Why Boston’s Suburbs are Fast Becoming More Diverse

If the workforce employed in Boston jobs across the city were to be surveyed and analysed, a distinct trait that would stand out would be the very prevalent diversity in race, colour, religion and Nationality. This is so especially in the case of the city’s suburbs and surrounding areas.

One of the main reasons is the increased influx of persons of different Nationalities like Asians, Hispanics, Chinese, Moroccan, Indians and Middle Eastern into the surrounding suburbs of Boston like Everett, Lexington, Andover, Bedford and Sharon. 

Immigrants in Boston suburbs back in the late 1990’s were very few and restricted to just a few from the Irish and Italian communities. Post 2008 however, there has been a surge in the number of immigrants and the percentage of people of colour has risen considerably and even in schools in Boston suburbs, students of other nationalities are said to outnumber white students.

Hispanics and Latinos make up more than 21% of Everett’s population even today.

Boston is one f the few cities where people from different races do not prefer to mix openly. The suburbs however have dedicated pockets for communities. There are rows of houses in a particular suburb that belong to Chinese immigrants, close by there might be Hispanics and maybe in a different suburb there will be plenty of Middle Eastern families while another suburb might be filled with African Americans. There is no real reason for this but it is an observation that most communities over lap, if not mix a lot more in the suburbs compared to the main city. One reason for this could be could be rent costs, the suburbs turn out cheaper for immigrants to rent houses in and even costs of schooling and services is less, thus making living in a new city more affordable for immigrants.

How this has affected the job market?

As a natural progression, the more immigrants that move to Boston suburbs and the more students of colour pass out of schools in Boston suburbs, the more they apply for Boston jobs and secure them. These non white students thus make up a huge percentage of the workforce employed in leading companies based in Boston and its neighbouring cities and suburbs.