42.3449° N, 71.0753° W

BOSTON

Most Famous People Born in Boston, United States

Notable people
3,663
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1926
Most distinctive
Novelist 3.5×

America's oldest civic intelligentsia. Boston's notables are unusually concentrated in the 1700s and 1800s by American standards, and the distinctive shelves still read like a Yankee almanac — novelists, lawyers, military officers, mathematicians, and diplomats, the trades of a city where Harvard, the State House, and the Old North Church share a few square miles. The modern half tilts more conventionally toward Red Sox baseball, actors, and a deep college-bred music scene.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Boston during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 348 notable births.

What Boston Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Actor is Boston's biggest profession — 9% of all notables (314).

Boston over-indexes on novelist3.5× the global rate.

Boston under-produces football — only 0.2× the global rate.

  1. Actor314
  2. Politician312
  3. Writer149
  4. Lawyer135
  5. Baseball110
  6. Painter106
  7. Music102
  8. Football87
  1. Novelist503.5×
  2. Baseball1102.6×
  3. Officer632.6×
  4. Mathematician452.5×
  5. Lawyer1352.1×
  6. Music1021.9×
  7. Diplomat371.7×
  8. Actor3141.6×
  1. Football870.2×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Boston's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

16501700175018001850190019502000
  • Politics & Law
  • Sports
  • Writing
  • Film & TV
  • Science
  • Music
  • Other
All3,663
Sort By

Showing 11 of 3,663 notable people

0141 LOYALIST

Thomas Hutchinson (governor)

1711 - 1780

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0475 MATHEMATICIAN

John Winthrop (educator)

1714 - 1779

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0609 SOLDIER

Richard Gridley

1710 - 1796

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1058 JUDGE

Jonathan Belcher (jurist)

1710 - 1776

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1465 SISTER

Jane Mecom

1712 - 1794

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1800 NAVAL

Joshua Loring

1716 - 1781

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2145 PRODUCED

Charles Morris (surveyor general)

1711 - 1781

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2349 PRINTER

Daniel Fowle (printer)

1715 - 1787

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2523 POLITICIAN

Harrison Gray (Treasurer)

1711 - 1794

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2693 LOYALIST

Malachy Salter

1715 - 1781

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3041 POLITICIAN

Benjamin Gerrish

1717 - 1772

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