HELP US END MASS INCARCERATION The Prison Policy Initiative uses research, advocacy, and organizing to dismantle mass incarceration. We’ve been in this movement for 23 years, thanks to individual donors like you.

Can you help us sustain this work?

Thank you,
Peter Wagner, Executive Director Donate

Income, probation rates and probation caseloads for the population served by each Massachusetts District Court

Appendix Income, probation rates and probation caseloads for the population served by each Massachusetts District Court
District Court location Combined population of towns served Per capita income of towns served Total probation caseload in January 2016 Probation rate per 100,000 population
Attleboro 115,222 $34,679 1,038 900.87
Ayer 90,641 $42,770 627 691.74
Barnstable 89,035 $35,196 1,164 1,307.35
Brockton 172,899 $27,884 1,885 1,090.23
Brookline 59,016 $62,148 197 333.81
Cambridge 175,745 $50,098 639 363.59
Chelsea 90,342 $24,321 641 709.53
Chicopee 55,603 $25,251 487 875.85
Clinton 56,256 $38,705 476 846.13
Concord 116,845 $61,263 730 624.76
Dedham 145,125 $58,338 724 498.88
Dudley 81,475 $29,450 912 1,119.36
East Brookfield 66,505 $31,044 702 1,055.56
Eastern Hampshire 94,601 $27,010 727 768.49
Edgartown 16,915 $33,738 190 1,123.26
Fall River 131,980 $25,321 2,027 1,535.84
Falmouth 65,313 $37,256 816 1,249.37
Fitchburg 51,216 $25,563 449 876.68
Framingham 147,988 $47,285 860 581.13
Gardner/Winchendon(2) 60,936 $28,927 506 830.38
Gloucester 39,895 $39,388 401 1,005.14
Greenfield 55,353 $30,103 572 1,033.37
Haverhill 85,058 $34,787 877 1,031.06
Hingham 93,501 $46,890 761 813.90
Holyoke 40,079 $21,671 661 1,649.24
Ipswich 32,903 $47,544 252 765.89
Lawrence 188,737 $32,366 2,071 1,097.29
Leominster 62,188 $34,359 470 755.77
Lowell 256,367 $32,375 1,530 596.80
Lynn 156,184 $33,091 1,650 1,056.45
Malden 156,411 $31,051 884 565.18
Marlborough 58,605 $37,319 527 899.24
Milford 64,237 $37,988 613 954.28
Nantucket 10,414 $47,548 194 1,862.88
Natick 38,430 $54,567 227 590.68
New Bedford 171,204 $26,051 1,878 1,096.94
Newburyport 66,406 $43,020 1,051 1,582.69
Newton 86,945 $64,475 423 486.51
Northampton 65,727 $34,020 579 880.92
Northern Berkshire(1) 36,892 $27,165 373 1,011.07
Orange 27,564 $26,293 275 997.68
Orleans 60,819 $39,237 670 1,101.63
Palmer 85,638 $33,777 738 861.77
Peabody 63,926 $37,015 589 921.38
Pittsfield(1) 59,941 $28,584 416 694.02
Plymouth 149,689 $39,151 1,275 851.77
Quincy 263,642 $36,140 2,063 782.50
Salem 124,286 $37,799 1,170 941.38
Somerville 134,541 $36,401 816 606.51
Southern Berkshire 33,232 $36,359 193 580.77
Springfield 198,248 $22,557 1,431 721.82
Stoughton 72,169 $44,120 456 631.85
Taunton 132,659 $32,254 1,314 990.51
Uxbridge 59,628 $35,631 603 1,011.27
Waltham 106,492 $46,116 743 697.70
Wareham 84,683 $34,204 1,027 1,212.76
Westborough 97,155 $45,046 590 607.28
Westfield 86,879 $30,003 726 835.64
Woburn 170,822 $44,187 1,037 607.06
Worcester 212,155 $25,753 1,727 814.03
Wrentham 126,344 $43,396 807 638.73
Massachusetts 5,999,705 $36,622 50,457 840.99

Sources and methodology

The table includes all probation cases handled by the state’s District Court locations. It does not include the Boston Municipal Court locations, whose service areas or jurisdictions are not based on towns and cities like the District Courts, but rather neighborhoods. It also excludes Superior Court and Juvenile Court cases. The table uses these sources:

Combined population of towns served
2014 American Community Survey 5-year estimates for towns. The populations of all towns in a court location’s jursidiction were added together. See Table 2 for the towns included in each District Court location’s jurisdiction.
Per capita income of towns served
2014 American Community Survey 5-year estimates for towns from Table B01003. We found the total income for each town in a court location’s jurisdiction by multiplying the per capita income by the population, then added the total incomes for all towns in a court location’s jurisdiction, and divided by the total population to get the combined per capital income for each court location’s jurisdiction.
Total probation caseload in January 2016
January 2016 District Court Department Probation Supervision Caseload provided to the author by The Office of the Commissioner of Probation. Caseload includes all risk/need and ORAS supervision, administrative supervision, DUIL supervision, and pre-trial supervision cases. Original data on file with the author.
Probation rate per 100,000 population
Calculated from the combined total population of each court location’s jurisdiction.

Some towns required special processing:

  • We divided Hancock and Windsor’s populations and incomes evenly between the Pittsfield and Northern Berkshire court locations because those courts share jurisdicton of those two towns, according to the District Court website. Their original populations and per capita income are below, as well as the amounts added to Pittsfield and Northern Berkshire from these towns. Also included are the total populations and per capita income of those court locations before adding Hancock and Windsor to them.
    Population Per capita income Total population income
    Hancock 726 $31,730 $23,035,980
    Windsor 879 $34,759 $30,553,161
    Half of Hancock (added to both Pittsfield and Northern Berkshire locations’ totals) 363 $31,730 $11,517,990
    Half of Windsor (added to both Pittsfield and Northern Berkshire locations’ totals) 439.5 $34,759 $15,276,580.50
    Pittsfield before adding half of Hancock and Windsor 59,138 $28,518 $1,686,518,894
    Northern Berkshire before adding half of Hancock and Windsor 36,089 $27,026 $975,352,612
  • Gardner and Winchendon were combined in the probation caseload data received from Probation Services, although they are listed as separate courts with different jurisdictions on the District Court website. This is likely because they are located in the same building. The income data for the separate court jurisdictions is as follows:
    Population Per capita income Total population income
    Gardner 33,369 $27,965 $933,165,260
    Winchendon 27,567 $30,092 $829,542,637

Each District Court describes their jurisdiction as serving the following towns:

  • Attleboro: Attleboro, Mansfield, North Attleborough, Norton
  • Ayer: Ashby, Ayer, Boxborough, Dunstable, Groton, Littleton, Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend, Westford
  • Barnstable: Barnstable, Sandwich, Yarmouth
  • Brockton: Abington, Bridgewater, Brockton, East Bridgewater, West Bridgewater, Whitman
  • Brookline: Brookline
  • Cambridge: Arlington, Belmont, Cambridge
  • Chelsea: Chelsea, Revere
  • Chicopee: Chicopee
  • Clinton: Berlin, Bolton, Boylston, Clinton, Harvard, Lancaster, Sterling, West Boylston
  • Concord: Acton, Bedford, Carlisle, Concord, Lexington, Lincoln, Maynard, Stow
  • Dedham: Dedham, Dover, Medfield, Needham, Norwood, Wellesley, Westwood
  • Dudley: Charlton, Dudley, Oxford, Southbridge, Sturbridge, Webster
  • East Brookfield: Barre, Brookfield, East Brookfield, Hardwick, Leicester, New Braintree, North Brookfield, Oakham, Paxton, Rutland, Spencer, Warren, West Brookfield
  • Eastern Hampshire: Amherst, Belchertown, Granby, Hadley, Pelham, South Hadley, Ware
  • Edgartown: Aquinnah, Chilmark, Edgartown, Gosnold, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, West Tisbury
  • Fall River: Fall River, Freetown, Somerset, Swansea
  • Falmouth: Bourne, Falmouth, Mashpee
  • Fitchburg: Fitchburg, Lunenburg
  • Framingham: Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Sudbury, Wayland
  • Gardner: Gardner, Hubbardston, Petersham, Westminster
  • Gloucester: Essex, Gloucester, Rockport
  • Greenfield: Ashfield, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont, Colrain, Conway, Deerfield, Gill, Greenfield, Hawley, Heath, Leyden, Monroe, Montague, Northfield, Rowe, Shelburne, Sunderland, Whately
  • Haverhill: Boxford, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill
  • Hingham: Hanover, Hingham, Hull, Norwell, Rockland, Scituate
  • Holyoke: Holyoke
  • Ipswich: Hamilton, Ipswich, Topsfield, Wenham
  • Lawrence: Andover, Lawrence, Methuen, North Andover
  • Leominster: Holden, Leominster, Princeton
  • Lowell: Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Lowell, Tewksbury, Tyngsborough
  • Lynn: Lynn, Marblehead, Nahant, Saugus, Swampscott
  • Malden: Everett, Malden, Melrose, Wakefield
  • Marlborough: Hudson, Marlborough
  • Milford: Bellingham, Hopedale, Mendon, Milford, Upton
  • Nantucket: Nantucket
  • Natick: Natick, Sherborn
  • New Bedford: Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, New Bedford, Westport
  • Newburyport: Amesbury, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley, Salisbury, West Newbury
  • Newton: Newton
  • Northampton: Chesterfield, Cummington, Easthampton, Goshen, Hatfield, Huntington, Middlefield, Northampton, Plainfield, Southampton, Westhampton, Williamsburg, Worthington
  • Northern Berkshire: Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Hancock, Florida, New Ashford, North Adams, Savoy, Williamstown, Windsor
  • Orange: Athol, Erving, Leverett, New Salem, Orange, Shutesbury, Warwick, Wendell
  • Orleans: Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Harwich, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet
  • Palmer: Brimfield, East Longmeadow, Hampden, Holland, Ludlow, Monson, Palmer, Wales, Wilbraham
  • Peabody: Lynnfield, Peabody
  • Pittsfield: Dalton, Hancock, Hinsdale, Lanesborough, Peru, Pittsfield, Richmond, Washington, Windsor
  • Plymouth: Duxbury, Halifax, Hanson, Kingston, Marshfield, Pembroke, Plymouth, Plympton
  • Quincy: Braintree, Cohasset, Holbrook, Milton, Quincy, Randolph, Weymouth
  • Salem: Beverly, Danvers, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Middleton, Salem
  • Somerville: Medford, Somerville
  • Southern Berkshire: Alford, Becket, Egremont, Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Monterey, Mount Washington, New Marlborough, Otis, Sandisfield, Sheffield, Stockbridge, Tyringham, West Stockbridge
  • Springfield: Longmeadow, Springfield, West Springfield
  • Stoughton: Avon, Canton, Sharon, Stoughton
  • Taunton: Berkley, Dighton, Easton, Raynham, Rehoboth, Seekonk, Taunton
  • Uxbridge: Blackstone, Douglas, Millville, Northbridge, Sutton, Uxbridge
  • Waltham: Waltham, Watertown, Weston
  • Wareham: Carver, Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, Middleborough, Rochester, Wareham
  • Westborough: Grafton, Northborough, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Westborough
  • Westfield: Agawam, Blandford, Chester, Granville, Montgomery, Russell, Southwick, Tolland, Westfield
  • Winchendon: Ashburnham, Phillipston, Royalston, Templeton, Winchendon
  • Woburn: Burlington, North Reading, Reading, Stoneham, Wilmington, Winchester, Woburn
  • Worcester: Auburn, Millbury, Worcester
  • Wrentham: Foxborough, Franklin, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, Plainville, Walpole, Wrentham

Note about the "circle size variable:" Our interactive visualization in the appendix of the relationship between probation rates and per-capita income in each court’s jurisdiction area encodes the total caseload of that court in both the size and color of the circle representing that court. In this way, we can offer some context on the relative importance of the outliers. However, this approach exposed a common pitfall in using circles as symbols: most graphing software encodes the size into the radius of the circle but then presents to the viewer a full circle. This is misleading because it magnifies the difference between the points showing somewhat larger values as far larger. To correct for this, we told Google Charts to size the circles by the square root of the probation caseload divided by π. In this way, what the viewer sees — the area of the circles — is proportional to the probation caseload. The downside to this approach is that the tooltip that appears when you hover over a point includes the nonsense line “circle size variable (see note)” which we couldn’t turn off.



Stay Informed


Get the latest updates:



Share on 𝕏 Donate