Greater Boston is the area of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts surrounding the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Due to ambiguity in usage, the size of the area referred to can be anywhere between that of the metropolitan area (MSA) of Boston to that of the city's Combined Statistical Area (CSA) which includes the metro areas of Providence, Rhode Island and Worcester, Massachusetts.

By contrast, Metro Boston is usually reserved to signify the "Inner Core" surrounding the City of Boston,[citation needed] while "Greater Boston" usually at least overlaps the North and South Shores, as well as MetroWest and the Merrimack Valley.

Greater Boston includes the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the United States, home to over 4.4 million people, while the CSA is the nation's fifth largest and includes over 7.4 million people. It is also the 51st most populous metropolitan area in the world.[unreliable source] Greater Boston contains more urbanized area than the other regions of Massachusetts, such as the more rural Western Massachusetts and the beach communities of Cape Cod. There are a decreasing number of working class communities within Greater Boston. The area features many universities.

Greater Boston encompasses many significant locations in American history and culture. Examples include the Paul Revere House, the Old North Church, the Old Granary Burying Ground, the site of the Boston Tea Party and that of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the USS Constitution, Lexington and Concord, Walden Pond, the site of the Salem witch trials, and the Christian Science Mother Church. Former Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams were born in Quincy, Massachusetts, as was John Hancock. Frederick Douglass began his career as an abolitionist in Boston. Former President John F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. Former President George H. W. Bush was born in Milton. Malcolm X spent a significant part of his young adulthood in Roxbury, and joined the Nation of Islam while in prison in Charlestown. The National Archives has a regional center in Waltham. Phillips Academy, the country's premier prep school, is located in Andover, and boasts alumni as famous as former Chief Justice of the United States Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. and former U.S. President George H. W. Bush.

Source: CIA Factbook, Wikipedia

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