After crunching Census data to come up with a "diversity density" index, I ran the numbers on age groups to see find the greatest concentrations of children, seniors, and working-age residents. Boston fares pretty well on the last category.
Boston's Suffolk County, which ranks 7th in overall population density, finishes a strong 6th (overtaking Hudson County, New Jersey) if measured only by the number of residents between ages 18 and 65 per square mile. It ranks 8th in the density of both children and seniors.
Boston and San Francisco pack about the same number of children per square mile: 2,469 for Suffolk County and 2,547 for San Francisco. But the California city has considerably more seniors: 2,553 per square mile versus 1,341 per square mile in Suffolk County. Indeed, San Francisco is the largest county outside of Florida with more seniors than children. One reason may be the extremely high cost of housing there, combined with a state property-tax law (Proposition 13) that gives homeowners an incentive to stay in place rather than move to smaller quarters or more affordable communities.
The Hub also seems to have a stronger working-age population than Philadelphia does. Philadelphia County is pretty close to Suffolk County in both children per mile (2,679 vs. 2,469) and seniors (1,377 vs. 1,341). But Suffolk has a higher concentration of residents between 18 and 65 (8,710 per square mile vs. Philly's 6,659 per square mile). This suggests that Boston is better at attracting (and keeping) residents who are more likely to be in the workforce and less likely to need city services.
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