Town Listing |
There are 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts. (Towns in New
England are similar to townships elsewhere.) Deciding which of
these can be considered rural has been a topic of continuing study
at the Center for Rural Massachusetts, but in recent years we have
settled on using a population density of less than 500 per square
mile as the criterion. The principal alternative criterion was
a population less than 10,000, which is in fact what is now used
by the Massachusetts Rural Development Council and is the "official" definition
in state government.
A population compared with a population density threshold
makes considerable sense in that it is a much more understandable
measure than population density. Many Massachusetts residents
can make an approximate guess at the population of their city
or town, but very few can state a population density. However,
Massachusetts municipalities vary enormously in size, ranging
from just over one square mile (Nahant) to almost 100 square
miles (Plymouth). As a result, the Center for Rural Massachusetts
has chosen population density despite its inconvenience.
The following list is based on population estimates for 1994
from the Census Bureau. Population density was calculated
using Census areas. CRM towns are towns that meeti the
Center for Rural Massachusetts criterion of less than 500 persons
per square mile. MRDC towns meet the Massachusetts Rural
Development Council criterion of a total population less than
10,000.
There are 181 towns that can be considered rural by their
population density, and 183 by their total population.
Pop Den Pop CRM towns MRDC towns
512 6,600 West Boylston
537 9,904 Acushnet
395 9,072 Adams Adams
35 403 Alford Alford
149 5,756 Ashburnham Ashburnham
126 2,996 Ashby Ashby
43 1,742 Ashfield Ashfield
1,022 4,476 Avon
788 7,107 Ayer
358 11,678 Athol
109 4,813 Barre Barre
35 1,611 Becket Becket
222 11,724 Belchertown
331 5,473 Berkley Berkley
183 2,368 Berlin Berlin
86 2,016 Bernardston Bernardston
777 8,468 Blackstone
23 1,209 Blandford Blandford
180 3,593 Bolton Bolton
407 16,646 Bourne
405 4,201 Boxborough Boxborough
297 7,112 Boxford Boxford
222 3,555 Boylston Boylston
402 9,242 Brewster Brewster
94 3,260 Brimfield Brimfield
200 3,098 Brookfield Brookfield
111 2,165 Buckland Buckland
300 4,615 Carlisle Carlisle
298 11,184 Carver
47 1,236 Charlemont Charlemont
272 11,638 Charlton
382 6,269 Chatham Chatham
130 3,499 Cheshire Cheshire
37 1,362 Chester Chester
33 1,040 Chesterfield Chesterfield
40 773 Chilmark Chilmark
133 1,701 Clarksburg Clarksburg
759 7,503 Cohasset
42 1,817 Colrain Colrain
46 1,720 Conway Conway
36 828 Cummington Cummington
330 7,194 Dalton Dalton
453 27,868 Dartmouth
160 5,158 Deerfield Deerfield
257 5,761 Dighton Dighton
179 6,510 Douglas Douglas
359 5,500 Dover Dover
454 9,554 Dudley Dudley
153 2,537 Dunstable Dunstable
207 2,034 East Brookfield East Brookfield
332 4,639 Eastham Eastham
123 3,310 Edgartown Edgartown
66 1,252 Egremont Egremont
95 1,323 Erving Erving
251 3,555 Essex Essex
31 761 Florida Florida
231 8,466 Freetown Freetown
41 221 Gay Head Gay Head
557 7,210 Georgetown
115 1,612 Gill Gill
50 860 Goshen Goshen
7 96 Gosnold Gosnold
216 6,022 Granby Granby
37 1,558 Granville Granville
170 7,702 Great Barrington Great Barrington
266 8,714 Groton Groton
619 5,540 Groveland
186 4,327 Hadley Hadley
437 6,935 Halifax Halifax
519 7,572 Hamilton
245 4,816 Hampden Hampden
19 686 Hancock Hancock
640 9,612 Hanson
64 2,453 Hardwick Hardwick
426 11,215 Harvard
198 3,175 Hatfield Hatfield
9 274 Hawley Hawley
29 725 Heath Heath
97 2,023 Hinsdale Hinsdale
436 15,265 Holden
176 2,179 Holland Holland
1,112 5,733 Hopedale
403 10,704 Hopkinton
82 3,364 Hubbardston Hubbardston
80 2,139 Huntington Huntington
381 12,421 Ipswich
295 8,816 Lakeville Lakeville
236 6,521 Lancaster Lancaster
103 2,994 Lanesborough Lanesborough
220 5,798 Lee Lee
433 10,105 Leicester
243 5,149 Lenox Lenox
79 1,816 Leverett Leverett
41 740 Leyden Leyden
574 8,249 Lincoln
453 7,530 Littleton Littleton
358 9,468 Lunenburg Lunenburg
696 5,457 Manchester
332 4,860 Marion Marion
406 9,540 Mashpee Mashpee
356 5,861 Mattapoisett Mattapoisett
253 4,584 Mendon Mendon
680 5,803 Merrimac
655 7,967 Millis
520 2,567 Millville
268 18,613 Middleborough
18 439 Middlefield Middlefield
385 5,383 Middleton Middleton
8 82 Monroe Monroe
186 8,242 Monson Monson
278 8,444 Montague Montague
31 823 Monterey Monterey
54 820 Montgomery Montgomery
8 167 Mount Washington Mount Washington
3,010 3,744 Nahant
142 6,794 Nantucket Nantucket
13 175 New Ashford New Ashford
47 971 New Braintree New Braintree
26 1,218 New Marlborough New Marlborough
17 776 New Salem New Salem
263 6,384 Newbury Newbury
228 4,804 North Brookfield North Brookfield
91 3,115 Northfield Northfield
459 9,591 Norwell Norwell
407 2,996 Oak Bluffs Oak Bluffs
78 1,638 Oakham Oakham
213 7,542 Orange Orange
415 5,864 Orleans Orleans
33 1,191 Otis Otis
499 13,298 Oxford
387 12,189 Palmer
285 4,205 Paxton Paxton
53 1,338 Pelham Pelham
481 10,850 Pepperell
33 863 Peru Peru
22 1,179 Petersham Petersham
68 1,654 Phillipston Phillipston
28 593 Plainfield Plainfield
675 7,465 Plainville
176 2,604 Plympton Plympton
97 3,424 Princeton Princeton
371 3,587 Provincetown Provincetown
199 9,240 Rehoboth Rehoboth
89 1,694 Richmond Richmond
129 4,373 Rochester Rochester
1,111 7,854 Rockport
17 396 Rowe Rowe
276 5,162 Rowley Rowley
28 1,190 Royalston Royalston
94 1,654 Russell Russell
154 5,446 Rutland Rutland
456 7,042 Salisbury Salisbury
15 765 Sandisfield Sandisfield
412 17,755 Sandwich
20 723 Savoy Savoy
66 3,160 Sheffield Sheffield
81 1,887 Shelburne Shelburne
260 4,156 Sherborn Sherborn
451 7,142 Shirley Shirley
64 1,695 Shutesbury Shutesbury
514 7,274 Southborough
174 4,906 Southampton Southampton
264 8,163 Southwick Southwick
356 11,679 Spencer
231 7,041 Sterling Sterling
101 2,311 Stockbridge Stockbridge
314 5,535 Stow Stow
215 8,046 Sturbridge Sturbridge
247 3,547 Sunderland Sunderland
234 7,565 Sutton Sutton
205 6,572 Templeton Templeton
484 3,171 Tisbury Tisbury
9 295 Tolland Tolland
467 5,919 Topsfield Topsfield
275 9,041 Townsend Townsend
79 1,671 Truro Truro
572 9,637 Tyngsborough
20 368 Tyringham Tyringham
248 5,335 Upton Upton
389 11,497 Uxbridge
113 1,774 Wales Wales
284 9,783 Ware Ware
167 4,584 Warren Warren
17 638 Warwick Warwick
16 622 Washington Washington
135 2,685 Wellfleet Wellfleet
29 921 Wendell Wendell
572 4,418 Wenham
410 6,455 West Bridgewater West Bridgewater
179 3,669 West Brookfield West Brookfield
291 3,930 West Newbury West Newbury
86 1,596 West Stockbridge West Stockbridge
74 1,854 West Tisbury West Tisbury
51 1,392 Westhampton Westhampton
185 6,553 Westminster Westminster
282 14,110 Westport
64 1,298 Whately Whately
99 2,547 Williamsburg Williamsburg
169 7,907 Williamstown Williamstown
214 9,248 Winchendon Winchendon
25 863 Windsor Windsor
38 1,206 Worthington Worthington
459 10,186 Wrentham
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