Massachusetts

February 15, 2026

I am a lifelong resident of Massachusetts if you don’t count a period of time encompassing New York City, Pittsburgh and Winter Park, Florida. I grew up in Melrose, and bleed for the Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots. I stopped bleeding for the Bruins when Bobby Orr retired. I am proud to be a resident of the Bay State. I take umbrage when fellow residents cast aspersions on a state that is arguably the cradle of freedom and democracy as we thought we knew it.

I know that Massachusetts is not perfect. The population is shrinking for a combination of reasons including high taxes, affordability of housing, availability of employment for young people, and inadequate transportation. People complain that we are a Blue State even though we keep electing Republican governors. In my lifetime, we have had Christian Herter, John Volpe, Francis Sargent, William Weld, Paul Cellucci, Jane Swift, Mitt Romney and Charlie Baker. But we have a lot to be proud of.

If you have a health problem, you don’t get helicoptered to Orlando. You are flown to the best doctors and hospitals anywhere because we have some of the best in the world. Mass General, Brigham and Women’s, Beth Israel, Baystate Medical and U. Mass Medical are just a few, not to mention Dana Farber. Also, we have some of the best medical schools in the world. Harvard Medical, Boston University, U. Mass. and Tufts are here, and we have world class nursing programs. If you want state of the art medical treatment, the medical science behind those treatments often originated here. Boston and Cambridge are major incubators. The state has dozens of biotech companies. Not coincidentally, we have a longer average life span than almost any other state in the country.

Massachusetts has some of the best universities in the world right at our doorstep. Harvard, MIT, BU, BC, Northeastern, Tufts, Brandeis, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Simmons and the Berklee College of Music call Massachusetts home. I apologize for leaving out many other institutions of higher learning. Massachusetts boasts one of the best educated workforces in America. Our public education system is second to none. The quality of education that our children receive in public schools often exceeds what many students get at private schools in other states. Massachusetts consistently ranks #1 in the United States for public education, recognized for top-tier academic performance, high funding, and strong student outcomes. It leads in National Assessment of Educational Progress scores for 4th and 8th graders, and boasts high graduation rates.

Our cultural assets are second only to maybe New York City. The Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the Boston Ballet, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Gardner Museum, the John F. Kennedy Library, the Museum of Science, the New England Aquarium, and the Arnold Arboretum are all world class attractions. The western part of the state boasts Mass MOCA, the Basketball Hall of Fame, the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Clark Museum, Tanglewood, and Jacob’s Pillow.

Massachusetts has sane gun control legislation. We require a License to Carry. Key regulations include mandatory, secured, locked storage for firearms, assault weapons bans, and restrictions on high-capacity magazines. “Ghost guns” are restricted. As a result, our rate of firearms deaths per 1,000 is 3.7, which ranks us 49th out of fifty states.

Massachusetts is home to many, major financial institutions. Boston is ranked among the Top 25 Financial Centers in the world. State Street, Fidelity Investments, John Hancock, Liberty Mutual, Mass Mutual, MFS, Wellington, Eaton Vance, and Bain Capital are here. It is also home to 350 cutting-edge, FinTech companies.

Massachusetts ranks as the second-best state in the U.S.

to start, grow and operate a business, according to a new report from an international immigration and business law firm, Davids and Associates. The ranking put Massachusetts at No. 2 in the nation, citing the Bay State’s best-in-the-nation, workforce-college degree rate, patents per capita and venture capital funding. Its heaviest-weighted categories included state GDP growth rate, employment growth rate, broadband connectivity and venture capital investments.

Finally, we are a diverse community. Immigrants constitute approximately 22% of the Massachusetts workforce with high participation in sectors such as health care, software development, and specialized services. They have an estimated $51.8 billion in spending power and contribute $20.4 billion in taxes.

Yes, Massachusetts can be expensive, but we get what we pay for.

It is certainly appropriate to ask our leaders to do better, but we don’t want to be Alabama or Mississippi.