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Old 08-09-2019, 08:22 AM
 
Location: Newburyport, MA
12,574 posts, read 9,665,004 times
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Some areas are gaining, and some are losing people. Full data is here:

UMass Donahue Institute | By City and Town

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Population Changes in MA, 2010-2018-ma-popln-change-2010-218.jpg  
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Old 08-10-2019, 05:10 AM
 
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I'd expect to see all the Boston-adjacent suburbs in dark green. And I wonder why the Cape is losing population.
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Old 08-10-2019, 05:50 AM
 
Location: Newburyport, MA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KoNgFooCj View Post
I'd expect to see all the Boston-adjacent suburbs in dark green. And I wonder why the Cape is losing population.
I also don't understand why the Cape would be (mostly) losing people. Eastern MA is gaining people on the whole, and people need recreation, plus the Cape seems like it'd be nice for retirement as well as vacation. Of course I live high on the North Shore, not much in touch with the Cape
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Old 08-10-2019, 06:29 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OutdoorLover View Post
I also don't understand why the Cape would be (mostly) losing people. Eastern MA is gaining people on the whole, and people need recreation, plus the Cape seems like it'd be nice for retirement as well as vacation. Of course I live high on the North Shore, not much in touch with the Cape

It's a significant decline in school age children. I know Sandwich declined by almost 6% between 2000 and 2015. Falmouth by almost 4%. A lot of the renters with families on the Cape got chased away by much higher prices. Young families with children with service sector jobs can't afford the single family homes. I imagine the typical owner-occupied single family home is now close to 2 people per home as the population ages and it's mostly retirees. Vacation home owners don't count as residents so the cycle is mostly vacation home owners where some choose to retire to the Cape and then die off a few years later.
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Old 08-10-2019, 08:02 AM
 
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Plus people are increasingly unable to retire.
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Old 08-10-2019, 08:04 AM
 
Location: Newburyport, MA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffD View Post
It's a significant decline in school age children. I know Sandwich declined by almost 6% between 2000 and 2015. Falmouth by almost 4%. A lot of the renters with families on the Cape got chased away by much higher prices. Young families with children with service sector jobs can't afford the single family homes. I imagine the typical owner-occupied single family home is now close to 2 people per home as the population ages and it's mostly retirees. Vacation home owners don't count as residents so the cycle is mostly vacation home owners where some choose to retire to the Cape and then die off a few years later.
That makes sense, thanks for the context, GeoffD.

Quote:
Originally Posted by yesmaybe View Post
Plus people are increasingly unable to retire.
There is that too...

At some level house prices are high all over eastern MA, but I guess what's different about the Cape is, the prices are pretty high, good paying local jobs are probably nearly non-existent, and with the geography - the water isolating that spit of land, there aren't many options for people making less money to live in a cheaper town nearby and just commute in. That's what I am understanding from GeoffD's description.
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Old 08-10-2019, 08:25 AM
 
Location: Baltimore
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OutdoorLover View Post
I also don't understand why the Cape would be (mostly) losing people. Eastern MA is gaining people on the whole, and people need recreation, plus the Cape seems like it'd be nice for retirement as well as vacation. Of course I live high on the North Shore, not much in touch with the Cape
It’s not desirable to young people, the population is so old it’s past child bearing age. Them not allowing density has prohibited the cape from attracting or holding on to young families. The year round work generally isn’t very highly paid and it’s not commutable to Boston. I’m surprised any towns have any growth in the cape.
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Old 08-10-2019, 08:50 AM
 
24,570 posts, read 18,332,405 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OutdoorLover View Post
At some level house prices are high all over eastern MA, but I guess what's different about the Cape is, the prices are pretty high, good paying local jobs are probably nearly non-existent, and with the geography - the water isolating that spit of land, there aren't many options for people making less money to live in a cheaper town nearby and just commute in. That's what I am understanding from GeoffD's description.

An awful lot of former year-round service sector workers have been replaced by seasonal workers who are often on temporary visas. We were at a taco place in Edgartown earlier this week. It was all Russian kids.


There are the usual public sector jobs you'd find anywhere. Teacher, cop, public works, etc. There are health care jobs. You can make a good living in the trades. There's the Woods Hole academic/technical enclave. It's tough to afford the housing on most service sector jobs that drop dead the winter 6 months.
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Old 08-10-2019, 05:39 PM
 
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Wow, Burlington has gained quite a lot relatively. Hope this continues since I have a house here and it could cause some home value inflation.
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Old 08-10-2019, 05:41 PM
 
70 posts, read 56,427 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OutdoorLover View Post
I also don't understand why the Cape would be (mostly) losing people. Eastern MA is gaining people on the whole, and people need recreation, plus the Cape seems like it'd be nice for retirement as well as vacation. Of course I live high on the North Shore, not much in touch with the Cape
Why would the Cape be nice for retirement? It's very overpriced compared to Florida, lots of traffic on weekends when the weather is nice (in my experience) and the beaches aren't even that good.
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