Preliminary analysis prepared independently by House Strategies Group LLC from public data. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the City of Boston. Figures illustrate analytical approach and are subject to revision with primary data. Not a procurement-disparity finding.

Module · Relevant geographic market area

Why this geography

A disparity study stands or falls on the market it measures. The 2020 study defined Boston's relevant geographic market area as five Massachusetts counties: Norfolk, Suffolk, Plymouth, Middlesex, and Essex, the footprint where the bulk of the City's vendors sit. The map shows where firms, and diverse firms, actually are across that footprint.

The five-county RGMA, by county

Toggle between employer-firm count and diverse-firm share across the five counties of the 2020 study's RGMA. Hover any county for detail.

MiddlesexNorfolkPlymouthSuffolkEssex
Employer firms (log scale)
11,36619,69734,135

Source: U.S. Census Annual Business Survey, Company Summary 2022, county geographies. Boundaries from US Census cartographic files trimmed to the five RGMA counties.

The RGMA counties

CountyFirmsMinorityWomen
Middlesex County, MA34,13515.0%20.3%
Essex County, MA16,66815.9%19.6%
Norfolk County, MA16,36713.3%20.8%
Suffolk County, MA15,98023.3%18.1%
Plymouth County, MA11,36610.6%18.8%

All five counties of the 2020 study's RGMA. Suffolk County contains the City of Boston itself; the ABS does not publish city-level firm demographics, so Suffolk is the closest public proxy for the City proper.

What the map establishes

The RGMA is a legal and statistical choice, not a convenience. It defines whose availability counts.

Suffolk County has the region's highest minority-owned firm share, but most of the market's firms sit in Middlesex, Norfolk, and Essex counties. A study that drew its market too narrowly around the city would overstate minority availability; one drawn too widely would dilute it. The 2020 study's five-county line is a reasonable starting point, and the update should retest it against where bidders and awardees actually come from.
In the full study
The market area is validated against the City's own contract and vendor records, weighting each county by the share of Boston spend it actually captures, rather than by raw firm counts alone. The City's open contract data makes that validation faster here than in most jurisdictions.
RGMA definition and limits