Boston Data and Statistics

This guide provides links to selected sources of data and statistics for the City of Boston. It also includes directories or databases containing information on Boston foundations, museums,  libraries, or businesses. In cases where data and statistics are not available at the city level, the guide includes sources of data  and statistics for the following entities:

• The Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metropolitan Area
• Massachusetts Congressional Districts encompassing portions of Boston
• Suffolk County, Massachusetts (Boston, Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop)

Depending on the source, some information may be available at the Census Tract, Census Block Group or Block, or other Census geographic entity unit of analysis.

As we think about data and finding data sets, we want to have an understanding of some terms and their definitions:

Data vs. Statistics

Data is a single, raw piece of information. 

Statistics offer an interpretation and summary of multiple piece of data together. 

Type of Data

Qualitative data is interpretation-based, descriptive, and focuses on words and emotions. We measure this with: 

• interviews
• observations
• open-ended surveys

Quantitative data is numbers-based, countable, or measurable. We measure this with:

• numerical values 
• scales
• weights

Scale of Data

Micro-level data focuses on the individual level. For example, we might analyze one person's individual response to a series of question. 

Macro-level data focuses on the larger picture. We are considering collective insights merged together. This could be communities, businesses, organizations, cities, states, or other large groups of data that are bigger than one person and their responses.