“Boston’s Jewish community has become more diverse in background and experience yet remains deeply rooted in the values that have guided our people for millennia,” according to the Combined Jewish Philanthropies.
Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston released its once-a-decade survey of Jewish life in the hub on Thursday, finding divides between young and old on the meaning of Jewish identity, concerns about antisemitism and support for Israel in the Jewish community.
Conducted between December 2024 and April 2025, the poll asked 4,776 adults living in Jewish households in the Greater Boston area questions about their connections to Jewish life, education and family.
“There are 138,200 Jewish households across Greater Boston, made up of more than 333,000 people, an 8% increase since 2015,” the survey found. “Among those living in these households, 228,500 people identify as Jewish while more than 100,000 do not.”
“The contours of Jewish families are changing, and there are opportunities to engage them in new ways,” the CJP stated. “A majority (51%) of Jewish households in the region now include someone who does not identify as Jewish, while 65% of Jewish households with children are interfaith households.”
The survey found significant generational differences among Jews in the Boston area.
Some 80% of Jews over 65 report being somewhat or very concerned about Jew-hatred in Greater Boston, but only 36% of Jews aged 18-29 report the same level of concern. All age groups reported substantially greater concern about antisemitism in the wider United States and around the world.
Nearly a quarter of Jews in the Boston area (23%) report personally experiencing or witnessing antisemitism in the past 12 months. That finding is lower than that reported in answers to a similar question posed to Jewish respondents in an an American Jewish Committee survey released earlier in February. The AJC found that 31% of American Jews reported being the target of an antisemitic incident in the past year.
A large gap also exists between younger and older Jews regarding Israel.
The CJP poll found that 38% of Jews in the Boston area aged 18-29 self-identify as “anti-Zionists,” compared to just 18% of the total Jewish population that describes itself that way in Greater Boston.
It’s not clear from the survey what respondents mean by identifying as “anti-Zionists,” however, as 35% of self-identified “anti-Zionists” also report believing that Israel “should be the nation-state of the Jewish people.”
The survey also found wide-ranging results about levels of religious observance, with 31% of Boston-area Jews saying they or someone in their household is a member of or a regular participant in a synagogue, 86% saying they observe holidays throughout the year and 38% observing Shabbat in some way.
“Our findings show that over the last decade, Greater Boston’s Jewish community has become more diverse in background and experience yet remains deeply rooted in the values that have guided our people for millennia,” stated Rabbi Marc Baker, CEO and president of the CJP.
“This report offers a roadmap not only for CJP and our partners, but also schools, public institutions and businesses across Greater Boston to better understand the needs of Jewish residents and ensure they feel safe, supported and able to thrive across generations,” he stated.
