Geographic-scope notice: South Boston is not a separately-incorporated place in the U.S. Census Bureau's Place geography – it is either a neighborhood within a larger municipality (in Suffolk County) or a town-class subdivision in a state where the Census reports demographics at the town rather than place level. To avoid presenting county-level aggregates as city-level data, this page does not show synthetic Census or health figures for South Boston. For the surrounding county aggregates, see the Massachusetts state directory.
City safety & data profile
South BostonMA
Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Federal health, economic and safety indicators for South Boston, drawn from Census, CDC and CMS data. Larger than 99% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks.
- 571K
- Population
- Top 1%
- By size
The read on South Boston
South Boston is one of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks.
The quick read
Reading South Boston, MA beyond the headline numbers
South Boston sits inside Suffolk County, Massachusetts, at roughly 42.33°N, -71.05°W. Its population of 571,281 are the two most quoted figures, but in isolation they hide the shape of the city.
Health and healthcare access are the next layer most residents and prospective movers actually care about.
Areazine reconstructs these layers from U.S. Census ACS (place-level economics and demographics), CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare, each updated on its own cadence, and pairs them with live alerts from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC scoped to the South Boston area. The comparison bars next to each metric anchor the number against a national reference, which is the fastest way to tell whether South Boston is an outlier on a given dimension before drilling into the raw value.
Safety Context
South Boston, MA is located in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. With a population of 571K, Safety alerts for the South Boston area are monitored from federal and state agencies including FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC.
Safety Guides
Primary source data
EPA Outdoor Air Quality Data
Federal monitoring network, every measurement we report
AirNow - Massachusetts
Real-time AQI for every monitored Massachusetts location
National Weather Service
NOAA active watches, warnings, advisories
CDC Air Quality & Health
Health-impact reference for every AQI category
EPA NAAQS standards
National Ambient Air Quality Standards, the regulatory thresholds
Nearby Cities 8
Using South Boston's profile
Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.
- Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the South Boston area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
- Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
- Compare South Boston against Massachusetts peers on any ranking lens. Explore Massachusetts
Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city.
Data Sources
All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Suffolk County) where that is the smallest published unit.
Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census, CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.