Brookline, Massachusetts

Brookline, Massachusetts
Town
Intersection of Harvard and Beacon Streets in the Coolidge Corner neighborhood of Brookline
Seal
Location as an exclave of Norfolk County in Massachusetts
Brookline Show map of Greater Boston area Brookline Show map of Massachusetts Brookline Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 42°19′54″N 71°07′18″W / 42.33167°N 71.12167°W / 42.33167; -71.12167
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Norfolk
Region	New England
Settled	1638
Incorporated	1705
Government
• Type	Representative town meeting
• Town Administrator	Charles Carey
• Select Board	Heather A. Hamilton (Chair) John VanScoyoc (Vice-Chair) Bernard W. Greene Miriam Aschkenasy Michael Sandman
Area
• Total	6.8 sq mi (17.7 km2)
• Land	6.8 sq mi (17.6 km2)
• Water	0.1 sq mi (0.1 km2)
Elevation	50 ft (15 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	63,191
• Density	9,292.8/sq mi (3,590.4/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (Eastern)
ZIP Codes	02445–02447, 02467
Area code	617/857
FIPS code	25-09175
GNIS feature ID	0619456
Website	www.brooklinema.gov

Brookline /ˈbrʊklaɪn/ is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Allston, Fenway–Kenmore, Mission Hill, Jamaica Plain, and West Roxbury. The city of Newton borders Brookline to the west.

The town of Brookline has a complex history. It was first settled in 1638 as a hamlet in Boston, known as Muddy River (as it was settled on the west side of the river of the same name); it was incorporated as a separate town in 1705. In 1873, Brookline had a contentious referendum in which it voted to remain independent from Boston. The later annexations of Brighton and West Roxbury, both in 1874, and that of Hyde Park in 1912, eventually made Brookline into an exclave of Norfolk County. The town also has a history of racial discrimination in zoning as well as blocking housing construction. Today, it is overwhelmingly wealthy and has a very low proportion of black residents, at only 2.5%.

Several streets and railroads were laid out in the town in the 19th century. Today, these are Massachusetts Route 9 (locally "Boylston St", which cuts the town in two) and the various branches of the MBTA's Green Line. To the north of Route 9, the area is fairly urban; the southern part is much less so.

At the time of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 63,191.^[1] It has been the most populous municipality in Massachusetts to have a town (rather than city) form of government since Framingham changed to a city in 2018, following a 2017 referendum.^[2]