Thank you for visiting Impact MetroWest to learn more about the MetroWest region of Massachusetts. Whether you’re a member of our community, a professional or business leader, a nonprofit, a municipal leader, or a visitor to the region, we hope the site is informative, providing insight into the region’s many strengths and challenges and opportunities to develop solutions.

"MetroWest" is not a formal set of government boundaries, but a name adopted for a set of communities lying west of Boston and east of Worcester. Different groups have their own definitions of what is included, but MetroWest is defined on this site as the following 39 cities and towns served by Community Foundation for MetroWest and/or Middlesex Savings Bank: Acton, Ashland, Bedford*, Bellingham*, Boxborough, Carlisle, Concord, Dedham, Dover, Framingham, Franklin*, Groton*, Harvard, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson, Lexington, Lincoln, Littleton*, Marlborough, Maynard, Medfield, Medway, Milford, Millis, Natick, Needham, Sherborn, Southborough, Stow, Sudbury, Walpole, Waltham, Wayland, Wellesley, Westborough, Westford*, Weston, and Westwood.

*Denotes the communities served only by Middlesex Savings Bank

A Snapshot of the Region:

• As of 2022, MetroWest is home to approximately 795,000 residents, an 8% increase since 2010. See how your community has grown over time – Change In Total Population.

• Our MetroWest communities are aging with the number of people between the ages of 60 and 84 increasing by 31% and the 85+ population grew 10% since 2008. Meanwhile, the population of individuals under 20 years old decreased by 1%. Learn more – Change in Total Population by Age and Change in Total Population by Age & Gender.

• As our population has grown over the last few decades, our communities have also become more diverse. The foreign-born population has grown 3% since 2008, representing 19% of our neighbors. Below is a table showing the percentage of total population in MetroWest by race/ethnicity:

See how your community has diversified in recent years – Change in Total Population, by Race/Ethnicity

How Are We Doing?

Our Regional Overview, updated in April 2024, summarizes recent trends in the MetroWest region, which is bouncing back from the Covid-19 pandemic, with decreasing unemployment rates and increasing total jobs. At the same time, as inflation continues to raise the cost of living across the nation, residents of MetroWest face increasing costs of homeownership and rent and an increasing number of households are receiving public assistance. And economic inequality among racial and ethnic groups persists.

This report was developed in 2019 as a result of a community needs asssessment that included focus groups, interviews and a community survey.