Background

Every four years in conjunction with the development of the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) the CMRPC develops population and employment projections for each community in the region. The current set of projections were developed in cooperation with MassDOT and the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institue (UMDI). The Central Massachusetts region’s population and employment totals as released were in keeping with the demographic trends the region was experiencing in the past decade. Several sources are used for deriving the town level projections. They include town-level projections that staff has developed for the previous RTP, priority development and preservation areas studies conducted for the CMRPC region, zoning/parcel information and other known land-use/infrastructure constraints. 

Future year projections through 2040 are not predictions per se, nor are they expressions of an ideal future.  They are simply educated assessments which offer a picture of likely socio-economic changes in the region, including the population, number of households and number of jobs by municipality.  In providing these projections to each municipality, CMRPC hopes to inform discussion on how communities shape their policies to address expected growth.  Together CMRPC and the towns it serves can move the region toward building the future most desired by those who live and work within its boundaries.

State, regional, and local officials use these projections for a variety of planning purposes so it is important that the results be as accurate as possible and that the rationale behind them be well understood. The complete methodology for these projections can be seen below.

Regional Population and Employment Projections

Methodology

The following links provide the documentation of the methods used while drafting the population and employment projections used for Mobility2040 and highlighted on this page.

Population Projections

Household Projections

Emplyment Projections