Metropolitan Boston’s population has increased by 2.1% since 2000
We can use the updated county population estimates that were released by the United States Census Bureau last week to calculate metropolitan Boston’s estimated population in 2007.
A metropolitan area has an urban core of at 50,000 people and consists of the the surrounding geographic components that are linked to the core through commerce, commuting and other activities. A micropolitan area has an urban core of at least 10,000 people but less than 50,000.
[Note: The population of the city of Boston was 599,351 in 2007 according to the Bureau's population estimate. The estimate for 2008 will be issued in 2009.]
The 800-pound metropolitan gorilla in New England is, of course, Boston, or as the Census Bureau elegantly calls it, using the definition created by the federal Office of Management and Budget, Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH. It consists of Suffolk, Norfolk, Plymouth, Middlesex, and Essex counties in Massachusetts, and Rockingham and Strafford counties in New Hampshire. It is divided into Boston-Quincy, MA (Suffolk, Norfolk, and Plymouth counties), Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA (Middlesex county), Essex county (MA), and Rockingham County-Strafford County (NH).
The estimated population for metropolitan Boston in 2007 is 4,482,857, which is 17,183 - or 0.4% - more than in 2006. The estimated population growth from 2000 to 2007 is 2.1%, or 91,513 people.
The table below shows the population estimates for metropolitan Boston and its main geographic components from 2000 to 2007.
Abbreviations:
B-C-Q, MA-NH = Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH.
B-Q, MA = Boston-Quincy, MA.
C-N-F, MA = Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, MA.
Essex, MA = Essex County, MA.
R-S, NH = Rockingham County-Strafford County, NH
Cen. = 2000 population count.
% = Percentage change 2000 (census) - 2007.
| Population in metropolitan Boston, 2000 - 2007 | |||||
| Year | B-C-Q, MA-NH | B-Q, MA | C-N-F, MA | Essex, MA | R-S,NH |
| 2007 | 4,482,857 | 1,858,216 | 1,473,416 | 733,101 | 418,124 |
| 2006 | 4,465,674 | 1,851,112 | 1,466,744 | 731,501 | 416,257 |
| 2005 | 4,454,814 | 1,846,459 | 1,465,097 | 730,922 | 413,209 |
| 2004 | 4,453,867 | 1,844,820 | 1,468,444 | 731,560 | 410,240 |
| 2003 | 4,456,462 | 1,845,991 | 1,471,174 | 733,047 | 407,237 |
| 2002 | 4,456,292 | 1,845,554 | 1,473,811 | 733,688 | 403,709 |
| 2001 | 4,442,981 | 1,837,293 | 1,476,610 | 731,127 | 398,288 |
| 2000 | 4,402,652 | 1,816,544 | 1,469,303 | 725,393 | 391,459 |
| Cen. | 4,391,344 | 1,812,937 | 1,465,396 | 723,419 | 389,592 |
| % | +2.1% | +2.5% | +0.5% | +1.3% | +7.3% |
[3/27/2008 update: Don't take my word for it. Here's the Census Bureau's press release with links to relevant tables.]
(You can of course come up with your definition of what metropolitan Boston is and isn’t. For example, Massachusetts’s legislature has created what it calls Metropolitan Area Planning Council, where the “metropolitan area” covers Boston and 100 surrounding communities (yes, exactly 100 towns and cities). But that’s not the definition used here).
