ZIP Code 02124

Dorchester is a Boston neighborhood comprising more than 6 square miles (16 km²) in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, England, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was still a primarily rural town and had a population of 12,000 when it was annexed to Boston in 1870. In the 2010 United States Census, the neighborhood's population was 92,115. Dorchester has a very diverse population, which includes a large concentration of African Americans, European Americans, Caribbean Americans, Latinos, and East and Southeast Asian Americans. It also has a significant LGBT population, with active political groups and the largest concentration of same-sex couples in Boston after the neighborhoods of South End and Jamaica Plain. On October 8, 1633, the first Town Meeting in the United States was held in Dorchester. Today, each October 8 is celebrated as Town Meeting Day in Boston. It is the birthplace of the first public elementary school in America, the Mather School, which still stands as the oldest school in the U.S. The town was centered on the First Parish Church of Dorchester which is now operated as the Unitarian-Universalist church on Meeting House Hill and is the oldest religious organization present-day in the country. The first recorded African American to join a church in New England was an enslaved servant to Israel, Stoughton, in 1634.

History

Dorchester is the primary city name, but also Boston are acceptable city names or spellings. The official name is Dorchester, Boston. Dorchester was founded in 1630 by Puritan settlers. The town was centered on the First Parish Church of Dorchester. Dorchester is the birthplace of the first public elementary school in America. The James Blake House, oldest surviving home in the city of Boston, is located at Edward Everett Square. In 1765, chocolate maker John Hannon was introduced in the American colonies when Irish beans were imported from the West Indies and refined in the Lower Mills section of the town. The Dorchester Chocolate Factory, part of Walter Baker & Company, operated until 1965.:627, "The American Revolution, Dorchester," August 17, 1769. The first Town Meeting in the U.S. was held in Dorchester on October 8, 1633, which is celebrated as Town Meeting Day in Massachusetts. The original settlement was at what is now the intersection of Columbia Road and Massachusetts Avenue. In 1634 Israel Stoughton built one of the earliest grist mills in America on the Neponset River, and Richard Callicott founded a trading post nearby. Dorcas ye blackmore, the first recorded African American to join a church in New England, served as an evangelist to Israel St Doughton's Native American servants, and Dorcas tried to gain her freedom. The church is now operated as the Unitarian-Universalist church on Meeting House Hill, and is the oldest religious organization in present-day Boston. It is located near the present day intersection of Boston Street, Massachusetts Avenue, and Columbia Road.

Geography

Dorchester is located south of downtown Boston and is surrounded by the neighborhoods of South Boston, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park and South End. The Neponset River separates Dorchester from Quincy and Milton. According to the U.S. Postal Service, Dorchester includes the ZIP codes 02121, 02122, 02124, and 02125. Due to its size of about six square miles (16 km²), it is often divided for statistical purposes into North and South Dorchester. The Harbor Point area (formerly known as Columbia Point) is home of several large employers, including the University of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Archives and Commonwealth Museum, the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Distinct commercial districts include Bowdoin/Geneva, Fields Corner, Codman Square, Peabody Square, Adams Village and Lower Mills. Primarily residential areas include Savin Hill, Jones Hill, Four Corners, Franklin Field, Franklin Hill, Ashmont, Meeting House Hill and Popes Hill. The South Bay and Newmarket industrial area are major sources of employment. Dorchester Avenue is the major neighborhood spine, running in a southnorth line through all of Dorchester, from Lower Mills to downtown Boston. The main business district in Dorchester is Uphams Corner, at the intersection of Dudley Street and Columbia Road. It is notable for its large collection of substantial Italianate Mansard residences.

Demographics

The sections of Dorchester have distinct ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic compositions. The eastern areas are primarily ethnic European and Asian, with a large population of Irish Americans and Vietnamese Americans. Residents of the western, central and parts of the southern sections of the neighborhood are predominantly African American. In recent years Dorchester has also seen an influx of young residents, gay men and women, and working artists (in areas like Lower Mills, Ashmont Hill/Peabody Square, and Savin Hill). American Community Survey estimates the total population is 113,975 people. The largest racial group in the neighborhood is Black or African-American with 49,612 people or 43.05% of the population. People who self-identify as white represent 26,102 or 26.99% ofThe community. Hispanic/Latino account for 19,295 resident. The Asian enclave represents 9.6% of 10,990 of the citizenry. The smallest racial group is bi/multi-racial and they make up 1.9% (2,174) of the residentry. There are 40,582 people over the age of 25 who do not have a high school diploma or GED or 21,479 or 21.5% or 18,5% have a college degree or some college degree. In Dorchester, 68.4% or 77,980 of the residents are native born and 31.6%. or 35,995 people are foreign born, of which 50.1% or18,024 are not U.S. citizens.

Transportation

Interstate 93 (concurrent with Route 3 and U.S. 1) runs northsouth through Dorchester between Quincy, Massachusetts, and downtown Boston. The Neponset River separates Dorchester from Quincy and Milton. At Ashmont station, the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts partnered with private investors to create The Carruth, one of the state's first Transit-oriented developments (TOD) A number of the earliest streets in Dorchester have changed names several times through the centuries, meaning that some names have come and gone. The "Dorchester Turnpike" stretches from Fort Point Channel (now in South Boston) to Lower Mills, and once boasted a horse-drawn streetcar. The neighborhood is served by five stations on the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Red Line (MBTA) rapid transit service, five stations in the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line, and the Fairmount Commuter Rail Line. Over the last decade, the Dorchester branch of the Red Line had major renovations, including four rapid transit stations being rebuilt at Savin Hill, Fields Corner, Shawmut, and Ashmont. Several other state routes traverse the neighborhood, e.g., Route 203, Gallivan Boulevard and Morton Street, and Route 28, Blue Hill Avenue (so named because it leads out of the city to the Blue Hills Reservation). The city of Dorchester is home to the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Red Sox, who play at Dorchester's Fenway Park.

Economy

In 1953, Carney Hospital moved from South Boston to its current location in Dorchester. In 1984, the City of Boston gave control of it to a private developer, Corcoran-Mullins-Jennison, who redeveloped the property into a residential mixed-income community. Harbor Point has won much acclaim for this transformation, including awards from the Urban Land Institute, the FIABCI Award for International Excellence, and the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence. In 2009, the Bayside Expo Center property was lost in a foreclosure to a Florida-based real estate firm, LNR/CMAT, who bought it. In 2013, the paper was bought by John W. Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox, and in 2017 the Globe headquarters returned to downtown Boston. In the 20th century, many of the labor unions in Boston relocated their headquarters to Dorchester, including the Boston Teachers Union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 103, New England Regional Council of Carpenters, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 718, among others. Dorchester's Hendry Street became the epicenter in the U.S. housing crisis of 2008 in the United States. In reaction, the city of Boston negotiated to buy several of the houses for as little as $30,000. It is moving to seize other foreclosed properties on which the owners have not paid taxes. The houses were renovated and added to the inventory of subsidized rental housing. In 2008, plans and proposals were unveiled and presented to public community hearings to redevelop the 30-acre (120,000 m2) Baysid Exposition Center site into a mixed use village of storefronts and residences.

Crime

Dorchester, with a population of approximately 130,000, is home to nearly one-fifth of all Boston residents. In the early 1990s, Dorchester, along with Roxbury and Mattapan neighborhoods, had the highest percentage of victims with violence-related injuries. Since the early 2000s, crime rates across Boston have declined. For every 100,000 people there are 10.55 daily crimes that occur in the neighborhood. The rate of property crime is much higher than violent crime. 831 out of 100,00 people are involved in violent crime, and 3,021 in property crime. In 2013, Boston crime rates reportedly dropped 15 percent, compared to the same time period in 2012. The more dangerous areas in Dorchester are located to the west of Columbia Road, with criminal activity centered on Blue Hill Avenue area. Safer parts of the neighborhood include Savin Hill; the historic neighborhood of Clam Point; Columbia Point, which is populated by mostly UMass Boston students; Ashmont Hill; Saint Mark's; Pope's Hill; Cedar Grove; Lower Mills, around the Neponset, Gallivan, and Morrissey Boulevard areas. The Jones Hill neighborhood (with the third largest percentage of same-sex households in Boston after the South End and Jamaica Plain) has a high percentage of people living in homes that are owned by gay couples. The chance of being a victim of violent crime is 1 in 121; of property crimes, 1 in 34; and 1 in 26 for crime.

Education

Dorchester High School predated the annexation of Dorchester to Boston. The University of Massachusetts Boston is an accredited urban public research university. The school offers associates, bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. Labouré College is a Roman Catholic co-educational college offering associate degrees in nursing and the health sciences. The Dorchester branch of the Boston Public Library is located at 6 Norfolk Street in Dorchester. The current branch branch moved into its current facility, which was designed by Eco-Texture, Inc., in 1978. The library operates six neighborhood branches. The average cost of tuition is $12,000 for in-state students, and $28,00 for out-of-state. Dorchester is home to Boston Public Schools (BPS) Primary and secondary schools include Boston Arts Academy and Boston Latin Academy. The Pope John Paul II Catholic Academy part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston remains after the 2008 consolidation of seven parish elementary schools into five locations. Many Catholic schools closed in the 2000s as the demographics of the area changed. The remaining schools as of summer 2018 are: Boston College High School, 712, leasing the old St. William Elementary building; St. Brendan School, K-6; Roxbury Prep Lucy Stone Campus, 58; and St. Gregory Elementary School building, 58. The city's largest public library is the Dorchester Public Library, which opened in 1905. It is located on 6 Norfolk St. and has a branch branch in the Lower Mills section.

Health care

Carney Hospital has been serving the community since 1863. Codman Square Health Center has been a functioning clinic since 1979. Geiger-Gibson Health Center is the oldest Community Health Center in the United States. The Urban Asthma Coalition in Dorchester promotes collaboration among organizations and residents concerned about factors that affect asthma. They want to change policies through administrative advocacy and reduce the rate of asthma, as well as improve care. They have been successful in providing 1,000 new healthy and affordable housing units in a year, green and healthy cleaners for the local schools, and a city program that works with health professionals and enforcement officers to further the improvement of housing for children of the area. It is a teaching and training hospital for physicians in both internal medicine and family medicine. They provide a range of services such as behavior health, cancer care, cardiac and vascular, gynecology services, neurology, orthopedics, rehabilitation and physical therapy, along with many more. They employ about 280 multi-lingual staff members, most of whom reside in the neighborhoods surroundingCodman Square. It's a community-based outpatient healthcare located on 637 Washington Street. It was founded in 1979 with the dream "To build the best urban community in America". It is located in the Harbor Point section near UMass Boston and is a community health center. It has been open for more than 30 years and is the largest community health care center in the city. It provides a wide variety of services, including behavior health and cancer care.

Housing

Most of Dorchester's population, about 63.3% or 72,239 people, lives in rental housing. An estimated 40,180 people (35.3%) live in owner-occupied homes and 1.4% or 1556 residents live in group homes/shelters. The median sales price for all residential property types is 244,450. In 2013, there were 52 foreclosures petitions reported in Dorchester, representing 22.41% of the 232 Foreclosures reported for the entire City Boston. 37 out 147 distressed buildings documented in Boston are located in Dorchester. The city has 15,918 residential buildings including 4,344 single-family homes, 3,674 or 23.1% two- family homes, and 3,919 or 24.6% three-family houses. The average monthly rent is $1,450, which totals $17,400 per year and exceeds the income of almost 30% of. the population. The town's median household income is $28,000, which is about $7,000 less than the city's average household income of $40,000. The area's median home value is $27,000 compared to the national average of $30,000 for the same area. The region's median house price is $24,000 more than the U.S. average home price of $26,500. The county's average home value for a single family home is $25,000 higher than the national median home price. the town's average house price for a two-family home is $24,500 compared to the national average of $23,000 for a two family home.

Boston is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. The city boundaries encompass an area of about 48.4 sq mi (125 km²) and a population of 675,647 as of 2020. Boston is one of the oldest municipalities in America, founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from the English town of the same name. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution and the nation's founding, such as the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the siege of Boston. Today, Boston is a center of scientific research; the area's many colleges and universities, notably Harvard and MIT, make it a world leader in higher education, including law, medicine, engineering and business. Boston's economic base also includes finance, professional and business services, biotechnology, information technology, and government activities. The name "Boston" derives from that of the town's patron saint, St. Botolph, whose church served as the rector until his emigration with his wife in 1635. In early sources, the town was known as the Lincolnshire. Before this, the settlement had been known as "Shawmut" and "Trimitan" The name was later contracted to "Boston's Botolph" and later to "St Botolph's" The city has expanded beyond the original peninsula through land reclamation and municipal annexation.

History

Boston is the primary city name, but also Cambridge are acceptable city names or spellings, Soldiers Field on the other hand no longer accepted or obsolete and are no longer used as a designation. The official name is City of Boston. Boston was the largest town in the Thirteen Colonies until Philadelphia outgrew it in the mid-18th century. The name "Boston" ultimately derives from that town's patron saint, St. Botolph, in whose church John Cotton served as the rector until his emigration with Isaac Johnson. Boston's oceanfront location made it a lively port, and the city primarily engaged in shipping and fishing during its colonial days. In 1770, a Boston mob shot into a crowd that had started to violently harass the British colonists, forcing them to withdraw their homes. The city was the site of the siege of Boston in 1770 and the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1781. Boston was the birthplace of the American Revolution in 18th century, and was the first city to vote in a presidential election in the U.S. in 1860. Boston is home to the oldest fishweir in New England, built by Native people as early as 7,000 years before European arrival in the Western Hemisphere. It is also the home of America's first public school, Boston Latin School, which was founded in 1635. It was also home to John Hull, who produced the pine tree shilling, a silver coin used in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Old South Church in the 1600s. In 1652, the Massachusetts legislature authorized John Hull to produce coinage. King Charles II for reasons which were mostly political deemed the "Hull Mint" high treason which had a punishment of being hanged, drawn and quartered.

Geography

Boston has an area of 89.63 sq mi (232.1 km²) The city's official elevation, as measured at Logan International Airport, is 19 ft (5.8 m) above sea level. The highest point in the city is Bellevue Hill at 330 ft (100 m) and the lowest point is at sealevel. The city is sometimes called a "city of neighborhoods" because of the profusion of diverse subsections. More than two-thirds of inner Boston's modern land area did not exist when the city was founded. It was created via the gradual filling in of the surrounding tidal areas over the centuries, with earth from leveling or lowering Boston's three original hills (the "Trimountain") and with gravel brought by train from Needham to fill the Back Bay. Back Bay includes many prominent landmarks, such as the Boston Public Library, Christian Science Center, Copley Square, Newbury Street, and New England's two tallest buildings: the John Hancock Tower and the Prudential Center. The hottest month is July with a mean temperature of 74.1 °F (23.4 °C). The coldest month is January with amean temperature of 29.9 °C (1.2 °F) Periods exceeding 90 °C in summer and below freezing in winter are not uncommon, but rarely extended, with about 13 and about 25 days per year. Boston has either a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) or a humid continental climate under the 0 °C isotherm (K Öppen Dfa).

Demographics

In 2020, Boston was estimated to have 691,531 residents living in 266,724 householdsa 12% population increase over 2010. The city is the third-most densely populated large U.S. city of over half a million residents, and the most densely populated state capital. Some 1.2 million persons may be within Boston's boundaries during work hours, and as many as 2 million during special events. The median household income in Boston was $51,739, while the median income for a family was $61,035. Boston has a significant racial wealth gap with White Bostonians having an median net worth of $247,500 compared to $8 for non-immigrant Black residents and $0 for Dominican immigrant residents. People of Irish descent form the largest single ethnic group in the city, making up 15.8% of the population, followed by Italians, accounting for 8.3%. People of West Indian and Caribbean ancestry are another sizable group, at over 15%. In Greater Boston, these numbers grew significantly, with 150,000 Dominicans according to 2018 estimates, 134,000 Puerto Ricans, 57,500 Salvadorans, 39,000 Guatemalans, 36,000 Mexicans, and over 35,000 Colombians. Over 27,000 Chinese Americans made their home in Boston proper in 2013, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 3.08. From an estimate in 2005, Boston has one of the largest per capita LGBT populations in the United States.

Economy

The Greater Boston metropolitan area has the sixth-largest economy in the country and 12th-largest in the world. Boston attracts more than 350,000 college students from around the world, who contribute more than US$4.8 billion annually to the city's economy. The city is considered highly innovative for a variety of reasons, including the presence of academia and access to venture capital. Boston is home to the headquarters of several major athletic and footwear companies including Converse, New Balance, and Reebok. The General Electric Corporation announced in January 2016 its decision to move the company's global headquarters to the Seaport District in Boston, from Fairfield, Connecticut, citing factors including Boston's preeminence in the realm of higher education. In 2019, a yearly ranking of time wasted in traffic listed Boston area drivers lost approximately 164 hours a year in lost productivity due to the area's traffic congestion. This amounted to $2,300 a year per driver in costs. Boston-based Fidelity Investments helped popularize the mutual fund in the 1980s and has made Boston one of the top financial centers in the United States. State Street Corporation, which specializes in asset management and custody services, is based in the city. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is headquartered within the city, along with Bedford-St. Martin's Press and Beacon Press. Pearson PLC publishing units also employ several hundred people in Boston. In the 2018 Global Financial Centres Index, Boston was ranked as having the thirteenth most competitive financial services center.

Education

The Boston Public Schools enroll 57,000 students attending 145 schools. The Boston Latin School was established in 1635 and is the oldest public high school in the US. Boston's only public university is the University of Massachusetts Boston on Columbia Point in Dorchester. Greater Boston contains seven Highest Research Activity (R1) Universities as per the Carnegie Classification. Altogether, Boston's colleges and universities employ more than 42,600 people, accounting for nearly seven percent of the city's workforce. The city's largest private universities include Boston University, Northeastern University, Suffolk University, and Boston College. Boston is home to several conservatories and art schools, including Les College of Art and Design, New England Institute of Art, and Longy School of Music. The oldest independent music conservatory in the United States is the Boston Conservatory of Music, which has made Boston an important city for jazz music. In September 2019, the city formally inaugurated Boston Saves, a program that provides every child enrolled in the city’s kindergarten system a savings account containing $50 to be used toward college or career training. In 2013, Greater Boston received more than $1.77 billion in National Institutes of Health grants in 2013, more money than any other American metropolitan area. This high density of research institutes also contributes to Boston's highdensity of early career researchers, which, due to high housing costs in the region, have been shown to face housing stress. In addition to Harvard, MIT, and Tufts, Boston College, and Northeastern are home to Boston University and Brandeis University.

Healthcare

The Longwood Medical and Academic Area, adjacent to the Fenway, district, is home to a large number of medical and research facilities. Prominent medical facilities, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital are in the Beacon Hill area. St. Elizabeth's Medical Center is in Brighton Center of the city's Brighton neighborhood. The city has Veterans Affairs medical centers in the Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury neighborhoods. Boston Medical Center, in the South End neighborhood, is the primary teaching facility for the Boston University School of Medicine as well as the largest trauma center in the Boston area. The Boston Public Health Commission, an agency of the Massachusetts government, oversees health concerns for city residents. Boston EMS provides pre-hospital emergency medical services to residents and visitors. Many of Boston's medical facilities are associated with universities, such as Harvard Medical School and Tufts Medical Center (formerly Tufts-New England Medical Center), in the southern portion of the Chinatown neighborhood. It was formed by the merger of Boston University Hospital and Boston City Hospital, which was the first municipal hospital in the United States. The facilities in the Longwood medical and Academic area and in Massachusetts General hospital are affiliated with Harvard Medical school. It is also affiliated with Tufts University School Of Medicine and Joslin Diabetes Center, which is affiliated with the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. It also has a partnership with the University of Massachusetts at Boston, where it offers a number of health care programs.

Public safety

Boston has experienced a great reduction in violent crime since the early 1990s. Murders in the city dropped from 152 in 1990 (for a murder rate of 26.5 per 100,000 people) to just 31not one of them a juvenile in 1999. Boston's low crime rate since the 1990s has been credited to the Boston Police Department's collaboration with neighborhood groups and church parishes to prevent youths from joining gangs. Through December 30, 2016, major crime was down seven percent and there were 46 homicides compared to 40 in 2015. This is the second largest allocation of funding by the city after the allocation to Boston Public Schools. In 2008, there were 62 reported homicides. In 2015, therewere 46 reported homicides and in 2012, there was just 31 reported homicides, compared to 62 in 2008 and 40 in 2012. The city's budget includes $414 million in spending on the Boston police department in the fiscal 2021 budget. The budget also includes $1.2 billion in funding for the Boston Fire Department and $1 million for the Massachusetts State Police. The total budget for the city's police department for fiscal 2021 is $4.9 billion. The funding includes $2.8 billion for the police department and $3.1 billion for state and local law enforcement agencies, including the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. It is the third largest allocation in the state of Massachusetts after the Boston Public School Department and the Boston City Police Department. In fiscal 2021, there will be a total of $4 billion in city spending on public safety.

Culture

Boston shares many cultural roots with greater New England, including a dialect of the non-rhotic Eastern New England accent known as the Boston accent and a regional cuisine with a large emphasis on seafood, salt, and dairy products. Music is afforded a high degree of civic support in Boston. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is one of the "Big Five", a group of the greatest American orchestras. The city is also home to several art museums and galleries, including the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Several historic sites relating to the American Revolution period are preserved as part of the Boston National Historical Park because of the city's prominent role. There are several major annual events, such as First Night which occurs on New Year's Eve, the Boston Early Music Festival, the annual Boston gay pride parade and festival held in June, and Italian summer feasts in the North End honoring Catholic saints. Boston is the site of several events during the Fourth of July period, including Harborfest festivities and a Boston Pops concert accompanied by fireworks on the banks of the Charles River. Boston has been a noted religious center from its earliest days. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston serves nearly 300 parishes and is based in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (1875) in the South End, while the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts serves just under 200 congregations. The University of Massachusetts Boston, the Massachusetts Archives, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and the Commonwealth Museum are among the oldest independent libraries in the United States.

Environment

Air quality in Boston is generally very good. Boston's drinking water supply is one of the few in the country so pure as to satisfy the Federal Clean Water Act without filtration. The City of Boston has developed a climate action plan covering carbon reduction in buildings, transportation, and energy use. Boston is breaking ground on multiple green affordable housing facilities to help reduce the carbon impact of the city while simultaneously making these initiatives financially available to a greater population. As a coastal city built largely on fill, sea-level rise is of major concern to the city government. The latest version of the climate plan anticipates between two and seven feet of sea- level rise in Boston by the end of the century. A separate initiative, Resilient Boston Harbor, lays out neighborhood-specific recommendations for coastal resilience. The Boston Groundwater Trust coordinates monitoring ground water levels throughout the city via a network of public and private monitoring wells. The Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs are the only source of drinking water in the U.S. so pure that it can satisfy the federal Cleanwater Act withoutfiltration, according to the EPA. The city's climate plan is updated every three years and was most recently modified in 2013. The Renew Boston Whole Building Incentive reduces the cost of living in buildings that are deemed energy efficient. This gives people an opportunity to find housing in neighborhoods that support the environment. The ultimate goal of this initiative is to enlist 500 Bostonians to participate in a free, in-home energy assessment.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Boston, Middlesex County, Massachusetts = 26.4. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 1. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 99. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Boston = 3.4 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 12,738 individuals with a median age of 34.2 age the population grows by 2.21% in Boston, Middlesex County, Massachusetts population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 13,976.98 residents per square mile of area (5,396.51/km²). There are average 2.34 people per household in the 242,671 households with an average household income of $50,782 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is of the available work force and has dropped -4.07% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 23.66%. The number of physicians in Boston per 100,000 population = 661.1.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Boston = 45.3 inches and the annual snowfall = 48.1 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 120. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 200. 84 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 18.9 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 51, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Boston, Middlesex County, Massachusetts which are owned by the occupant = 30.31%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 68 years with median home cost = $425,300 and home appreciation of -6.91%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $9.23 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $11,325 per student. There are 13.9 students for each teacher in the school, 2452 students for each Librarian and 589 students for each Counselor. 4.82% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 20.29% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 15.17% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).