Recently I lead a group of volunteers in producing a census of the Buddhist community of Greater Boston. The census was conducted for the Kurukulla Center in Medford at the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
I’ll briefly share the abstract of the census and you can download it from the link below.
The findings of this census of Buddhists in the Greater Boston area are in line with the national estimate that 0.7% percent of the US population is Buddhist. Middlesex County, one of 3 counties above the national rate, has the highest percentage at 1.35%, almost twice the national mark.
33,095 Buddhists were counted as being active or associated with the Buddhist Sanghas queried in this survey. About 18% of those counted in the survey are actively involved in Sangha activities on a weekly basis.
Of the 74 Sanghas identified, 16 did not respond or declined to participate in the census. More than half of the communities are English speaking, but there are significant Khmer, Chinese and Vietnamese speaking communities in Massachusetts.
Vipassana/Theravada traditions appear in the greatest number, followed by the Tibetan and Vietnamese traditions.
You can download the census here - Greater Boston Buddhist Community Census
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