February, 1991 * UMASS/AMHERST * 312Dbb DSflM 3t.SM 0 People and Housing Change in Metropolitan Boston: A Look 1990 Census First at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council 60 Temple Place MAPCJ MA Metropolitan Data Center Boston, 02111 J » MetropolitanTrends MAPC The 1990 federal census counted 2,922,934 people in the 101 cities and towns of the region. This was a gain of 38,222 people during the decade, or 1.3 percent. Some people are invariably not counted in a census. Hard-to-count persons typically live in urban communities where there are a large number of young minority males and low income and non-English speaking people. Under new legislation, the Census Bureau has until July 15, 1991 to decide on whether to adjust population counts statistically to reflect an undercount. MAPC The 1990 federal census also initially counted a total of 1,173,767 housing units in the region, an increase of 84,479 units, or 7.8 percent since 1980. These statistics include occupied, vacant and seasonal housing units. These initial statistics may vary significantly from the final counts to be released in March. The number of people per housing unit declined to 2.49 in 1990, from 2.64 people in 1980. The statistics on average household size, based on people in occupied housing units, will not be available until later this year. The trend in people per housing unit, which declined almost six percent, gives an early indication of the trend in average household size. Intrametropolitan Population Trends Population changed in a very regular manner across the metropolitan Boston landscape during the decade. Many communities along Interstate 495 to the west, northwest, and particularly southwest of Boston grew considerably in percentage terms. With more vacant land and lower housing prices than nearer the urban core, these areas became rapidly growing centers of employment and attracted growing numbers of young families with children. In percentage terms, the inner suburbs show the largest losses of people. The decline resulted from smaller family sizes, more childless couples both young and old, and more people living alone; at the same time, relatively few new homes were built to offset the loss. The most populous cities and towns of the region showed the smallest population changes. Community Population Trends Those communities with population increases of over 15 percent were: Norfolk, Ashland, Carlisle, Hopkinton, Bolton, Franklin and Wrentham. Two communities —Rockport and Chelsea— showed unusual percentage growth in relation to their regional context. Rockport's growth resulted from its role as a retirement community, while Chelsea's came from an influx of recent immigrants from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Haiti. The largest absolute population increase ~ 11,289 ~ occurred in Boston. The next largest population increases were registered in Franklin, followed by Chelsea, Norfolk, Ashland and Lynn. Digitized by the Internet Archive 2015 in https://archive.org/details/peoplehousingchaOOmass Those communities with population losses of greater than five percent were: Weston, Arlington, Braintree, Melrose, Winthrop, Dedham, Belmont and Westwood. The largest absolute population decline — 3,589 -- occurred in Arlington. Losses of more than 1,500 people were recorded in Braintree, Melrose, Weymouth and Dedham. A striking 67 of 101 metropolitan area communities gained or lost in population by less than five percent during the decade. Populairon stabilized in many of the region's older, urban communities after decades of decline. Included in this group were all of the cities and towns of greater than 50,000 people in 1980. Intrametropolitan Persons per Unit Trends People per housing unit fell by an average of six percent during the decade. Three distinct patterns, however, emerged in different types of communities. In urban communities with inexpensive housing, the decline was far less than in preceding decades; there, steep increases in housing costs pressed lower-income households to "double up" or to seek smaller sized or A less expensive housing, thereby reducing the decline in people/unit. second pattern occurred in suburban communities with rapid population growth, where the people/unit decline was mild because of the large influx of families with young children. A third group of communities showed substantial declines in people/unit much on the order of previous decades. In these cases, few families with children moved in or many newcomers chose small unit condominiums. Community People per Unit Trends The suburban communities of Lincoln, Norfolk, Hanover and Wenham had more than 3.1 people per unit. They contained a large proportion of families with children, keeping unit size high. However, Lincoln's preliminary housing count appears in error. At the other end of the housing spectrum were communities in which the retired, working couples with no children or singles formed a large proportion of residents. Rockport showed the fewest people per unit -- 1.8. Other communities with few people per unit were: Brookline, Essex and Hull. Urban communities where the people/unit decline was less than four percent included: Boston, Cambridge, Gloucester, Lynn, Milford, Somerville and Waltham. In Chelsea there was even an increase of 2.5 percent. Suburban communities where an influx of families with young children kept people/unit from dropping less than four percent included: Bolton, Boxborough, Hopkinton and Norfolk. Middleton actually showed an increase of five percent. Suburban communities where few families with children moved in or which had extensive condominium development had people/unit declines of greater than 11 percent. These communities included: Ashland, Burlington, Canton, Franklin, Hanover, Holbrook, Hudson, Natick, Sherborn, Sudbury, Walpole, Weston, Westwood, Weymouth and Woburn. Report Graphs, Maps and Tables The following pages contain graphs of regionwide decadal population size and absolute population change since 1960. There are regionwide maps which illustrate intercommunity variation in 1990 population size, absolute and percent population change between 1980 and : 1990, 1990 housing units, absolute and percent housing unit change between 1980 and 1990, 1990 people per housing unit and people per housing unit percent change between 1980 and 1990. Statistical tables show community decadal population size since 1960, absolute and percent population change between 1980 and 1990, housing unit counts for 1980 and 1990, people per housing unit 1990 and people per housing unit percent change between 1980 and 1990. METROPOLITAN DATA CENTER A Service ofthe Metropolitan Area Planning Council MA 60 Temple Place, Boston, 02111 (617) 451-2770