The city is heavily developed, with a strong commercial and shopping area. Yet the city maintains some characteristics of a suburban bedroom community, including comfortable and pleasant neighborhoods. Quincy has a total land area of 26.8 square miles and had a 1990 population of 84,985. The Blizzard of 1978 and the October 1991 and December 1992 northeasters, all disaster declarations, had a major impact on the community in terms of loss due to flooding. Quincy is also impacted by riverine flooding.
Several streams flow through the city conveying storm drainage to the ocean.
Encroachment on the floodplains, together with heavy development in headwater areas and the placement of substantial portions of the streams in restrictive conduits, has resulted in frequent flooding Capacity for Public-Private Partnership Quincy 2000 Corporation, a major conglomerate of community and business leaders, has been developed to initiate comprehensive development planning in the various commercial areas of the city. Quincy 2000 actively participates in the planning, facilitation and development of a number of real estate and public improvement projects. The town has nearly 2,200 NFIP policies in force. Many projects have been undertaken to lessen the flooding problems in Quincy over the years. The City has received several Hazard Mitigation grants to implement a major residential flood mitigation program.