The Census Bureau's newest annual estimates put these towns at 813,127 people in 2024, against 812,803 in 2021: a change of +0.0%, which is to say none. After decades in which the region's decline was the story, the region as a whole has spent the early 2020s holding still.
Holding still in aggregate is not holding still everywhere. Of the 100 towns with estimates in both years, 19 grew by more than half a percent, 42 shrank by more than half a percent, and 39 held inside that band. The region is not draining; it is redistributing quietly.
Where the Movement Is
The largest percentage gain since 2021 is Pelham, at +5.4%: from 1,274 people to 1,343. The largest fall is Florida, at -2.0%. Both moves are a few dozen households, which is the honest scale of nearly everything in this table: outside the cities, a town's whole change since 2021 would fit in a school gymnasium.
That scale cuts both ways. It means no town here is booming or emptying, and it means the estimates' own noise can produce a percent of apparent change in a small town from nothing but the method. Read the county groupings and the direction of the cities first; read a hilltown's second decimal not at all.
Every Town, Both Years
Population Estimates by Town, 2021 Against 2024
Download CSV, same columns, same definitions
The Census Bureau's annual sub-county population estimates for each town, the newest vintage, with the percentage change. Estimates are modelled from records of births, deaths and moves, not counted.
| Town | County | 2021 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adams | Berkshire | 8,139 | 7,992 | -1.8% |
| Agawam | Hampden | 28,447 | 28,749 | +1.1% |
| Alford | Berkshire | 488 | 483 | -1.0% |
| Amherst | Hampshire | 40,260 | 40,989 | +1.8% |
| Ashfield | Franklin | 1,692 | 1,685 | -0.4% |
| Becket | Berkshire | 1,939 | 1,922 | -0.9% |
| Belchertown | Hampshire | 15,395 | 15,372 | -0.1% |
| Bernardston | Franklin | 2,106 | 2,109 | +0.1% |
| Blandford | Hampden | 1,210 | 1,209 | -0.1% |
| Brimfield | Hampden | 3,691 | 3,733 | +1.1% |
| Buckland | Franklin | 1,815 | 1,818 | +0.2% |
| Charlemont | Franklin | 1,188 | 1,179 | -0.8% |
| Cheshire | Berkshire | 3,249 | 3,190 | -1.8% |
| Chester | Hampden | 1,220 | 1,221 | +0.1% |
| Chesterfield | Hampshire | 1,187 | 1,174 | -1.1% |
| Chicopee | Hampden | 55,225 | 55,381 | +0.3% |
| Clarksburg | Berkshire | 1,660 | 1,637 | -1.4% |
| Colrain | Franklin | 1,615 | 1,643 | +1.7% |
| Conway | Franklin | 1,765 | 1,754 | -0.6% |
| Cummington | Hampshire | 825 | 819 | -0.7% |
| Dalton | Berkshire | 6,319 | 6,198 | -1.9% |
| Deerfield | Franklin | 5,152 | 5,177 | +0.5% |
| East Longmeadow | Hampden | 16,364 | 16,515 | +0.9% |
| Egremont | Berkshire | 1,377 | 1,375 | -0.1% |
| Erving | Franklin | 1,666 | 1,661 | -0.3% |
| Florida | Berkshire | 687 | 673 | -2.0% |
| Gill | Franklin | 1,551 | 1,553 | +0.1% |
| Goshen | Hampshire | 958 | 942 | -1.7% |
| Granby | Hampshire | 6,092 | 6,064 | -0.5% |
| Granville | Hampden | 1,536 | 1,540 | +0.3% |
| Great Barrington | Berkshire | 7,163 | 7,245 | +1.1% |
| Greenfield | Franklin | 17,670 | 17,633 | -0.2% |
| Hadley | Hampshire | 5,297 | 5,284 | -0.2% |
| Hampden | Hampden | 4,941 | 4,964 | +0.5% |
| Hancock | Berkshire | 748 | 740 | -1.1% |
| Hatfield | Hampshire | 3,337 | 3,321 | -0.5% |
| Hawley | Franklin | 353 | 352 | -0.3% |
| Heath | Franklin | 724 | 717 | -1.0% |
| Hinsdale | Berkshire | 1,909 | 1,890 | -1.0% |
| Holland | Hampden | 2,585 | 2,581 | -0.2% |
| Holyoke | Hampden | 37,716 | 37,838 | +0.3% |
| Huntington | Hampshire | 2,089 | 2,071 | -0.9% |
| Lanesborough | Berkshire | 3,040 | 3,004 | -1.2% |
| Lee | Berkshire | 5,765 | 5,682 | -1.4% |
| Lenox | Berkshire | 5,090 | 5,072 | -0.4% |
| Leverett | Franklin | 1,868 | 1,863 | -0.3% |
| Leyden | Franklin | 737 | 735 | -0.3% |
| Longmeadow | Hampden | 15,691 | 15,712 | +0.1% |
| Ludlow | Hampden | 20,852 | 21,118 | +1.3% |
| Middlefield | Hampshire | 394 | 397 | +0.8% |
| Monroe | Franklin | 116 | 115 | -0.9% |
| Monson | Hampden | 8,113 | 8,164 | +0.6% |
| Montague | Franklin | 8,492 | 8,437 | -0.6% |
| Monterey | Berkshire | 1,090 | 1,085 | -0.5% |
| Montgomery | Hampden | 818 | 837 | +2.3% |
| Mount Washington | Berkshire | 160 | 157 | -1.9% |
| New Ashford | Berkshire | 249 | 249 | 0.0% |
| New Marlborough | Berkshire | 1,529 | 1,503 | -1.7% |
| New Salem | Franklin | 996 | 1,023 | +2.7% |
| North Adams | Berkshire | 12,671 | 12,492 | -1.4% |
| Northampton | Hampshire | 31,465 | 31,315 | -0.5% |
| Northfield | Franklin | 2,874 | 2,880 | +0.2% |
| Orange | Franklin | 7,583 | 7,583 | 0.0% |
| Otis | Berkshire | 1,637 | 1,619 | -1.1% |
| Palmer | Hampden | 12,373 | 12,388 | +0.1% |
| Pelham | Hampshire | 1,274 | 1,343 | +5.4% |
| Peru | Berkshire | 808 | 798 | -1.2% |
| Pittsfield | Berkshire | 43,697 | 43,121 | -1.3% |
| Plainfield | Hampshire | 632 | 649 | +2.7% |
| Richmond | Berkshire | 1,414 | 1,405 | -0.6% |
| Rowe | Franklin | 423 | 419 | -0.9% |
| Russell | Hampden | 1,636 | 1,640 | +0.2% |
| Sandisfield | Berkshire | 988 | 984 | -0.4% |
| Savoy | Berkshire | 648 | 655 | +1.1% |
| Sheffield | Berkshire | 3,337 | 3,324 | -0.4% |
| Shelburne | Franklin | 1,890 | 1,874 | -0.8% |
| Shutesbury | Franklin | 1,729 | 1,717 | -0.7% |
| South Hadley | Hampshire | 18,209 | 18,031 | -1.0% |
| Southampton | Hampshire | 6,234 | 6,181 | -0.9% |
| Southwick | Hampden | 9,208 | 9,277 | +0.7% |
| Springfield | Hampden | 154,978 | 154,888 | -0.1% |
| Stockbridge | Berkshire | 1,999 | 1,986 | -0.7% |
| Sunderland | Franklin | 3,660 | 3,628 | -0.9% |
| Tolland | Hampden | 468 | 474 | +1.3% |
| Tyringham | Berkshire | 425 | 419 | -1.4% |
| Wales | Hampden | 1,821 | 1,828 | +0.4% |
| Ware | Hampshire | 10,000 | 10,142 | +1.4% |
| Warwick | Franklin | 783 | 774 | -1.1% |
| Washington | Berkshire | 495 | 497 | +0.4% |
| Wendell | Franklin | 928 | 916 | -1.3% |
| West Springfield | Hampden | 28,657 | 29,028 | +1.3% |
| West Stockbridge | Berkshire | 1,339 | 1,323 | -1.2% |
| Westfield | Hampden | 40,561 | 40,403 | -0.4% |
| Westhampton | Hampshire | 1,624 | 1,629 | +0.3% |
| Whately | Franklin | 1,631 | 1,626 | -0.3% |
| Wilbraham | Hampden | 14,529 | 14,663 | +0.9% |
| Williamsburg | Hampshire | 2,494 | 2,475 | -0.8% |
| Williamstown | Berkshire | 9,315 | 9,189 | -1.4% |
| Windsor | Berkshire | 825 | 817 | -1.0% |
| Worthington | Hampshire | 1,191 | 1,181 | -0.8% |
The line under each Change is its margin from this table's middle of -0.4%: left of centre is below it, right of centre is above, and both sides are drawn to the same scale. The middle is this table's own and does not move when you sort. It is a distance, not a position in a league table, and nothing here is ranked.
What These Columns Mean
- Town
- The municipality. Links to its full record.
- County
- One of the four western counties.
- 2021
- The Census Bureau's 2021 population estimate.
- 2024
- The 2024 estimate, the newest published.
- Change
- The 2021 to 2024 change. In small towns a percent is a handful of households and inside the estimate's noise.
Cite: RE413. “Population Estimates by Town, 2021 Against 2024.” Updated August 4, 2026. https://www.re413.com/news/western-mass-population-since-2020/, underlying sources at https://www.re413.com/sources/.
What This Does Not Mean
These are estimates between censuses, revised as vintages roll, and they restart at each census: the published series runs to 2019, breaks at the 2020 count, and resumes in 2021, which is why this page compares 2021 with 2024 and does not bridge the break. The long record, 1960 to 2020 by decade, is its own story, and it is a different one.
Population is also not demand. Households, not people, occupy houses, and a town can lose people while gaining households as families shrink; who is arriving and what they earn says more about the direction of any specific market than a headcount does.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program. Annual sub-county population estimates, the 2021 to 2024 vintage.
"Figures through" is the period the publisher's data describes; "checked" is only when we last asked. The full sourcing: sources and method.