Home of the Boston Tea Party and American Revolution, Bostonians have a long history of doing business their way.
But over the centuries the city has shifted its emphasis from unfair taxation to innovation and sophistication.
Boston ranks third in the nation for its pedestrian-friendly nature and its transportation system known as The T, the nickname for its efficient subway and mass transit. It also offers Boston Commons, the country’s oldest park. Where else can you ride a Swan Boat on your lunch break?
City and community leaders have worked hard in the last decade to make Boston a startup friendly city to attract entrepreneurs in fields ranging from high tech apps to medical devices.
Boston’s Innovation District is a big step in that direction. The 2010 city initiative has transformed the South Boston Waterfront into an urban environment that fosters innovation and collaboration. District Hall, a civic center in that community, provides space for networking, events, coworking, shared labs, pop-up shops, and workshops. Since its inception, the district has added more than 5,000 new jobs in over 200 new companies.
A few weeks ago, Boston launched Women Entrepreneurs Boston (WE BOS), an initiative that will provide the skills, technical assistance and networks women need to launch and grow their business and help them overcome limited funding.
Other Boston startup resources include the bostonstartupsguide.com, a curated list of news and information on coworking space and programming classes, and the Innovation Visitor Bureau.
Education and biotechnology are the leading industries in the Boston metro area, with more than 100 colleges and universities – including Harvard, Yale, and MIT – and several of the country’s best hospitals. More than 250,000 students attend college in Boston and Cambridge alone.
Boston is also in a hub for financial services, hosting two Fortune 500 insurance companies, Liberty Mutual and Mass Mutual. It’s also home to T.J. Maxx, Raytheon, and Biogen.
Private-sector wages in the Boston are rising at 3.6 percent annually — the fastest of any urban region in the country, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report in May. Median household income is $66,866, and roughly 39 percent of its residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
That’s a good thing because Boston has the ninth most expensive housing market in the country, behind San Francisco, Washington and New York City, according to the Boston Globe.
Boston residents spend roughly $1,458 per month on housing, much more than the national average of about $1,000.
If you’d like to have a presence in Boston for your business, you can seem more approachable by selecting a local phone number with the 617 or 857 area code. With Halloo you can route calls to your employees anywhere. Get your local phone number today!
Caren Burmeister is a retired newspaper reporter turned freelance writer who enjoys yoga and caring for her two fat cats.