They Say These 11 Massachusetts Towns Could Become ‘Ghost Towns’ By The Year 2100

Just imagine if researchers more than 75 years ago had predicted the Massachusetts we live in today?

Predicting the future is very challenging because you never know what it will be like, but one study predicts that a number of Massachusetts communities could resemble ghost towns by the year 2100.

Population Decline In The United States

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago found that half of the cities in the United States will face some form of population decline in the near future. The study was published in Nature.

The biggest winners in Massachusetts in terms of population growth are spread across the state, including northern Boston-area communities of Watertown, Malden, Somerville, and Cambridge, which are all set to see their populations grow by 63% each, according to the research.

But which communities will become ghost towns? Let's find out.

Population Shifts In Everyday Life

The authors of the study even discussed changes due to population shifts that could be felt in many aspects of everyday life, though it is hard to say exactly how they will affect us in the future.

“The implications of this massive decline in population will bring unprecedented challenges, possibly leading to disruptions in basic services like transit, clean water, electricity and internet access, simultaneously, increasing population trends in resource-intensive suburban and periurban cities will probably take away access to much needed resources in depopulating areas, further exacerbating their challenges.” - Author's Study

While not everyone is ready to accept the findings, some who spoke with Scientific American said much could change in the next 80 years, and one called the population projections “pretty reckless,” even though the methodology was solid.

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All in all, only time will tell what the future holds.