State bird
Black-capped chickadee
Sources: Designation & background
Local timeBoston ·
U.S. States / Northeast · Card 021
Massachusetts
The Bay State
Cape Cod National Seashore includes beaches, dunes, salt marshes, ponds and woods.
Massachusetts and its surroundings
● State capital · Gold highlights Massachusetts.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
Map: Natural Earth. Neighboring states use postal abbreviations.
At a glance
- Capital
- Boston
- Postal abbreviation
- MA
- Population
- 7,154,084July 1, 2025 · Census estimate
- Total area
- 27,336 km²10,554 square miles · land and water
- Constitution ratified
- February 6, 1788One of the original thirteen states
- Region
- Northeast
Sources: Census · population · Census · area
State symbols & traditions
State song
All Hail to Massachusetts
Sources: Designation & background
State dessert
Boston cream pie
Sources: Designation & background
Geography & flag
01
Location
Neighboring states: Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont.
02
Landscape & places
Cape Cod National Seashore includes beaches, dunes, salt marshes, ponds and woods. Wind and waves continually reshape its coast, while different habitats occur behind the open Atlantic shoreline.
03
Land and water
The total area includes 20,202 km² of land and 7,134 km² of water, according to Census area measurements.
State flag
A blue shield with a Native American figure and white star on a white field, with a crest and motto ribbon.
Sources: Census · geographic reference · Census · area measurements · National Park Service · Cape Cod
How the landscape works
Cape Cod combines open beaches with dunes, marshes, ponds, and woods. A coastline can change through the movement of sediment even when the state’s political boundaries do not. The habitats behind a beach may be less obvious in a photograph but remain important parts of the coastal system. Observing only the ocean-facing edge leaves out much of the landscape.
History
What factory work changed for Lowell’s mill workers
Lowell’s textile mills drew many young women from New England farms into paid industrial work. Earning wages offered a degree of independence, but the companies also controlled working hours, boarding arrangements and conduct. The city’s water-powered mills tied local employment to a much larger cotton economy.
Long hours, unhealthy conditions and wage cuts led workers to protest. Women organized strikes and later campaigned for shorter working days through groups such as the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association. Lowell’s history is therefore about changes in work and power as well as machinery: factory production created opportunities while also giving employers extensive control over workers’ lives.
Read more: Historical source ↗
Why this mattered
Lowell’s factories brought many young women into paid industrial work. Wages offered opportunities, but schedules, discipline, and working conditions were controlled by employers. Workers organized when they objected to changes in pay or conditions. Industrialization changed both how goods were made and the relationships between workers and those who controlled production.
Key dates
-
Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth united under one charter
-
Constitution ratified · One of the original thirteen states
-
Maine separated from Massachusetts
Sources: Congressional Research Service · statehood · U.S. Census Bureau · historical geography · National Park Service
People and place
Indigenous history and communities today
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s government and cultural work are part of present-day Massachusetts. Indigenous history should not appear only in accounts of colonial encounters and then disappear from the state’s story.
Continue with Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. This is one starting point, not a complete account of the peoples connected to this land.
Compare
Massachusetts and Connecticut
| Measure | Massachusetts | Connecticut |
|---|---|---|
| Population (2025) | 7,154,084 | 3,688,496 |
| Land area (km²) | 20,202 | 12,542 |
| People per km² of land | 354.1 | 294.1 |
Massachusetts has more people per square kilometer of land. Population density divides population by land area. It is an average across the whole jurisdiction, not a claim that residents are evenly spread out.
Calculated from the Census population series and land-area measurements used on these pages. Rounded figures; water area is excluded. Explore Connecticut.
Economy
Main activities
In 2025, professional and business services was the largest of the broad industry groups compared here by current-dollar output. Other major groups included real estate and rental and leasing, educational services, health care, and social assistance, and finance and insurance.
Total economic output was $820.1 billion in current dollars in 2025.
Largest industry groups · 2025
- Professional and business services: 19.4%
- Real estate and rental and leasing: 14.1%
- Educational services, health care, and social assistance: 12.1%
- Finance and insurance: 8.7%
Share of total current-dollar GDP. These figures measure output, not employment.
Sources: BEA · annual GDP by state, SAGDP2
Production, jobs and wages answer different questions
The industry chart measures the value of production. It does not count workers. An industry with a large share of GDP need not employ the most people or pay the highest wages. Employment and wage data would be needed to answer those questions.
Population & economic trends
Population, 2020–2025
Millions of people7.152025 · millions of people
July 1 resident population estimates, using the Census Bureau’s Vintage 2025 series.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau
View data table
| Year | People |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 6,985,320 |
| 2021 | 6,996,721 |
| 2022 | 7,025,465 |
| 2023 | 7,073,479 |
| 2024 | 7,138,560 |
| 2025 | 7,154,084 |
Real GDP, 2010–2025
Billions of chained 2017 dollars644.182025 · billions of chained 2017 dollars
Real GDP measures economic output adjusted for inflation. The chart uses BEA’s chained 2017 dollars.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
View data table
| Year | Millions of chained 2017 dollars |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 462,330.8 |
| 2011 | 472,664.3 |
| 2012 | 483,286.3 |
| 2013 | 486,991.8 |
| 2014 | 496,250.9 |
| 2015 | 514,398.7 |
| 2016 | 521,662.8 |
| 2017 | 530,129.4 |
| 2018 | 549,262.1 |
| 2019 | 566,326.8 |
| 2020 | 560,395.8 |
| 2021 | 597,420.0 |
| 2022 | 607,470.6 |
| 2023 | 614,786.1 |
| 2024 | 628,786.9 |
| 2025 | 644,178.8 |
Read the trend, then ask what explains it
Massachusetts’s population increased by about 2.4% between 2020 and 2025 in this series. That shows the size of the change. The chart alone cannot tell us how much came from births, deaths or migration.
Real GDP adjusts for changes in prices, so it helps compare production over time. Current-dollar GDP includes price changes. Neither measure tells us how income is distributed among residents.
Representation
- Electoral votes
- 112024 & 2028 elections
- Voting U.S. House seats
- 92020 Census allocation
- U.S. Senate seats
- 2
Electoral votes equal the state’s U.S. House seats plus its two U.S. Senate seats. These allocations apply to the 2024 and 2028 presidential elections.
Practice
Test your knowledge
Use the explanations and data on this page to answer ten questions. Hints and links to the relevant sections are available throughout.
10 questions about Massachusetts
Show a hint
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Sources & notes
Narrative and quiz updated 5 October 2026. Statistical data prepared 27 September 2026. Population: Census Bureau Vintage 2025, July 1 estimates for 2020–2025. Real GDP: BEA annual state accounts, SAGDP9, millions of chained 2017 dollars; industry shares: SAGDP2, current dollars. Data downloaded 27 September 2026. Area measurements include land and water.
Sources: Census · population estimates · BEA · state GDP · Census · area measurements · Natural Earth · map data
The capital clock shows current local time. Statistical figures are dated estimates and may be revised.
Updated 29 October 2026. Statistics retain the dated series shown in the charts; these are not live figures. Sources are linked beside each topic.