2020 Census: Worcester Records Population High Mark

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester has added more than 20,000 residents over the past decade, cracking the 200,000 mark for the first time this century and reaching its highest-ever population level, according to 2020 Census figures released Thursday.

The Census counted 206,518 people living in Worcester as of April 1, 2020, bounding above the 181,045 residents recorded during the last count in 2010. The previous population high mark was in 1950, when about 203,000 people called Worcester home.

Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said the population milestone was due to people seeing the city as an attractive place to live, and credited the efforts of local volunteers who encouraged residents to fill out Census forms.

"This is people voting with their feet," he said in a news release. "They are seeing all that Worcester has to offer and they are choosing to call it home. That is something about which we should all feel an immense sense of pride."

The Census figures cement Worcester as the second-largest city in New England. Providence reached about 190,000 residents in 2020, about 12,000 more than a decade ago. Springfield reached about 155,000 residents, growth of just 2,000 people since 2010.

The Census Bureau also released county-level statistics about race and ethnicity on Thursday. Worcester County was 73.6 percent white in 2020, No. 8 out of the state's 14 counties. But the county was also one of 12 in the state that saw a reduction in the white population — about 7.2 percent less compared to 2010. That's part of a nationwide trend: the U.S. as a whole shrunk from 63.7 percent white in 2010 to 57.8 percent in 2020.

Worcester County's Black population grew by about 44.1 percent, or 14,708 people. The Hispanic and Asian populations grew by about 48 percent (36,480 people) and 46 percent (14,606), respectively.

The numbers released by the Census Bureau are still preliminary in many ways. In about a year, the bureau will release data on undercounts and overcounts. The April 1, 2020, Census coincided with the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, which may have affected local response rates, officials have said.