The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (Boston Fed) and community partners want to learn more about economic conditions among households across Massachusetts. Findings could be used to inform strategies that support greater economic opportunity for all. We will also share findings with public, private, and nonprofit organizations.

Changes in the economy are affecting household finances in our communities. Other surveys focus on things like income or employment but may not provide a full picture of household resources. We want to look at this within our state to ensure everyone has a pathway for growth.

Your answers will help the Boston Fed learn more about the ways it can support decisions that positively affect households like yours. Also, the entire state will benefit from learning more about its residents. In order to create opportunities for everyone through well-informed policies or programming, we need responses from households like yours.

Your answers will be combined with everyone else who takes part, and we will only share estimates for broad groups. Our goal is for the communities where you live and work to be represented in the study results. While no identifying information will be used, we hope that your story is told through our findings.

Community development researchers at the Boston Fed and its partners are leading the study. We are working with residents whenever possible, including through community conversations and focus groups. We are also leading with support and input from a committee of local leaders.

Mathematica, an independent research firm, will conduct the survey in close collaboration with the Boston Fed research team.

Yes. You will receive a $50 Visa gift card from Mathematica after completing the survey.

Mathematica randomly chose your address from all residences in Massachusetts. We want to understand how everyone is doing across the state, as well as in Greater Boston, the 26 Gateway Cities, and rural and suburban areas. We can’t talk to everyone, so we randomly selected addresses to contact. We want to hear from you so that our findings best represent all residents across the state.

While we would love to hear from everyone, you are not required to complete the survey. If you do choose to take part, you are not required to answer every question, and you can stop the survey at any point. Remember, we want to hear from the widest variety of identities and backgrounds possible, so every response matters.

The survey is about your household's finances. This includes information about assets, such as your bank account or home, and debts, such as student loans or a mortgage. There will also be questions about who makes up your household and your type of housing. We do not ask questions about account numbers or the places where your money is kept.

Only households that receive an official invitation letter can take the survey.

If you received a letter, log in to the web survey and answer the questions provided. You can scan the QR code or type in the survey link to take the survey online. The survey will take about 20 minutes to complete.

You do not have to prepare for the survey. However, it might be easier to answer some questions if you have access to your household's financial statements. For example, you may want to pull up information about bank and retirement accounts or look at your most recent tax return. We will not ask questions about account numbers or financial institutions.

Mathematica is collecting your responses and compiling them before securely transferring the data to the Boston Fed. We will then analyze the data and write a report based on our findings. These findings will provide information for groups (e.g., residents of the Gateway Cities, young adults, racial-ethnic groups) but will not identify any individuals. We will make the report public so that you, as well as public, private, and nonprofit groups, can benefit and learn. We expect to release the first report in 2026.

We are required by law to protect and keep your data private and stored securely. We will process the information we collect in connection with your responses to this survey solely for the purpose of our research. The names of you or your family members or your specific financial situation will never appear in any published report or with any published study findings. For more information on the Boston Fed's privacy policy, please visit https://www.bostonfed.org/data-privacy.aspx. For more information about your visit to this informational page, please visit https://www.bostonfed.org/about-the-boston-fed/termsofuse.aspx.

The Boston Fed is not a government agency. No government is administering the survey. Government agencies will not receive information about individuals. Your participation will not affect any funding or resources you receive.

The Boston Fed is one of twelve banks that make up the Federal Reserve System. The Federal Reserve is independent from the federal government. However, it is accountable to both the public and Congress.

Yes! The survey will be offered in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (simplified characters), Vietnamese, and Haitian Creole. You can call Mathematica at any point to request materials in any of these languages.

This study is organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, conducted by Mathematica, and funded by the Boston Foundation. All households participating in the survey will receive an official invitation letter signed by the project director Holly Matulewicz and Prabal Chakrabarti, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Executive Vice President of Regional and Community Outreach. Again, we will never ask for certain sensitive information, such as account numbers.

Mathematica is partnering with the Boston Fed to conduct this study. Mathematica will collect your responses, compile them, and securely transfer the data to the Boston Fed.

We will collect the information that you provide in response to our questions, including the questions in this survey and any follow-up questions we contact you with. We may also link your information to information about where you live; we may make inferences about you based on the attributes of your community. If you complete the survey online, we also use cookies and other website-tracking technologies to collect information about your visit to the survey website, such as the type of browser and device you are using to complete the survey and the device's IP address.

You may be able to modify your browser setting to disable or reject other third-party cookies, but if you do so, some features of the website may not function properly or be available.

Mathematica and Boston Fed will use your information solely for research purposes.

We will use the information you provide to conduct our research and create a report. While the report will be made public, it will not include your name or any details that could identify you.

Mathematica or the Boston Fed may use vendors to assist us with data management tasks, such as hosting the tools we use to conduct our research or securely transferring the data. When we engage vendors, we take appropriate steps to ensure that those vendors apply reasonable measures to secure the data and prohibit vendors by contract from using the data for any purposes other than providing services to us. Outside of our vendors, we do not share your personal information, except where required by law.

We use a combination of physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to protect the information we collect through the study.