Boston Neighborhood Boundaries approximated by 2020 Census Block Groups
Planning Department
Updated Aug 19, 2026
About this dataset
The Census Bureau does not recognize or release data for Boston neighborhoods. However, Census block groups can be aggregated to approximate Boston neighborhood boundaries to allow for reporting and visualization of Census data at the neighborhood level. Census block groups are created by the U.S. Census Bureau as statistical geographic subdivisions of a census tract defined for the tabulation and presentation of data from the decennial census and the American Community Survey. The 2020 Census block group boundary files for Boston can be found here. These block group-approximated neighborhood boundaries are used for work with Census data. Work that does not rely on Census data generally uses the Boston neighborhood boundaries found here.
Data and resources (3)
- SHP
Census 2020 Block Group Neighborhoods Shapefile
Census 2020 Block Group Neighborhoods. Shapefile format.
87 KBModified Sep 24, 2021Map preview available
- GeoJSON
Census 2020 Block Group Neighborhoods GeoJSON
Census 2020 Block Group Neighborhoods. GeoJSON format
315 KBModified Sep 24, 2021Map preview available
- PDF
Block Group-Approximated Neighborhood Map
3.3 MBModified Sep 27, 2021PDF preview available
