Hampshire County, Massachusetts
| Hampshire County, Massachusetts | ||
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Old Hampshire County Courthouse
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 Location in the U.S. state of Massachusetts |
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 Massachusetts's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | 1662 | |
| Named for | Hampshire, England | |
| Seat | Northampton | |
| Largest town | Amherst | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 545 sq mi (1,412 km2) | |
| • Land | 527 sq mi (1,365 km2) | |
| • Water | 18 sq mi (47 km2), 3.3% | |
| Population | ||
| • (2010) | 158,080 | |
| • Density | 300/sq mi (116/km²) | |
| Congressional districts | 1st, 2nd | |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | |
| Website | www |
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Hampshire County is a historical and judicial county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It has no county government. Instead there is a Hampshire Council of Governments. As of the 2010 census, the population was 158,080. Its most populous municipality is Amherst, and its county seat is Northampton. The county is named after the county Hampshire, in England.
Hampshire County is part of the Springfield, MA Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Hampshire County was constituted in 1662 from previously unorganized territory comprising the entire western part of Massachusetts Bay Colony. It included the original towns of Springfield, Northampton, and Hadley. The original Hampshire County included territory that is now in modern-day Hampden County, Franklin County, and Berkshire County, as well as small parts of modern-day Worcester County. By 1683, three new towns (Westfield (now Southwick), Suffield, and Enfield) had been incorporated south of Springfield. These towns were partly or wholly in the modern state of Connecticut at the time of their incorporation and resulted in a border dispute between the Connecticut Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony.
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