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Greater Boston

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Greater Boston
Population
4,411,835 (2,005 est.)

Greater Boston is the area of Massachusetts closely surrounding Boston. The metropolitan area has a total population of about 4.4 million and is the eleventh-largest in the United States. In addition to Boston, other cities include Cambridge, Quincy, Newton, and the largest town in Massachusetts by population, Framingham. Greater Boston overlaps the North and South Shores, as well as the MetroWest region.

Greater Boston is more urbanized than the other regions of Massachusetts, such as the more rural Western Massachusetts and the beach communities of Cape Cod. The area features many universities. There are a decreasing number of working class communities within Greater Boston.

Based on commuter movement patterns, a wider definition of the area (combined statistical area) is also sometimes used. This wider region extends north to cover part of New Hampshire up to the cities of Manchester, Concord, and Laconia; west to the city of Worcester; and south to encompass Rhode Island including the capital Providence.

Greater Boston encompasses many significant locations in American history and culture. Examples include the Paul Revere House, the Old North Church, the Old Granary Burying Ground, the site of the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, USS Constitution, Lexington and Concord, Walden Pond, the site of the Salem witch trials, and the Christian Science Mother Church. Former President John Adams was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, as was former President John Quincy Adams. Former President John F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. Former President George H. W. Bush was born in Milton.

The National Archives has a regional center in Waltham.

Components of Greater Boston

The urbanized area surrounding Boston serves as the core of the Greater Boston Area. The region containing the urbanized area, including the surrounding regions with close social and economic ties, is defined by U.S. Census Bureau as the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is further subdivided into four metropolitan divisions. The components of the metropolitan area with their 2005 populations are listed below.

A wider functional metropolitan area based on commuting patterns is also defined by the Census Bureau as the Boston-Worcester-Manchester, MA-RI-NH Combined Statistical Area. This area consists of the metropolitan areas of Manchester, Worcester, and Providence, in addition to Greater Boston. The total population (as of 2005) for the extended region is 7,427,336. The following areas, along with the above MSA, are included in the Combined Statistical Area:

New England City and Town Area

An alternative definition used by the U.S. Census Bureau is the New England City and Town Area, which uses towns as building blocks rather than counties. The NECTA associated with Boston is the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH Metropolitan NECTA.[1] The Boston NECTA is further subdivided into several NECTA divisions, which are listed below.

  • Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA NECTA Division
  • Brockton-Bridgewater-Easton, MA NECTA Division
  • Framingham, MA NECTA Division
  • Haverhill-North Andover-Amesbury, MA-NH NECTA Division
  • Lawrence-Methuen-Salem, MA-NH NECTA Division
  • Lowell-Billerica-Chelmsford, MA-NH NECTA Division
  • Peabody, MA NECTA Division
  • Nashua, NH NECTA Division
  • Taunton-Norton-Raynham, MA NECTA Division

Major cities

Major companies

Dunkin Donuts started in Greater Boston, as did CVS/pharmacy. Likewise, Howard Johnson's restaurants and lodgings began there.

Sports

Club Sport League Stadium
Boston Bruins Ice Hockey National Hockey League TD Banknorth Garden (Boston)
Boston Cannons Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse Nickerson Field (Boston)
Boston Celtics Basketball National Basketball Association TD Banknorth Garden (Boston)
Boston Red Sox Baseball Major League Baseball (AL) Fenway Park (Boston)
New England Patriots Football National Football League (American Football Conference) Gillette Stadium (Foxboro)
New England Revolution Soccer Major League Soccer Gillette Stadium (Foxboro)

Annual sporting events include:

Higher education

A long time center of higher education, the area includes many community colleges, two-year schools, and internationally prominent undergraduate and graduate institutions. The graduate schools include highly regarded schools of law, medicine, business, technology, international relations, public health, education, and religion.

See also: Boston, Massachusetts § Education; List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston; and List of colleges and universities in Massachusetts

Historical figures and celebrities

Transportation

See also: Boston transportation

Highways

Bridges and tunnels

Airports

Rail transportation

The MBTA district, with Commuter Rail lines in purple

The first railway line in the United States was in Quincy. See Neponset River.

Ocean transportation

Geography

The highest point in the Greater Boston area is Bellevue Hill[2]. The lowest point is sea level.

References

  1. ^ U.S. Census Bureau - Components of New England City and Town Areas
  2. ^ http://www.hubonwheels.org/default.asp?go=rides&m=3 Hub on Wheels "Boston is an Island"
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