Boston is the capital and largest city in the State of Massachusetts in the United States. The largest city in New England, the city proper, covering 48 square miles, has an estimated population of 636,000 in 2012, making it the 21st largest city in the U.S. The city is the anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area called Greater Boston, home to 4.5 million people and the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Greater Boston as a commuting region is home to 7.6 million people, making it the sixth-largest Combined Statistical Area in the United States.