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Metro Boston has 4.6M and Massachusetts has 6.9M. Wikipedia even has a "combined statistical area" of Boston at 8M. How many people (non-Bostonian Massachusit

Metro Boston has 4.6M and Massachusetts has 6.9M. Wikipedia even has a "combined statistical area" of Boston at 8M. How many people (non-Bostonian Massachusites) are we talking about here?

ghaff 8y ago
The Boston Metro area covers a fairly big area (and the combined statistical area even more, including cities in adjacent states). Within the city limits proper, the population is under 1 million--although that's partly because Cambridge and Somerville aren't part of Boston.
- maxerickson 8y ago
  The statistical metro is probably the closer match to the Boston that controls the state than the proper city.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    That's true but the parent was asking how many people don't live in Boston but are effectively controlled by the politics there anyway. And the statistical metro is in some sense a measure of the area/population that can be thought of as associated with Boston. (i.e. more or less by definition, the people whose politics/economics are influenced by it)
    - emodendroket 8y ago
      But that's kind of the rub -- people in Hingham might carp that they don't want to pay for the T in Boston, and yet their own prosperity comes, in part, from having a nearby city with well-funded public services
      - deleted 8y ago
        [deleted]
dsfyu404ed 8y ago
>How many people (non-Bostonian Massachusetts) are we talking about here? The Boston statistical area also covers Nashua and Portsmouth which while not as heavily populated is not even part of Massachusetts and NH prides itself on having much different culture and politics than it southern neighbor, just worth pointing that out. A huge chunk of the population across the entire state is gonna be apathetic on any/every issue. If you cut those out of your counting (which probably cuts the state population in half or so) I'd say 45%+/-10% really resent Boston's control over the rest of the state, particularly in the second tier cities that get pushed around at the state level when it comes to funding. There's a pretty steep drop off to approval of state government once you're outside I495. Also, the preferred pronoun for people from MA is "Masshole" ;) Edit: By Boston area I do NOT mean [1] which includes a lot of the Fall River/New Bedford area, the Lowell area and places more under the effect of Worcester in addition to parts of NH and ME. I mean the area in MA where Boston is the major city that has the most effect on day to day life (not to be confused with "daily effect on life") of most people. The area covered by Boston Craigslist is a pretty good proxy for this. [1] https://statisticalatlas.com/metro-area/Massachusetts/Boston/Overview https://statisticalatlas.com/metro-area/Massachusetts/Boston...
- hprotagonist 8y ago
  >the preferred pronoun for people from MA is "Masshole" assuming you can even find one any more, a cabot or a shaw would disagree. But brahmins are scarce these days.
- zentiggr 8y ago
  Grew up in Framingham, enlisted in '94 and haven't lived there since, but even out here in the Quad Cities, I still think of myself as a Masshole... and I use the word liberally for my home state :)
- TulliusCicero 8y ago
  > A huge chunk of the population across the entire state is gonna be apathetic on any/every issue but I'd say a solid million or two really resent Boston's control over the rest of the state The Boston metro area is a majority of the state's population, is it not? "Minority wishes it wasn't overruled by majority" isn't exactly news, and it's exactly how you want a democracy to work anyway.

Metro Boston has 4.6M and Massachusetts has 6.9M. Wikipedia even has a "combined statistical area" of Boston at 8M. How many people (non-Bostonian Massachusites) are we talking about here?

ghaff 8y ago

The Boston Metro area covers a fairly big area (and the combined statistical area even more, including cities in adjacent states). Within the city limits proper, the population is under 1 million--although that's partly because Cambridge and Somerville aren't part of Boston.

maxerickson 8y ago
The statistical metro is probably the closer match to the Boston that controls the state than the proper city.
- ghaff 8y ago
  That's true but the parent was asking how many people don't live in Boston but are effectively controlled by the politics there anyway. And the statistical metro is in some sense a measure of the area/population that can be thought of as associated with Boston. (i.e. more or less by definition, the people whose politics/economics are influenced by it)
  - emodendroket 8y ago
    But that's kind of the rub -- people in Hingham might carp that they don't want to pay for the T in Boston, and yet their own prosperity comes, in part, from having a nearby city with well-funded public services
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]

dsfyu404ed 8y ago

>How many people (non-Bostonian Massachusetts) are we talking about here? The Boston statistical area also covers Nashua and Portsmouth which while not as heavily populated is not even part of Massachusetts and NH prides itself on having much different culture and politics than it southern neighbor, just worth pointing that out. A huge chunk of the population across the entire state is gonna be apathetic on any/every issue. If you cut those out of your counting (which probably cuts the state population in half or so) I'd say 45%+/-10% really resent Boston's control over the rest of the state, particularly in the second tier cities that get pushed around at the state level when it comes to funding. There's a pretty steep drop off to approval of state government once you're outside I495. Also, the preferred pronoun for people from MA is "Masshole" ;) Edit: By Boston area I do NOT mean [1] which includes a lot of the Fall River/New Bedford area, the Lowell area and places more under the effect of Worcester in addition to parts of NH and ME. I mean the area in MA where Boston is the major city that has the most effect on day to day life (not to be confused with "daily effect on life") of most people. The area covered by Boston Craigslist is a pretty good proxy for this. [1] https://statisticalatlas.com/metro-area/Massachusetts/Boston/Overview https://statisticalatlas.com/metro-area/Massachusetts/Boston...

hprotagonist 8y ago
>the preferred pronoun for people from MA is "Masshole" assuming you can even find one any more, a cabot or a shaw would disagree. But brahmins are scarce these days.
zentiggr 8y ago
Grew up in Framingham, enlisted in '94 and haven't lived there since, but even out here in the Quad Cities, I still think of myself as a Masshole... and I use the word liberally for my home state :)
TulliusCicero 8y ago
> A huge chunk of the population across the entire state is gonna be apathetic on any/every issue but I'd say a solid million or two really resent Boston's control over the rest of the state The Boston metro area is a majority of the state's population, is it not? "Minority wishes it wasn't overruled by majority" isn't exactly news, and it's exactly how you want a democracy to work anyway.