This Magazine Will Help You Live Longer*
Inside America’s longevity capital, where a generation of 75-plus overachievers is rewired, not retired, and cutting-edge science is rewriting the rules of aging well.
While Silicon Valley chases immortality pills and uploads consciousness to the cloud, Boston has quietly become ground zero for actually living longer, better lives. Sure, there are the usual suspects (MIT is doing wild things with aging research). But look beyond the labs and you’ll find the 82-year-old author who’s busier on book tours now than when she was 45. Or the community organizer who’s not just surviving but thriving after 33 years managing a vital neighborhood food pantry. Or even the city’s bold Live Long and Well initiative that’s transformed Boston into a living laboratory for what happens when a city takes aging as seriously as snowbound residents protect their parking spots.
Earlier this year, we went looking for Boston’s ageless wonders, those incredible folks and researchers making birthdays just numbers on a calendar, not expiration dates. What we found was a perfect storm of world-class universities, forward-thinking companies, and a generation of stubbornly active seniors creating something that feels more like a revolution than a retirement plan. Now, as 70 million Boomers face their golden years, Boston is proving what’s possible when you stop trying to “cure” aging and start trying to crack it wide open. Whether you’re researching retirement communities or maxing out your 401(k), the aging revolution happening here is about to change everything about the way you grow older.
*Results may vary.
The Longevity Issue
How to Live Long and Prosper, According to Overachievers Living Longer
Keep busy. Stay social. Do purposeful work. In America’s longevity capital, five elder Bostonians share how not only to add years to your life, but life to your years.
Why Boston Is Becoming the World's Next Leading Longevity Hub
How academic institutions like BU and MIT are turning Greater Boston into "the Silicon Valley of the octogenarian set."
Getting Older? There’s an App for That
Age ain’t nothing but a number when you’ve downloaded the latest tech, from text-to-voice AI tools to TaskRabbit.
John Hancock Wants You Alive (It’s Good for Business)
The insurance giant’s refreshingly honest approach to keeping its customers kicking.
Your Directory to Greater Boston’s Top Senior Living and Care Is Here
Boston magazine’s annual list of the region’s leading services for active seniors is out now.
How Boston City Hall is prioritizing longevity, one resident at a time.
Your ZIP code may reveal more about your lifespan than your genes. This observation, emphasized by MIT AgeLab director Joseph Coughlin, plays out dramatically in Boston’s data. In 2012, the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) discovered Back Bay denizens lived 33 years longer than Roxbury residents—neighborhoods just 2.3 miles apart. Though that gap has since shrunk to 23 years, according to a 2023 BPHC report, the disparity remains alarming.
Now, Boston is pioneering a new approach to longevity equity. Mayor Michelle Wu’s “Live Long and Well” initiative has released a report pinpointing what it considers to be the three root causes of this premature mortality in Boston and outlining strategies to prevent them. Crucially, the city is backing its recommendations with up to $10 million in funding for community partners. As Boston’s Commissioner of Public Health Bisola Ojikutu noted in the report, “Simply documenting this long-standing inequity is both insufficient and irresponsible. We must continue to act to ensure that all Bostonians live long, healthy, high-quality lives.”
This package was first published in the print edition of the April 2025 issue with the headline: “Live Long and Prosper.”
