As the work of the 194th General Court gets underway, MTF is publishing its 2025 – 2026 Legislative Session Preview. The preview includes 101 primers on the Operating Budget and Capital Investment Plan development processes, as well as seven topic...

This is the second installment of the MTF Competitiveness Index, which is designed to provide residents, employers, and policymakers with a holistic assessment of how Massachusetts compares to our regional and economic competitor states across 27...

MTF's 2024 Massachusetts Competitiveness Index Report is designed to put forward a framework to assess how Massachusetts stacks up compared to other states, key economic and geographic competitors, and itself.The report looks at 26 different metrics...

The Hispanic/Latino population in Massachusetts has experienced significant growth over the pastdecade, which has resulted in more economic production for the state, a more educated and skilledworkforce, and greater levels of household wealth. While...

The Conference Committee for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget is actively working to reconcile all spending, policy, and technical differences between the House and Senate budgets, with the goal of delivering a compromise spending bill to the...

The Healey-Driscoll administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget proposal tops $62 billion, increasing spending over the FY 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) by $4.3 billion (7.4 percent) and over the administration’s estimated spending level by...

The confluence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of technology enabling effective remote work has caused a dramatic drop in demand for office space and a shift in what employers need from their physical spaces. This places the city in a...

The standard model for the role central business districts play in cities across the country has been forever disrupted by the pandemic. Reductions to in-person work have a cascade effect on commercial real estate, public finance, and city vibrancy...

The MBTA has made important strides. It increased its operating staff by 1,200 since June 2022 and has improved its handling of safety and service issues that have plagued the Authority for several years. However, it still has a long uphill climb....

Workforce challenges at the MBTA have received extensive reporting in recent years. Those challenges took on a new sense of urgency in 2022 when a safety management inspection by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) found that the MBTA needed to...