Massachusetts
Immigration, fertility drops show Massachusetts losing people
BOSTON — On the heels of federal estimates that reflect slowing population growth in Massachusetts, an expert on the topic cited dropping international immigration levels and long-term fertility trends as she told lawmakers that the drain could get even worse.
Immigration accounts for the biggest change in the state and nation’s population growth rate, Susan Strate, senior program manager for the UMass Donahue Institute’s Population Estimates Program, said Tuesday.
U.S. Census estimates released in January suggest Massachusetts’ population increased by about 0.2% between July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025, to 7,154,084. The figure represents a slowdown in population growth compared to the previous year-over-year period, when Massachusetts saw its largest population increase in 60 years, almost 1%, between 2023 and 2024. It was fueled largely by high immigration levels.
Estimated net international immigration rates fell in Massachusetts in July 2025 to 40,240, compared to July 2024 at 77,957, Strate said. The Census Bureau named “a historic decline in net international migration” as the cause of slower overall U.S. population growth, showing a year-over-year increase of .5%.
Population growth is critical for any state but in Massachusetts in particular immigrants have played a major role across sectors over the years, helping to boost an economy where high living costs can deter new arrivals and cause longtime residents to look out of state for more affordable lifestyles.
The recent estimate captured six months during the Biden administration, and six months under the administration of President Donald Trump, Sen. Will Brownsberger, D-Boston, noted while chairing a Senate Committee on the Census hearing. He asked Strate whether the majority of those 40,000 immigrants came to Massachusetts during the first half of that timeframe.
“I’d hesitate to put numbers on it,” Strate said. “I’m not an expert on federal policy, but as you know — mass deportations, and also this kind of, death by a thousand paper cuts, where a lot of the administrative processes for people are getting much harder, much more difficult to navigate, a lot more barriers being put up.”
“Absolutely, we would expect that number to continue to drop,” Strate added, referring to the state’s net international immigration figure.
The Trump administration has accelerated deportations and taken actions that will “secure” U.S. borders and “end illegal immigration,” according to the Department of Homeland Security. The administration has escalated federal immigration enforcement tactics since the recent estimates’ cutoff in July 2025, and there are no signs that the approach will change in the nearly three years remaining on the president’s term.
Net immigration into Massachusetts has historically offset domestic outmigration. That held true in July 2025 estimates, which show that year-over-year immigration estimates still outweighed the estimated 33,340 people who left the state for other parts of the U.S., according to the Donahue Institute.
“Absent immigration, Massachusetts would already be losing population,” the Boston-based Pioneer Institute’s Economic Research Associate Aidan Enright said in a policy brief responding to the Census estimates. “Domestic out-migration rose again in 2025, and that’s a clear signal that the state is becoming less competitive as a place to live, work, and do business.”
Pioneer is among several groups that continue to warn about outmigration and are backing two tax-related ballot measures that could go before voters in November. Pioneer on Thursday released a report suggesting that domestic outmigration is “hollowing out” the state’s workforce and economy. The report also suggested Massachusetts lost an estimated 182,000 residents to net domestic outmigration from 2020 through 2025.
“We have sustained population growth entirely based on international migration,” Brownsberger told the News Service. “Over the past 12 months, international immigration has slowed to a trickle as a result of federal policy changes. That means that our projections of future population growth and future household formation need to be reviewed. All of our existing projections are based on immigration rates which are no longer to be expected.”
“It’s also hard to imagine the immigration trends will suddenly reverse, even if we have different policies coming from Washington,” the Boston Democrat added.
In longer-term projections, Strate tied fertility rates into the mix. The median age of millennials was about 34 years old in 2025, Strate said, and the peak fertility cohort is aged 30 to 34 years old in Massachusetts.
“For the next 10 years, the folks who are aged 20-to-24 now will be aged 30-to-34, so they will be passing through that higher fertility period. But then kind of looking forward 20 years, to 2045, there’s no next wave of large population coming behind them,” Strate said.
Population projections begin to start falling after 2035, she said, in part because the population aging into that fertile group is smaller. The combination of baby boomers aging, and millennials passing through fertile range is a “perfect storm” for increased death and declining birth rates, Strate added.
Declining immigration will reduce births even further in Massachusetts, she said, referring to 2024 American Community Survey data measuring births by year and mother’s nativity.
“I think it’s quite striking that by 2024, about 38% of all of the births in Massachusetts are to mothers who were born outside of the U.S. So you can kind of imagine if immigration continues to fall off, that births will also be undercut to the tune of 38% or more going forward,” Strate said.
Concerns about reaching immigrant communities for the Census have already been reflected upon by Brownsberger, and Secretary of State William F. Galvin recently cited concerns about “efforts now underway to limit the process and procedures for the count” in a reelection message.
While those count concerns and immigration projections are different issues, they’re linked in that they’re both a consequence of federal policy, Brownsberger said. It will be harder to count immigration populations, and those populations will be smaller, he said.
“The challenge in the 2030 census count is to include marginalized populations, especially immigrant populations,” Brownsberger said. “That’s always a challenge, but the events of the last 12 months have enormously reduced trust in immigrant communities and they’re less likely to stand up to be counted in the 2030 Census.”
Ella Adams is a reporter for the State House News Service and State Affairs Massachusetts. Reach her at ella.adams@statehousenews.com.
The meteor responsible for a loud boom heard in Rhode Island and Massachusetts Saturday afternoon was approximately 5 feet in diameter and weighed more than 12,000 pounds, according to NASA.
The object entered Earth’s atmosphere at roughly 42,000 mph, a NASA spokesperson said. It then traveled through the atmosphere from northwest to southeast for 26 miles before breaking up and producing a meteorite fall into Cape Cod Bay.
The energy released when the object broke up at an altitude of 31 miles is estimated to be equivalent to about 230 tons of TNT, according to NASA.
Professor Ralph Milliken of the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Brown University spoke with NBC 10’s Mike Cerullo. (WJAR)
While it’s not very common to experience a 5-foot-wide meteorite, there is a significant amount of debris from space that reaches Earth.
“The estimates are that we probably have about 5,000 tons of cosmic dust and material and meteorites landing on Earth. The vast majority of that is super tiny stuff, we’re talking things that are smaller than a grain of sand, or the thickness of a human hair,” said Professor Ralph Milliken of the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences at Brown University. “For something of this size a few feet across, it’s not that common, but a few a year. Most of these would occur over uninhabited areas, over the ocean, and we wouldn’t be able to see them, but they are detected.”
Because of its size, a meteorite with a 5-foot diameter is difficult to track before it enter Earth’s atmosphere.
“It’s virtually impossible to kind of know in advance of this size object coming,” Milliken said.
The area where a meteorite crashed in Cape Cod Bay. (WJAR)
Scientists are, however, able to track much larger space objects. NASA has been developing technology to try to deflect larger objects if needed.
Events like what occurred in New England over the weekend are recorded. Although other fireballs enter Earth’s atmosphere throughout the year, many of them materialize over water and uninhabited areas.
Massachusetts
Winners’ circle: Tracking every 2026 spring high school championship – The Boston Globe
Championship season is upon us, and we’re tracking every title winner in Massachusetts this spring.
From the golf sectionals in late May to championship weekend June 11-14, a four-day stretch in which 31 titlists will be crowned across boys’ and girls’ lacrosse, boys and girls’ tennis, boys’ and girls’ rugby, boys’ volleyball, softball, and baseball, we’ll have you covered.
Find all the dates, brackets, seedings, matchups, and links to our postseason previews here.
Follow us on X @GlobeSchools, Instagram @BGlobeSchools, and Facebook to stay up to date.
Over at Globe.com/Schools you’ll find our daily scoreboard, nightly Takeaways, game coverage, videos, live streams, and our weekly Varsity News newsletter (sign up for free) to keep you in the know.
Division 1: Lexington girls, St. John’s Prep boys
Lexington girls graduate to two-time Division 1 track champions, St. John’s Prep sprints to boys’ title
Division 2: Billerica girls, North Andover boys
Billerica girls unphazed by move up to Division 2, going back-to-back as North Andover boys dominate
Division 3: Canton girls, Walpole boys
Canton girls cap greatest season with first Division 3 track title, Walpole boys win by thinnest margin
Division 4: Duxbury girls, Newburyport boys
Historic win for Duxbury girls, Mohoric paces Newburyport boys to Division 4 outdoor track championship
Division 5: North Reading girls, Weston boys
It’s four in a row for North Reading girls, two straight for Weston boys at Division 5 track championships
Division 6: Ayer Shirley girls, Abington boys
Ayer Shirley girls pick up where they left off, Abington boys twinning at Division 6 track championships
Day 1, Divisions 1, 2, and 5: Lexington boys and girls setting the pace at Division 1 track & field championships
Day 1, Divisions 3, 4, and 6: Canton girls make a strong run to first at Division 3 track championships
South: Walpole | With Tori Adams as its driving force, Walpole scores third straight MIAA South girls’ golf championship
North/Central/West: Hopkinton | Concord-Carlisle’s Sophie Redmond, Hopkinton rule MIAA girls’ golf championship for North/Central/West
With titles for Natick and Peabody and smiles for all, MIAA unified track championship ‘beyond inspiring’
Brendan Kurie can be reached at brendan.kurie@globe.com. Follow him on X @BrendanKurie.
Massachusetts
Meteor Lands In Cape Cod + Bus Crash Kills 5 From MA + Wind Storm Knocks Out Power To Thousands: MA Weekend
MASSACHUSETTS — Residents throughout New England were simultaneously startled as a meteor that landed in Cape Cod caused a sonic boom this past weekend.
Meanwhile, a bus driver is facing charges after five Massachusetts residents died in a crash on a highway in Virginia.
Plus, another State Trooper was caught handling a wrong-way driver situation on Route 1.
Mysterious Boom Heard Across MA Was An Exploding Meteor, Experts Say
The noises were heard around 2:11 p.m. Saturday, with people describing a sudden bang that rattled windows and even shook some homes. The American Meteor Society said that the booms heard were actually caused by a meteor about three feet wide entering the atmosphere near the border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Residents as far as Ipswich and Johnston, Rhode Island, reported hearing and feeling the sensations. Meteorologist Nick Stewart shared satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, showing where the meteor entered the atmosphere and combusted while traveling at 75,000 miles per hour above the ocean.
Bus Driver Charged After MA Family Of 4, Worcester Woman Killed In VA Crash
Jing S. Dong, of Staten Island, New York, now faces two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the collision, which occurred around 2:35 a.m. Friday on southbound I-95 near Quantico. Among those killed were a 45-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, all from Greenfield, Massachusetts. All were in the Acura, which police said caught fire after the collisions. Police on Saturday evening identified the fifth person killed as Priscilla R. Mafalda, 25, of Worcester, Massachusetts, who was riding in the Suburban struck by the bus.
In total, about 44 people were transported to area hospitals, including three with critical injuries.
State Trooper Hospitalized After Route 1 Wrong-Way Crash In Peabody
State Police said the trooper was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after police acted in coordination to protect traffic and stop the driver, who was traveling southbound on Route 1 North in Peabody. The incident occurred not far from the location on Route 1 where State Trooper Kevin Trainor was killed when his cruiser was hit head-on in a wrong-way crash in Lynnfield last month. The driver in Sunday’s crash was also hospitalized and charged with operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and driving the wrong way on a state highway.
Rapidly Expanding Grocery Chain Has Big Plans For MA
Sprouts Farmers Market is slated to launch up to 40 locations throughout the region in the coming years. Construction has begun for the first Massachusetts spot in Weymouth, which has an opening date of 2028. The Phoenix-based organic grocery chain has more than 480 stores in 25 states.
Saturday’s Meteorite Was ‘Fishy Squisher’ And NASA Knows Where To Find It In Cape Cod Bay
Data from NASA suggest fragments of the meteorite lie in waters from the middle of the bay to about 10 miles northeast of the town of Sandwich. The agency said late Saturday it picked up radar signatures of the fragments from four radar sites, and termed the strike a “fishy squisher.” The meteorite entered Earth’s atmosphere about 40 miles above the Bay State and southern New Hampshire, creating the sonic boom. Water in the bombarded portion of Cape Cod Bay is about 100 feet deep.
35K Without Power As Winter-Like Storm Pummels MA With 55+ MPH Winds
Massachusetts residents throughout the North Shore were without power on Saturday morning as a winter-like storm tore a path of tree damage, downpours, and fierce winds throughout New England. Widespread tree damage was reported across the state, with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reporting 34,228 customers without power as of 11:20 a.m. Wind speeds reached a high of 55 miles per hour. Temperatures dropped into the 40s with wind chills in the 30s as the storm arrived across the Bay State. The unsettled weather will continue through Monday and Tuesday before a warming trend takes hold later in the week.
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