Population Data: Massachusetts Data

At the state level, the Census Bureau publications and American Factfinder would be the best sources for data.  Beyond that, the Commonwealth did conduct censuses on its own up to 1985, typically at the midpoint between the federal censuses.  For most years, the data compiled did not venture beyond the total number of residents and statistics on the sex and age of those enumerated.  Around the turn of the nineteenth/twentieth centuries, more detailed information was solicited and reported.  The reports of the censuses between the years of 1837 and 1985 have been digitized.

As for the municipal level, United Community Services did, as part of their Social Facts by Census Tract series, provide the same data they produced for Boston for the Greater Boston area between 1950 and 1970.  For 1980 through 2000, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council produced some publications with basic data, but they lack the census tract breakouts produced earlier.

More information on finding data using the American Factfinder can be found under the U.S. Data tab.