Nearly 45% of East Boston Residents Were Born Abroad: A Guide to Eastie’s Parks, Ferry and History

Data: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates for ZIP 02128, MBTA, City of Boston. Updated Nov. 2, 2026.

East Boston, the harbor neighborhood across from downtown that most people only see on the way to Logan Airport, is one of the city’s most international places: an estimated 44.7% of its 43,345 residents were born outside the United States. This East Boston neighborhood guide covers its shipbuilding past, the waterfront parks, how to get there while the seasonal ferry runs through Dec. 31, what is happening in “Eastie” this November and what Census data shows about who lives there. It is part of our series on Boston’s neighborhoods.

From five islands to a shipbuilding capital

Much of East Boston is man-made. According to a City of Boston planning history, the neighborhood grew from five separate islands joined by fill. Noddle’s and Hog islands were connected in the 18th century, while Governor’s, Bird and Apple islands were filled in during the 1940s to expand Logan Airport, which was built in the early 1920s. In 1833 William Sumner set up the East Boston Company to develop the area as a planned community, and Boston annexed it in 1836.

The National Park Service notes that Noddle’s Island took its name from William Noddle, an early settler who drowned in 1632, and that colonial troops raided its farms during the Siege of Boston in May 1775. By the mid-1800s the waterfront had become a shipbuilding center: an 1883 harbor handbook quoted by the Park Service counted more than 170 vessels built in East Boston between 1848 and 1858, 99 of them over 1,000 tons. Donald McKay, the clipper ship builder, was among the shipbuilders based in East Boston, and a memorial pavilion honoring him stands on the harbor edge of Piers Park.

The city also points to a civic first. The City of Boston’s East Boston page says the neighborhood is home to the nation’s first branch library, built in 1870, and describes a population that today is largely Italian American along with immigrants from Central and South America and Southeast Asia.

Waterfront parks: Piers Park and Belle Isle Marsh

Piers Park’s Harborwalk faces the downtown skyline across the harbor. Massport, which owns the land, opened Piers Park II on Dec. 15, 2023, a 4.5-acre active park next to the original Piers Park on Marginal Street. It added a 1.07-acre play area, a playground, water features, a picnic grove, 72 new trees and a 1,600-square-foot building for the Piers Park Sailing Center, and its raised grade and berms are designed to block a major flood path into the neighborhood. Massport says it now operates about 38 acres of green space in East Boston.

At the opposite end of the neighborhood, the state’s Belle Isle Marsh Reservation at 1399 Bennington St. protects Boston’s largest remaining salt marsh. It is open from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m., has a parking lot inside the gate, accessible trails and leashed-dog access, and lists hiking, picnicking and bird watching among its activities.

Getting to East Boston: Blue Line and ferry

The Blue Line is the neighborhood’s spine, with stops at Maverick, Airport, Wood Island and Orient Heights; Maverick is one stop from Aquarium downtown. The more scenic option is the water. On Oct. 28 the MBTA said it would keep the East Boston ferry running through Dec. 31 with weekday and weekend service, but unlike the Charlestown route it is not on the year-round list. The boat links Lewis Mall Wharf with Long Wharf (North) for the inner-harbor fare of $2.40, or $1.10 reduced, and the East Boston route does not take cash, so pay with the mTicket app, a pass or a contactless card. Times are in our East Boston ferry schedule and fares guide. No ferries run on Thanksgiving Day.

East Boston this November

• Nov. 3, Election Day: Polls in Boston are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Caught in Eastie reports. Our Massachusetts election tracker will follow the results.
• Nov. 4: Boston Police Area A-7 holds a community meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. at the station, 300 East Eagle St., according to the same listing.
• Nov. 7-8: The East Boston Artists Group’s fourth annual Harboring Creativity show and sale fills the ICA Watershed, 256 Marginal St., from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, with more than 20 local artists and a reception Saturday from 4 to 6 p.m. Admission is free, and the event appears on the ICA’s calendar.
• Nov. 7-28: Atlantic Works Gallery, 80 Border St., shows work by B. Amore and Dominick Takis, including panels on immigrant families that were first exhibited at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. It opens Nov. 7 from 6 to 9 p.m., and the East Boston Museum and Historical Association speaks at a Nov. 19 reception. Regular hours are Fridays and Saturdays, 2 to 6 p.m.; admission is free.
• Nov. 20: The Salesian Boys & Girls Club, 150 Byron St., holds its 20th annual pasta dinner from 6 to 8 p.m.; tickets are $10.

East Boston by the numbers

Census Bureau estimates for ZIP code 02128, which covers East Boston and the airport, describe a neighborhood that is more immigrant, more Latino and more transit-dependent than the city as a whole. The figures come from the American Community Survey 2024 five-year estimates; comparisons are The Boston Report’s calculations from that data, and as survey estimates they carry margins of error.

• Heritage: 52.2% of residents are Hispanic or Latino, versus 19.3% citywide. About 82% of East Boston’s 19,380 foreign-born residents were born in Latin America, compared with 48% for Boston.
• Housing: 71% of the 17,736 occupied homes are rented, versus 64.3% for Boston. Median gross rent is $2,064 a month, about 4% below the city’s $2,147.
• Income and age: Median household income is $90,106, about 7% below Boston’s $97,344, though the gap is within the survey’s margin of error. The median age is 34.5, versus 33.3 citywide.

Commuting shows the sharpest contrast. About 42.5% of East Boston workers take public transit, nearly double Boston’s 22.6%, and 35.5% ride the subway alone, almost three times the city’s 12.3%. Only 4.4% walk to work, a third of the citywide rate; the harbor separates the neighborhood from downtown. Biking barely registers at 0.1%. Fewer residents drive (31.4% versus 38.2%), and the work-from-home share is close to the city’s. Readers comparing harbor neighborhoods can see how Charlestown differs in our Charlestown neighborhood guide.

Sources

• City of Boston: East Boston neighborhood page
• City of Boston: East Boston focus area history (PDF)
• National Park Service: Noddle’s Island
• Massport: Completion of Piers Park II (Dec. 15, 2023)
• Mass.gov: Belle Isle Marsh Reservation
• MBTA: Four ferry routes extended through the end of the year (Oct. 28, 2026)
• MBTA: Ferry fares
• Census Reporter: ZIP code 02128 profile (U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year data)
• EastBoston.com: Harboring Creativity 2026
• Caught in Eastie: 5 things to know this week, Nov. 2

Additional sources

• City of Boston: History of Bennington Street Cemetery, on the 1833 East Boston Company charter (PDF)
• Census Reporter: Boston city profile, used for the citywide comparisons
• City of Boston: East Boston master plan background on shipbuilders Donald McKay and Samuel Hall (PDF)
• MBTA: Blue Line schedules and stops
• ICA Boston: Events calendar