Historical United States Census totals for Worcester County, Massachusetts

This article shows U.S. Census totals for Worcester County, Massachusetts, broken down by municipality, from 1900 to 2000.

Like most areas of New England, Worcester County is (and has been at all times since well before the 20th century) entirely divided into incorporated municipalities. There is no unincorporated territory. For any census, adding up the totals for each municipality should yield the county total.

There are two types of municipalities in Massachusetts, towns and cities. The tables below differentiate between towns and cities.

For more information on the New England municipal system, see New England town.

Corporate changes since 1900

1900

County Total: 346,958

1910

County Total: 399,657

1920

County Total: 455,135

1930

County Total: 491,242

1940

County Total: 504,470

1950

County Total: 546,401

1960

County Total: 583,228

1970

County Total: 637,037

1980

County Total: 646,352

1990

County Total: 709,705

2000

County Total: 749,973

Notes

1970 Census

The Census Bureau made a number of revisions to 1970 census totals subsequent to their initial release. Worcester County went through two rounds of revisions. The 1970 total for Worcester County was originally reported as 637,969; and for the town of Harvard, 13,426. Later, the county total was revised to 637,079, with Harvard’s total changing to 12,951. The totals for the county and for Harvard were later revised again to those shown in the list above. At least part of the issue appears to have been an assignment error between Harvard and the neighboring town of Ayer, in Middlesex County (the two towns shared in part the then-active Fort Devens military base); Ayer also went through two rounds of revisions, and in both the original and final totals, the collective population of Harvard and Ayer is the same.

2000 Census

The Census Bureau made a number of revisions to 2000 census totals subsequent to their initial release. The 2000 total for Worcester County was originally reported as 750,963; for the town of Milford, 26,799; for the town of Lancaster, 7,380; for the town of Upton, 5,642; and for the town of Mendon, 5,286. The totals were later revised to those shown in the list above. At least part of the issue may have been assignment errors between Lancaster and the neighboring town of Shirley, in Middlesex County (the two towns shared in part the former Fort Devens military base), and between Milford, Upton and Mendon; as a result of the revisions, the totals for Shirley, Upton and Mendon increased and the totals for Lancaster and Milford dropped, although not by exactly the same amount in either case.

Special note regarding Southbridge

Southbridge is among eleven municipalities in Massachusetts whose status as towns or cities is a matter of some ambiguity. This ambiguity is the result of questions around the legal status of towns which have since the 1970s, through home-rule petition, adopted forms of government that resemble city government and do not include the elements traditionally associated with town government (e.g., a board of selectmen, a town meeting). Of the eleven communities that have done so, all but one have generally continued to use the title "town" and are usually referred to by residents as "towns", but the Massachusetts Secretary of State's Office considers all eleven to be legally cities. Other sources within state government often refer to all eleven municipalities as towns, however. Massachusetts seems to be the only New England state where this type of issue has arisen, even though other New England states also have municipalities which have adopted what amount to city forms of government but continue to call themselves "towns". In the other states, it does not appear that any need to officially label such municipalities as "cities" has been identified.

For purposes of the New England town page and its attendant pages, the ten affected communities which call themselves "towns", including Southbridge, are classified as towns. The reader should be aware, however, that some sources will identify these municipalities as cities. It is unclear when Southbridge adopted its present form of government.

The Census Bureau has been inconsistent in its handling of these municipalities. The Census Bureau listed all as towns through the 1990 Census. For the 2000 Census, some were inexplicably listed as towns and some as cities, a situation which continues in current Census materials. In the 2000 Census, Southbridge was listed as a town. As of 2006, Southbridge is still shown as a town in current census materials.

See also

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