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city in Massachusetts, United States
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Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly 8 miles (13 km) west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of Brighton and West Roxbury), Brookline to the east, Watertown and Waltham to the north, and Weston, Wellesley, and Needham to the west. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2025 estimates, the population of Newton, Massachusetts was 90,741.
Newton is home to the Charles River, Crystal Lake, and Heartbreak Hill, among other landmarks. It is served by several streets and highways (including Route 9, Hammond Pond Parkway, and the Mass Pike), as well as the Green Line D branch run by the MBTA.
Historically, the area that is now Newton was settled in 1639, and was originally first part of Cambridge (then called "the newe towne"). It split from Cambridge in 1681, and became known by its present name of Newton in 1766. It then became a city in 1874.
Newton was originally part of "the newe towne", which was settled in 1630 and renamed Cambridge in 1638. The first English settlement of what is now Newton began in 1639. Roxbury minister John Eliot persuaded the Native American people of Nonantum, a sub-tribe of the Massachusett led by a sachem named Waban, to relocate to Natick in 1651, fearing that they would be exploited by colonists. Newton was incorporated as a separate town, known as Cambridge Village, on December 15, 1681, then renamed Newtown in 1691, and finally Newton in 1766. It became a city on January 5, 1874. Newton is known as The Garden City.
In the early 1600s, Watertown had claimed a large area of land on the south side of the Charles River (modern-day Newton). They gave it up to Newtown, except for a strip "two hundred rods long and sixty rods wide" to "protect their fishing privileges".
In Reflections in Bullough's Pond, Newton historian Diana Muir describes the early industries that developed in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in a series of mills built to take advantage of the water power available at Newton Upper Falls and Newton Lower Falls. Snuff, chocolate, glue, paper and other products were produced in these small mills but, according to Muir, the water power available in Newton was not sufficient to turn Newton into a manufacturing city, although it was, beginning in 1902, the home of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, the maker of the Stanley Steamer.
Nineteenth-century Newton, following the American Civil War, was a patchwork of villages. The northern villages of Auburndale, Newton Corner, Newtonville, and West Newton were the most affluent. In contrast, both Waban and Chestnut Hill were sparsely populated.
Several village-based "improvement societies" were founded by residents between 1878 and 1904. No citywide improvement society was ever founded.
In 1889, Moses King published King's Handbook of Newton, a descriptive guide to all of Newton's significant locations and historic structures along with anecdotes and stories from the locals at the time. The information was collected by its author and close associate of King, Moses Forster Sweetser.
Newton, according to Muir, became one of North America's earliest commuter suburbs. The Boston and Worcester, one of North America's earliest railroads, reached West Newton in 1834. Wealthy Bostonian businessmen took advantage of the new commuting opportunity offered by the railroad, building gracious homes on erstwhile farmland of West Newton hill and on Commonwealth Avenue. Muir points out that these early commuters needed sufficient wealth to employ a groom and keep horses, to drive them from their hilltop homes to the station.
Further suburbanization came in waves. One wave began with the streetcar lines that made many parts of Newton accessible for commuters in the late nineteenth century. The next wave came in the 1920s when automobiles became affordable to a growing upper middle class. Even then, however, Oak Hill continued to be farmed, mostly market gardening, until the prosperity of the 1950s made all of Newton more densely settled.
Two of the hijackers of the September 11 attacks stayed in Newton the night before the attacks. The hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 spent their last night in Newton's Park Inn, an economy motel across the street from the Chestnut Hill Mall and within walking distance of The Atrium.
Each April on Patriots' Day, the Boston Marathon is run through the city, entering from Wellesley on Route 16 (Washington Street) where runners encounter the first of the four infamous Newton Hills. It then turns right onto Route 30 (Commonwealth Avenue) for the long haul into Boston. There are two more hills before reaching Centre Street, and then the fourth and most noted, Heartbreak Hill, rises shortly after Centre Street. Residents and visitors line the race route along Washington Street and Commonwealth Avenue to cheer on the runners.
Newton is a suburban city approximately 7 mi (11 km) from downtown Boston, in Middlesex County. It is also bordered by Waltham and Watertown on the north, Needham and the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston on the south, Wellesley and Weston on the west, and Brookline and the Brighton neighborhood of Boston on the east.
The Charles River flows along the north and west parts of Newton, and Route 128 passes through the western part of the city.
The Mass Pike passes through the more urbanized northern section of the city before heading into Boston. Additional major highways in Newton include Route 9, serving the southern parts of the city, and Hammond Pond Parkway, which is the main north–south route through Chestnut Hill and provides access to Brookline and West Roxbury.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 18.2 square miles (47.1 km2), of which 18.0 square miles (46.6 km2) is land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km2) (0.82%) is water.
Geologically Newton is located within the topographic lowland of the Boston Basin of the Appalachian Mountain chain. This lowland is surrounded by a ring of highland drumlins which were left after the last glaciation twelve thousand years ago.
There are several unique outcroppings of rocks around Newton where geologic history revealing of how territory have formed and has changed over the past hundreds millions of years of drift supercontinents and ancient oceans, earthquake activity associated with volcanism and related faulting activity and changing climate. There are mainly three types of bedrock: Roxbury Conglomerate, Cambridge Argillite or Slate, and Brighton Volcanics and the Mattapan Volcanics pre-Cambrian foundation of Dedham Granodiorite. The Boston Border Fault and the Shawmut anticline of Newton formed as the alpine mountains of east-central Massachusetts were created. Unique outcroppings rocks exposure has steadily declined as Newton area has become increasingly developed.
Newton has grown around a formation of seven hills. "The general features of Newton are not without interest. Seven principal elevations mark its surface, like the seven hills of ancient Rome, with the difference that the seven hills of Newton are much more distinct than the seven hills of Rome: Nonantum Hill, Waban Hill, Chestnut Hill, Bald Pate Hill, Oak Hill, Institution Hill and Mount Ida."
Rather than having a single city center, Newton is a patchwork of thirteen villages, many boasting small downtown areas of their own. The 13 villages are: Auburndale, Chestnut Hill, Newton Centre, Newton Corner, Newton Highlands, Newton Lower Falls, Newton Upper Falls (both on the Charles River, and both former small industrial sites), Newtonville, Nonantum (also known as Silver Lake or "The Lake"), Oak Hill, Thompsonville, Waban and West Newton. Oak Hill Park is a place within the village of Oak Hill that itself is shown as a separate and distinct village on some city maps (including a map dated 2010 on the official City of Newton website), and Four Corners is also shown as a village on some city maps. Although most of the villages have a post office, they have no legal definition and no firmly defined borders. This village-based system often causes some confusion with addresses and for first-time visitors.
The record low temperature was −21 °F (−29 °C) in February 1934; the record high temperature was 101 °F (38 °C) in August 1975.
As of the 2020 census, Newton had a population of 88,923. The median age was 41.7 years. 21.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 19.5% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 90.9 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 87.7 males age 18 and over.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 31,704 households in Newton, of which 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 58.7% were married-couple households, 12.5% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 24.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 23.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 33,320 housing units, of which 4.8% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.8% and the rental vacancy rate was 5.1%.
As of the census of 2010, there were 85,146 people, 32,648 households, and 20,499 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,643.6 inhabitants per square mile (1,792.9/km2). There were 32,112 housing units at an average density of 1,778.8 per square mile (686.8/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 79.6% White, 11.5% Asian, 2.5% African American, 0.07% Native American, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.71% from other races, and 1.46% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 4.1% of the population (0.7% Puerto Rican, 0.6% Mexican, 0.4% Colombian, 0.3% Guatemalan, 0.3% Argentine). (2010 Census Report: Census report Quickfacts.com)
Newton, along with neighboring Brookline, is known for its significant Jewish and Asian (practicing Christian or other) populations. The Jewish population as of 2002 was estimated to be 28,002.
There were 31,201 households, out of which 31.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.2% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families. Of all households, 25.5% were made up of individuals, and 11.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. As of the 2008 US Census, the average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.11.
In the city, 21.2% of the population was under the age of 18, 10.3% was from 18 to 24, 28.2% from 25 to 44, 25.2% from 45 to 64, and 15.1% was 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $107,696, and the median income for a family was $136,843. Males had a median income of $95,387 versus $60,520 for females. The per capita income for the city was $56,163. About 3.6% of families and 5.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.2% of those under age 18 and 9.4% of those age 65 or over.
As of 2015, 21.9% of the residents of Newton had been born outside of the United States.
Newton's largest employers include Boston College and Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Companies based in Newton include TechTarget, CyberArk, Upromise and Kanda Software.
Data is from the 2009–2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.
The city is home to two symphony orchestras, the New Philharmonia Orchestra of Massachusetts and the Newton Symphony Orchestra. The Joanne Langione Dance Center, an American youth dance school was founded in 1976.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Newton, Massachusetts”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.