Related Guides
Food Security & Food Access
- State of Food Security in the City of Boston Data presented from the Boston Food Access Assessment conducted by the Boston Mayor's Office of Food Access, 2019.
- Food Insecurity Map (City of Boston Demographic, food resources, food insecurity, access, assistance and needs assessment data from the City of Boston Office of Food Access,
- Food Systems Database (Metropolitan Area Planning Council) MAPC’s food systems database compiles Massachusetts food systems data and maps in easily accessible formats to encourage community-level understanding of local food systems, health, and demographics. Use this data to answer questions about food access in your area, map food retailers and demographic information, identify where residents are at a high risk of food insecurity, find nearby emergency food providers, and more.
- Food Insecurity in Massachusetts (Feeding America) For the eleventh consecutive year, Feeding America conducted our annual Map the Meal Gap study to improve our understanding of food insecurity and food costs at the local level (Suffolk County, Congressional Districts).
- Food Environment Atlas (USDA) Food environment factors—such as store/restaurant proximity, food prices, food and nutrition assistance programs, and community characteristics—interact to influence food choices and diet quality. These interactions are complex and more research is needed to identify causal relationships and effective policy interventions. Available at the state and county level.
- Food Access Research Atlas (USDA) Presents an overview of food access indicators for low-income and other census tracts using different measures of supermarket accessibility; Provides food access data for populations within census tracts; and Offers census-tract-level data on food access that can be downloaded for community planning or research purposes.
- Food Forests Map, City of Boston Food forests transform vacant, City-owned lots into locally-run, public edible parks. The food forests in Boston are run by the Boston Food Forest Coalition (BFFC), a nonprofit land trust, with community members. Together, they’re building a network of environmental and social resilience across Boston. The focus is on community collaboration and the protection of local green space.
- SNAP data for Massachusetts Congressional Districts (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) SNAP-participating retailers in MA, by Congressional District, and a database of retailers.
- WIC Enrollment (mass.gov) WIC enrollment numbers and numbers eligible for Boston.
- FY2021 Progress Toward Three Meals a Day (Greater Boston Food Bank) The map features GBFB’s town-by-town progress toward our goal of distributing enough food to provide three meals per day for each food-insecure individual in Eastern Massachusetts.
Food Businesses
- Data Axle Reference Solutions (formerly ReferenceUSA) This link opens in a new window Current and historical directories of U.S. businesses and consumers. Search businesses by company name, geographic area, business type, SIC code, revenue, location, number of employees and more. Also includes job and internship listings.
- Active Food Establishment Licenses (Analyze Boston) The Health Division of the Department of Inspectional Services (ISD) creates and enforces food safety codes to protect public health. All businesses which prepare and sell food to the public must possess a food service permit. In order to qualify for a permit, at least one full time employee must be must be certified through an accredited food manager program, which provides guidance on handling and serving food to the public. This dataset contains a list of restaurants that met
- Section 12 Licenses: Alcohol (Analyze Boston) The Licensing Board for the City of Boston enforces alcohol license law under Section 12 and Section 15, Chapter 138 of the Massachusetts General Laws. Alcohol licenses are issued by the City of Boston Licensing Board and approved by the Massachusetts Alcohol Beverage Control Commission. Licenses are broken down into location and beverage types. Retail location licenses for off-premises consumption include package stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores. On-premises consumption licenses
- Mayor's Food Court (City of Boston) The Mayor's Food Court is our online database that keeps track of food service businesses in the City. You can see ratings based on violations and other data.
Featured Article on Boston and Food Data
- Landscape and Urban Planning 165 (2017) (Elsevier Science Direct) GIS and remote sensing data were used to estimate the capacity of urban agriculture in Boston.
