Students Bring Big Bucks To Boston

Published August 27, 2010

A $100 bill folded like a T-shirt

I just talked with Jessica Shumaker at the BRA, which tracks the college community’s impact on the city.

We know the annual population boom 1) lowers Boston’s median age dramatically, 2) clogs our streets with U-Haul trucks and 3) lengthens the lines at Starbucks. But what about the economic impact?

Turns out all those young people (and their professors and institutions) make a BIG impact on the city’s economy. The BRA compiled these salient facts:

  • Nearly 155,000 students in total (fall 2006)
  • According to a 2004 analysis, Boston’s colleges and universities support 67,000 direct and indirect jobs in the city (81,060 in the state) and contribute $4.3 billion to the gross city product ($5.45 billion to the gross state product)
  • Students and student visitors spent an estimated $1.5 billion in 2004 and $2 billion in 2009.

Tufts and Harvard have facilities in the City of Boston, which is a boon for the construction business. (Though the biggest project, the Harvard Allston expansion project, remains stalled.)

I’m sure a retail group somewhere is tracking the Back To School boom this week and next — think of all the laptops, futons and shower curtains waiting to be sold.