Boston has been a war horse.
Boston ( pronounced [ ˈbɒstən ] ) is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States . The city proper covers 48 mi2 with an estimated population of 667,137 in 2015 , making it the largest city in New England and the 23rd most populous city in the United States . The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston , a Metropolitan Statistical Area ( MSA ) home to a census-estimated 4.7 million people in 2014 and ranking as the tenth-largest such area in the country . One of the oldest cities in the United States , Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England . The area 's many colleges and universities make Boston an international center of higher education , including law , medicine , engineering , and business , and the city is considered to be a world leader in innovation and entrepreneurship , with nearly 2,000 startups .