page_title: Martha's Vineyard
hierarchical_section_title: Martha's Vineyard
caption_attribution_description: English: Elizabeth Islands and Martha's Vineyard
context_page_description: Martha's Vineyard is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts in the United States that is known for being a popular summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the smaller adjacent Chappaquiddick Island, which is usually connected to the Vineyard, though storms and hurricanes have separated them, as in 2007. It is the 58th largest island in the United States, with a land area of about 96 square miles, and the third-largest on the East Coast of the United States, after Long Island and Mount Desert Island. Martha's Vineyard constitutes the bulk of Dukes County, Massachusetts, which also includes the Elizabeth Islands and the island of Nomans Land.
  The Vineyard was home to one of the earliest known deaf communities in the United States; consequently, a sign language, the Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, was developed on the island, amongst indigenous languages spoken by indigenous peoples of the island. The 2010 census reported a year-round population of 16,535 residents, although the summer population can swell to more than 100,000 people. About 56 percent of the Vineyard's 14,621 homes are seasonally occupied.
context_section_description: Martha's Vineyard (Wampanoag: Noepe; often simply called The Vineyard) is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts in the United States that is known for being a popular summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the smaller adjacent Chappaquiddick Island, which is usually connected to the Vineyard, though storms and hurricanes have separated them, as in 2007. It is the 58th largest island in the United States, with a land area of about 96 square miles (250 km²), and the third-largest on the East Coast of the United States, after Long Island and Mount Desert Island. Martha's Vineyard constitutes the bulk of Dukes County, Massachusetts, which also includes the Elizabeth Islands and the island of Nomans Land.
  The Vineyard was home to one of the earliest known deaf communities in the United States; consequently, a sign language, the Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, was developed on the island, amongst indigenous languages spoken by indigenous peoples of the island. The 2010 census reported a year-round population of 16,535 residents, although the summer population can swell to more than 100,000 people. About 56 percent of the Vineyard's 14,621 homes are seasonally occupied.
  Martha's Vineyard is primarily known as a summer colony, and it is accessible only by boat and air. However, its year-round population has considerably increased since the 1960s. The island's year-round population increased about a third each decade from 1970 to 2000, for a total of 145 percent or about 3 percent to 4 percent per year (46 percent, 30 percent, and 29 percent in each respective decade). The population of the Vineyard was 14,901 in the 2000 Census and was estimated at 15,582 in 2004. (Dukes County was 14,987 in 2000 and 15,669 in 2004). Dukes County includes the six towns on Martha's Vineyard and Gosnold; it increased by more than 10 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to Census data released in 2011, gaining nearly 1,548 residents. The Island's population increased from 14,987 to 16,535.
  A study by the Martha's Vineyard Commission found that the cost of living on the island is 60 percent higher than the national average, and housing prices are 96 percent higher. A study of housing needs by the Commission found that the average weekly wage on Martha's Vineyard was "71 percent of the state average, the median home price was 54 percent above the state's and the median rent exceeded the state's by 17 percent".
caption: Aerial view of Martha's Vineyard with Elizabeth Islands above
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