This is the second installment of the MTF Competitiveness Index, which is designed to provide residents, employers, and policymakers with a holistic assessment of how Massachusetts compares to our regional and economic competitor states across 27 different metrics in four categories of competitiveness:
The Conference Committee for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget is actively working to reconcile all spending, policy, and technical differences between the House and Senate budgets, with the goal of delivering a compromise spending bill to the Governor’s desk by July 1st.
The Hispanic/Latino population in Massachusetts has experienced significant growth over the past
decade, which has resulted in more economic production for the state, a more educated and skilled
workforce, and greater levels of household wealth. While Hispanics/Latinos in Massachusetts already
make significant contributions to the state’s economy, the population’s future success is one of the
keys to the state’s future prosperity. This report quantifies the current economic contribution of the
The Healey-Driscoll administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget proposal tops $62 billion, increasing spending over the FY 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) by $4.3 billion (7.4 percent) and over the administration’s estimated spending level by $1.8 billion (2.1 percent). The $62.07 billion spending plan includes $1.95 billion of surtax-supported investments obligated to education and transportation.
The confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of technology enabling effective remote work has caused a dramatic drop in demand for office space and a shift in what employers need from their physical spaces. This places the city in a precarious position as the district’s main source of economic vibrancy has seemingly evaporated, and new sources of economic vibrancy are yet to be established.
As the work of the 194th General Court gets underway, MTF is publishing its 2025 – 2026 Legislative Session Preview. The preview includes 101 primers on the Operating Budget and Capital Investment Plan development processes, as well as seven topic-specific policy briefs that cover a range of public finance and policy issues.
MTF's 2024 Massachusetts Competitiveness Index Report is designed to put forward a framework to assess how Massachusetts stacks up compared to other states, key economic and geographic competitors, and itself.
The report looks at 26 different metrics organized into four critical areas:
•Economic Health
•Population and Labor Force Trends
•Business, Employment, and Investment Factors; and
•Resident Life
The standard model for the role central business districts play in cities across the country has been forever disrupted by the pandemic. Reductions to in-person work have a cascade effect on commercial real estate, public finance, and city vibrancy.
Boston is not immune from this disruption. In fact, the outsized role that commercial real estate activity has played in Boston’s economic growth over the last 20 years means that, in many ways, this threat is more pronounced here than in other areas.
The MBTA has made important strides. It increased its operating staff by 1,200 since June 2022 and has improved its handling of safety and service issues that have plagued the Authority for several years. However, it still has a long uphill climb. The FY 2025 budget estimates the Authority needs approximately 8,000 operating personnel to run current service levels and support all safety initiatives, meaning that it must increase headcount by another 1,000 or more from the latest figures (Appendix). That comes at a cost.
Workforce challenges at the MBTA have received extensive reporting in recent years. Those challenges took on a new sense of urgency in 2022 when a safety management inspection by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) found that the MBTA needed to expand the size, training, and supervision of its workforce so that it could operate, maintain, and deliver capital projects safely.
