The most populous cities in area code 617 are: Boston, Brighton, Charlestown, Dorchester, and East Boston.
Other cities in the 617 area code include: Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, South Boston, Cambridge, Quincy, Auburndale, Newton Upper Falls, Newtonville, Somerville, Waltham, Malden, Brookline, East Weymouth, Everett, Woburn, Chelsea, Braintree, Watertown, Melrose, Milton, Saugus, Belmont, Dedham, Winthrop, Kingston, Chestnut Hill, and Needham Heights.
Nickname(s): See Boston nicknamesMotto: Sicut patribus sit Deus nobis (Latin) "As God was with our fathers, so may He be with us"Boston (pronounced Listen i / ˈ b ɒ s t ən / BOSS -tən) is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Boston is also the seat of Suffolk County, although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999. The city proper covers 48 square miles (124 km 2) with an estimated population of 667,137 in 2015, making it the largest city in New England and the 23rd most populous city in the United States. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.7 million people in 2014 and ranking as the tenth-largest such area in the country. Alternately, as a Combined Statistical Area (CSA), this wider commuting region is home to some 8.1 million people, making it the sixth-largest as such in the United States. One of the oldest cities in the United States, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. It was the scene of several key events of the American Revolution, such as the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the Siege of Boston. Upon U.S. independence from Great Britain, it continued to be an important port and manufacturing hub as well as a center for education and culture. Through land reclamation and municipal annexation, Boston has expanded beyond the original peninsula. Its rich history attracts many tourists, with Faneuil Hall alone drawing over 20 million visitors per year. Boston's many firsts include the United States' first public school, Boston Latin School (1635), first subway system, the Tremont Street Subway (1897), and first public park, Boston Common (1634).The area's many colleges and universities make Boston an international center of higher education, including law, medicine, engineering, and business, and the city is considered to be a world leader in innovation and entrepreneurship with nearly 2,000 startups. Boston's economic base also includes finance, professional and business services, biotechnology, information technology, and government activities. Households in the city claim the highest average rate of philanthropy in the United States; businesses and institutions rank among the top in the country for environmental sustainability and investment. The city has one of the highest costs of living in the United States as it has undergone gentrification, though it remains high on world livability rankings.
Brighton is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located in the northwestern corner of the city. It is named after the town of Brighton in the English city of Brighton and Hove. For its first 160 years, Brighton was part of Cambridge, and was known as "Little Cambridge." Throughout much of its early history, it was a rural town with a significant commercial center at its eastern end. Brighton separated from Cambridge in 1807 after a bridge dispute, and was annexed to Boston in 1874. The neighborhood of Allston was also formerly part of the town of Brighton, but is now often considered separately, leading to the moniker Allston–Brighton for the combined area.
Charlestown is the oldest neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally called Mishawum by the Massachusett, it is located on a peninsula north of the Charles River, across from downtown Boston, and also adjoins the Mystic River and Boston Harbor. Charlestown was laid out in 1629 by engineer Thomas Graves, one of its early settlers, in the reign of Charles I of England. It was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.Charlestown became a city in 1848 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874. With that, it also switched from Middlesex County, to which it had belonged since 1643, to Suffolk County. It has had a substantial Irish American population since the migration of Irish people during the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s. Since the late 1980s the neighborhood has changed dramatically because of its proximity to downtown and its colonial architecture. A mix of Yuppie and Upper-middle class gentrification has enhanced much of the area, as it has in many of Boston's neighborhoods, but Charlestown still maintains a strong Irish American population and "Townie" identity.In the 21st century, Charlestown's diversity has expanded dramatically, along with growing rates of the very poor and very wealthy. Today Charlestown is a largely residential neighborhood, with much housing near the waterfront, overlooking the Boston skyline. Charlestown is home to many historic sites, hospitals and organizations, with easy access from the Orange Line Community College stop or I-93 expressway.
The 617 area code lies within the Eastern Daylight Time Zone (or EDT). The current time in Eastern Daylight Time is 4:14 PM on Apr 20, 2021.
