Everett is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, directly north of Boston, bordering the neighborhood of Charlestown. The population was 49,075 at the time of the 2020 United States Census.

Everett was the last city in the United States to have a bicameral legislature, which was composed of a seven-member Board of Aldermen and an eighteen-member Common Council. On November 8, 2011, the voters approved a new City Charter that changed the City Council to a unicameral body with eleven members – six ward councilors and five councilors-at-large. The new City Council was elected during the 2013 City Election.

History

Everett was originally part of Charlestown, and later Malden. It separated from Malden in 1870. The community was named after Edward Everett, who served as U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, the 15th Governor of Massachusetts, Minister to Great Britain, and United States Secretary of State. He also served as President of Harvard University.

In 1892, Everett was upgraded from a town to a city. On December 13, 1892, Alonzo H. Evans defeated George E. Smith to become Everett’s first mayor. Landfill has expanded the Everett shoreline over the centuries. At some point between 1905 and 1912, it connected the mainland to what was formerly White Island in the Mystic River. The bridge of the Grand Junction Railroad was originally built using this island for part of the crossing.

In 1919, Beacon Oil began construction of an oil refinery and storage yard near the Mystic River, opening in 1920. In its first decade, the facility experienced five major explosions or fires. In 1929, Beacon Oil was purchased by Standard Oil of New Jersey, also known as Esso and now known as ExxonMobil. The refinery shut down in 1965 due to lack of profitability, but the tank storage remained.

In 1971, Distrigas of Massachusetts began importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at its Everett Marine Terminal in the Island End section of Everett. This terminal was the first of its kind in the country. It was purchased by GDF Suez North America, and as of 2013, supplied 20% of New England’s natural gas demand from its two tanks with a combined capacity of 3,400,000,000 cu ft (96,000,000 m³), equal to approximately one day of Massachusetts gas demand. In 2019, it was purchased by Constellation Energy, at the time a subsidiary of Exelon. As of 2023, it receives 99% of LNG imports into the United States, mostly from Algeria and Trinidad. LNG is trucked to other storage sites around the state or heated to gas form and transferred by pipeline.

On September 16, 2014, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted to approve Wynn Resorts’ proposal for a $1.6 billion casino to be located on a 33-acre site on the Mystic River in Everett. The casino, named Encore Boston Harbor, opened on June 23, 2019. After a remediation process to clean the site, Wynn Resorts constructed Encore Boston as an integrated resort with a hotel, a harborwalk, restaurants, a casino, spa, retail outlets, and meeting and convention space. Public amenities along the year-round harborwalk include a picnic park, paths for bikers and pedestrians, viewing decks, waterfront dining and retail, a performance lawn, floral displays, and boat docks. Wynn Resorts described the $2.6 billion development as “the largest private single-phase construction project in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.”

Most the remaining land south of the Newburyport/Rockport Line and Massachusetts Route 99 in Everett is taken up by a tank farm and oil terminal on the Mystic River. In December 2023, the Conservation Law Foundation announced it had settled a federal pollution lawsuit with Exxon. The company sold the site for cleanup and redevelopment starting with raising the land to avoid climate change-related flooding and adding apartment buildings near Route 16. Exxon also agreed to a deed restriction which prevents the land from ever being used for fossil fuel storage in the future.

Everett has an increasing population as people are seeking new households near downtown Boston while not wanting to pay the higher prices of living now associated with surrounding municipalities, such as those in neighborhoods of Boston, Cambridge, or Somerville.

Education

Everett has eight public schools, which include six elementary schools, five K–8 schools, and one high school, Everett High School. The city also has one Private K–8 school and had a private Catholic high school, Pope John XXIII High School, which was forced, due to financial difficulties, to close on May 31, 2019. Everett High School moved to its new location, at 100 Elm Street, beginning in the 2007–2008 school year.

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 41,667 people, 15,435 households, and 9,554 families residing in the city. The population density was 11,241.1 inhabitants per square mile (4,340.2/km). There were 15,908 housing units at an average density of 4,701.3 per square mile (1,815.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 53.6% Non-Hispanic Whites, 14.3% African American, 4.8% Asian, 0.4% Pacific Islander, 2% from other races, and 3.8% were multiracial. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21.1% of the population (9.3% Salvadoran, 3.0% Puerto Rican, 1.1% Colombian, 1.1% Dominican, 1.0% Guatemalan, 0.8% Mexican). The city also has a large number of people of Brazilian and Italian descent. In 2010, 33% of the residents of Everett were born outside the United States. This percentage was around 11% in 1990.

There were 15,435 households, out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.8% were married couples living together, 15.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.1% were non-families. 31.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.11.

The population was spread out, with 21.6% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 34.8% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 91 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $49,737. The median income for a family is $49,876. Males had a median income of $36,047 versus $30,764 for females. The per capita income for the city was $23,876. About 9.2% of families and 11.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 16.9% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over.