A Massachusetts State Auditor’s analysis highlights a two-sided problem in the state’s liquor-license system: many municipalities have permits they do not use, while others say their quotas fall short of local demand. The 172-page report found that 238 municipalities did not use their full allotments and 64 had too few licenses to meet demand. It also counted 3,466 unused alcohol permits statewide in fiscal 2024, according to The Boston Globe.
The report recommends shifting control of license supply to municipalities rather than relying on population-based state quotas, the Globe reported. Under the existing framework, a town that reaches its quota generally needs legislative approval to obtain additional licenses. The figures document a mismatch in supply and reported demand; by themselves, they do not show how a change in licensing authority would affect business activity or alcohol-related harms.
Boston offers a local example, not a statewide tally
Boston’s records illustrate why license counts need careful interpretation. The city’s dataset lists licenses that are currently active, but excludes void, expired, or closed licenses and applications awaiting approval by the Licensing Board or the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, according to Analyze Boston. It therefore cannot, on its own, establish the full number of licenses in circulation or measure unmet demand.
Boston has also had a separate, neighborhood-specific license program. The city says a law signed September 11, 2024, created 195 zip code-restricted licenses for Charlestown, Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Roslindale, Roxbury, the South End, and West Roxbury, to be granted over three calendar years. That allocation identifies the neighborhoods covered, but does not establish how many licenses each has received or how many active licenses they currently have, according to the City of Boston.
Separate city announcements show licensing decisions in practice but do not resolve that accounting question. Boston reported approving four new restaurant licenses in East Boston, Roxbury, and the South End as zip code-restricted licenses. In a different set of cases, the city said five beer-and-wine license upgrades approved by its Licensing Board would be sent to the ABCC for investigation and final approval. Neither announcement provides a count of how many of the 195 restricted licenses have been awarded.
The policy question includes public-health considerations
The debate is not only about access to licenses. The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends using licensing and zoning to limit alcohol outlet density as a strategy to reduce excessive consumption and related harms. The Community Guide, which reports the recommendation, also notes that its review found no studies directly examining the effects of local interventions to limit outlet density. That public-health guidance does not establish what effects Massachusetts’s proposed shift in licensing authority would have.
The audit’s central finding is a disparity between unused permits in some municipalities and reported shortages in others. Boston’s restricted-license program and approval records provide a separate local example, but their available figures do not answer how the statewide system should be changed—or what a change would mean for access, business activity, or public health.
