Boston Grew Over the Past Decade, as Its White Population Waned

U.S.|Boston grew swiftly over the decade, as its white population waned.

• Aug. 12, 2021Updated 5:30 p.m. ET

In past census cycles, the city of Boston was losing population, its young people migrating to the south and west in search of better jobs and cheaper housing.

Not any more. Census data released on Thursday showed that Boston grew 9.3 percent between the 2010 and 2020 counts, a turnaround for the city, and nearly double the growth rate in Massachusetts overall. The city is now home to 675,647 people, according to the census.

As Boston grew, the portion of city residents identifying as white continued to dip, from 47 percent in 2010 to 44.5 percent now. The portion of Black residents is steady, at 24.4 percent in 2010 and 25.2 percent now; the portion of Asians rose from 8.4 percent to 9.7 percent; and the portion of Hispanics rose from 17.5 to 19.8.

The shifting demographics are playing out this summer in city politics, which in past generations was fueled by neighborhood and ethnic rivalries.

Boston remains one of the last cities in the Northeast never to have elected a mayor who was not a white man; but Boston’s City Council is now dominated by women and people of color, and the four front-runners in this fall’s mayoral election are all women of color.

“In some ways, we’re catching up, in terms of political representation,” said Paul Watanabe, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

The rise in population comes amid a shortage of affordable housing, which threatens to force working families out of neighborhoods where they have lived for generations. Immigration remains a key driver to population growth in Massachusetts, with swift growth in gateway cities with more affordable housing stock.