1. Central Massachusetts Demographics
Prepared for
Public Release
April 2006
Welcome to the Central Massachusetts demographic page. The municipal level population, household, and employment projections each five years through 2030 are listed below.
This presentation highlights decennial changes in population, employment and travel time to work.
Bryan Slack
CMRPC Staff

2. Population in Central Massachusetts has been increasing and is expected to continue to grow through 2030.

3. Population by Subregion
Although southeast and northeast subregions are growing fast, Worcester remains the highest population center in the region.

4. Pop#80to90
The towns colored darkest red grew by more than 1500 people in the 1980s. No towns lost population.

5. Pop#90to00
Notice how that changes in subsequent decades. North Brookfield, Southbridge and Northbridge lost population, although an undercounting in the US Census may be responsible for Northbridge’s loss.

6. Pop#00to10
The current decade. Notice that Worcester, Shrewsbury and Grafton among others have shown steady growth and are expected to continue to grow.

7. Pop#10to20
Projected to the future

8. Pop#20to30
You can see more growth is expected in the eastern and central portions of the region.

9. % Population Growth 1970 to 2030
The region’s rate of population growth exceeds the state average but trails the country

10. Over 50,000 new housing units are required between 2000 and 2030 to accommodate projected population growth
Between the years 2000 and 2030, 50,000 new housing units will need to be built to accommodate the projected population growth.

11. Emp#80to90
The towns colored darkest red grew the most; grew by more than 500 jobs in the 1980s. Several towns colored white lost jobs during the 1980s.

12. Emp#90to00
Many towns gained over 500 jobs during the 90s.

13. Emp#00to10
The early portion of the current decade showed many lost jobs to our region. We expect most towns to recover the lost jobs by 2010.

14. Emp#10to20
Jobs projected to the future

15. Emp#20to30
You can see more growth in the eastern and central portions of the region.

16. Jobs in CMRPC Subregions: Where Workers Come From
If you look at the last column, you can see that approximately 35% of the region’s jobs are filled by workers that reside in the same town as the job. Approximately 85% of the jobs in the Central Massachusetts region are filled by workers who live somewhere in Worcester County. In orange, notice that, approximately 9% of jobs are filled by workers who live to the east of our region and a few from the west and out of state.

17. Residents in CMRPC Subregions: Where They Go To Work
In contrast to the last slide, this one shows where workers in the Central Massachusetts region go to work. Slightly over 30% work in the same town in which they reside. Approximately 78% work in Worcester County. In orange, notice that approximately 20% of workers go east to work. Those workers living in the northeast and southeast subregions travel east to work in even greater proportion.

18. 1980 Pop to Emp Ratio
In Massachusetts there are approximately two people living in the state for each job located in the state. This population to employment ratio shows the relationship between residents in town and number of jobs in town. Municipalities with less than two people for every job are shown in the darker red colors for The major highways and surrounding grayed out towns have been added for perspective.
Workers living in the lighter colored towns have six or more people residing in town for every job. Workers living in the lighter towns will likely travel in greater portions to darker red towns for a job.

19. 1990 Pop to Emp Ratio
Notice in 1990 Westborough is the only town in the Central Massachusetts region that has more jobs in town than it has residents in town.

20. 2000 Pop to Emp Ratio
This slide shows the year 2000 population to employment ratios.

21. 2010 Pop to Emp Ratio
You can see that Westborough, Worcester, Sturbridge, Auburn and West Boylston have more than one job in town for every two people.

22. 2020 Pop to Emp Ratio
We expect that trend to continue.

23. 2030 Pop to Emp Ratio

24. 1980 Travel Time to Work
The average commute time to work in 1980 is shown for each municipality in Central Massachusetts. Less than 20 minutes is shown in dark green. Greater than an average of 30 minutes travel time will be shown in red.

25. 1990 Travel Time to Work
Average travel time to work in 1990.

26. 2000 Travel Time to Work Average travel time to work in 2000.
The other links are provided to help you understand both the projections and the historic context. During live presentations we received questions and concerns. We have addressed 10 questions in the Demographics Questions and Answers link.