453,867 | 4,454,814 | 4,465,674 | |
| Change | n/a | 1.18% | 1.48% | 1.48% | 1.42% | 1.45% | 1.69% | |
| Employed | 2,352,520 | 2,394,026 | 2,303,251 | 2,254,720 | 2,259,198 | 2,265,698 | 2,304,956 | |
| Change | n/a | 1.76% | -2.09% | -4.16% | -3.97% | -3.69% | -2.02% | |
