New England

:This article is about the region in the United States of America. For other uses, see New England (disambiguation).

Population

Regional population layout

As some of the original New England settlers migrated westward, immigrants from Canada, Ireland, Italy, and eastern Europe moved into the region. Massachusetts in particular has the highest concentration of persons of Irish heritage in the country. Today, although the region has attracted many Jewish and Asian-American residents, it has a far smaller proportion of African-Americans and Hispanic Americans than the rest of the country. Though Connecticut and Massachusetts have populations of those groups closer to the national average, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are largely populated with people of European descent. The region has remained consistently openminded towards other backgrounds however, a tradition which has continued from the abolitionist days of William Lloyd Garrison and Charles Sumner to the region's recent controversial legal battle in legal relationships between homosexual couples. The total population of New England is 13,922,517.

Related Topics:
Canada - Ireland - Italy - Eastern Europe - Abolitionist - William Lloyd Garrison - Charles Sumner

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Southern New England

The bulk of the region's population is concentrated in southern New England, which contains Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The most populous state is Massachusetts, whose population is centered mostly around its political and cultural capital, Boston; whereas Western Massachusetts is less densely populated and more spread out. The resulting effect is a minor cultural divide between urban New Englanders, typically Bostonians, and rural New Englanders, who hail from western Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

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Coastal New England

The coastline is more urban than western New England, which is typically rural, even in urban states like Massachusetts. These characteristics of the region's population are due mainly to historical factors; the original colonists settled mostly on the coastline of Massachusetts Bay. The only state without access to the Atlantic Ocean, Vermont, is also the least-populated. After nearly 400 years, the region still maintains, for the most part, its historical population layout.

Related Topics:
Massachusetts Bay - Atlantic Ocean

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New England's coast is dotted with urban centers, such as Portland, Portsmouth, Boston, Providence, New Haven, and Bridgeport, as well as smaller cities, like Newburyport, Gloucester, and New London. The smaller fishing towns, like Gloucester, are popular tourist attactions, as they tend to retain their historical character, and often have colorful pasts.

Related Topics:
Portland - Portsmouth - Boston - Providence - New Haven - Bridgeport - Newburyport - Gloucester - New London

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Cape Cod, also a popular tourist attraction, is lined with sandy beaches and dotted with bed and breakfasts. The rocky coast of Maine is best known for its lobster. New Hampshire, which has the smallest coastline of all of the coastal New England states, is home to Hampton Beach, also frequented by visitors to the region.

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Urban New England

Three of the four most densely populated states in the United States are in New England. In order, the four most densely populated states are: New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Indeed, southern New England forms an integral part of the BosWash megalopolis, a conglomeration of urban centers that spans from Boston to Washington, D.C.

Related Topics:
BosWash - Megalopolis - Washington, D.C.

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The largest cities by population in New England are:

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Greater Boston: approx. 5,800,000

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• Boston, Massachusetts: 589,141
• Cambridge, Massachusetts: 101,355
• Lynn, Massachusetts: 88,025
• Quincy, Massachusetts: 88,025
• Newton, Massachusetts: 83,829
• Somerville, Massachusetts: 77,478
• Brookline, Massachusetts: 57,107

Providence, Rhode Island: 173,618

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Worcester, Massachusetts: 172,648

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Springfield, Massachusetts: 152,082

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Hartford, Connecticut: 141,578

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Bridgeport, Connecticut: 139,529

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New Haven, Connecticut: 123,626

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Stamford, Connecticut: 117,083

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Waterbury, Connecticut: 107,271

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Manchester, New Hampshire: 107,006

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Lowell, Massachusetts: 105,167

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Regional nomenclature

A person from New England is known as a New Englander. Sometimes, they are also referred to as Yankees, although this term has grown to refer to the people of the greater region of the northeastern United States.

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