Looks very sparse compared to what? According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population_density https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki

Looks very sparse compared to what? According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population_density https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_b... it's the 16th densest city or town in the US. The only place in the US that is both denser and has more people is New York City. Now you could argue that US cities are generally not that dense; NYC is half the density of Paris. But Amsterdam, say, is only 2/3 as dense as Somerville is. Berlin is even less dense than that (but I know its boundaries contain some serious chunks of park/woodland).