Boston is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It serves as a primary cultural and financial center for the New England region in the Northeastern United States.
The city covers an area of 48.4 square miles (125 km2) and had a population of 675,647 according to the 2020 census. It ranks as the third-most populous city in the Northeast, following New York City and Philadelphia.
The larger Greater Boston metropolitan statistical area has a population of 4.9 million as of 2023. This makes it the largest metropolitan area in New England and the eleventh-largest in the United States.