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The Commemorative
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The Commemorative Quarter for Massachusetts





Welcome to Boston ...

The coastal city of Boston is located in Suffolk County<1>. It is the County Seat and the capital of Massachusetts.

Boston was settled in 1625.

When the people of Boston refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Bostonian<2>

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Boston has a population of 694,661 people<3> (see below for details).

The community of Boston is near sea level<4>.

Time Zone: Boston lies in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Codes for Boston: 617 & 857<5>

The ZIP codes for Boston: 02101-02125, 02127-02128, 02133, 02163, 02196, 02199, 02201-02212, 02215-02217, 02222, 02241, 02266, 02283-02284, 02293, 02295, 02297<6>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Boston had an population of 694,661 people. This is an increase of 12.48% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 17.91% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Boston had a population of 617,594 people (or 85.09% of the total population of Suffolk County). This makes Boston the county's most populous community.

The population of Boston represents 9.43% of the population of Massachusetts (which has 6,547,629 people), making it the state's most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 617,594 people, the population of Boston increased 4.83% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 589,141 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Boston.

Communities Also Named Boston ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are 37 communities that are also named Boston - they are located in Alabama (2), Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana (2), Kansas (2), Kentucky (5), Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri (4), New York, Ohio (5), Ontario (2), Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia (3) and Washington.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Boston.

Websites for Boston ...

Official Website:   www.cityofboston.gov/

Junior League:   www.jlboston.org/

Communities near Boston ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Boston.

  • Brockton
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Lynn
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Quincy
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Newton
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Framingham
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Waltham
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)
  • Weymouth
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Peabody
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Arlington
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
  • Salem
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Boston. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Boston.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Boston. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Boston.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Boston. Our list includes 1,157 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Boston.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Boston ...

Looking for more information about Boston? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Boston, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Boston.

Adding Boston to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Boston in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Boston was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<7>

X2X - From that list, the Boston post office opened in 1639.

We also found Boston in the book titled U.S. Post Offices (1803).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Boston.

The official website for Boston: www.cityofboston.gov/

The official website for State of Massachusetts: https://www.mass.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Massachusetts' counties, including Suffolk, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Boston refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a city's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Boston may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<3>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Boston.
<4>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Boston - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<5>When there's a risk of an area code running out of phone numbers, an 'Overlay Area Code' is created that has the same geographic boundaries as the existing area code. In this case, the 617 code has been Overlayed with the 857 area code. New phone numbers in the Boston area will be assigned with one of these codes: 617 or 857. As a result, placing a call in the Boston area will require 10-digit dialing (where you enter both the area code and then the phone number).
<6>ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a city (such as Boston). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Boston or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Our list of ZIP Codes for Boston includes: 02101, 2102, 2103, 2104, 2105, 2106, 2107, 2108, 2109, 2110, 2111, 2112, 2113, 2114, 2115, 2116, 2117, 2118, 2119, 2120, 2121, 2122, 2123, 2124, 02127, 02133, 02163, 02196, 02199, 02201, 2202, 2203, 2204, 2205, 2206, 2207, 2208, 2209, 2210, 2211, 02215, 2216, 02222, 02241, 02266, 02283, 02293, 02295 & 02297.
<7>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025