Stock Option and Incentive Plan Stock and Units (Narrative) (Details) $ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands				3 Months Ended
		Feb. 01, 2024 USD ($) shares	Jan. 25, 2024 USD ($) shares	Mar. 31, 2024 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Mar. 31, 2023 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2023 USD ($) shares
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares issued				157,128,071		157,019,766
Stock based compensation expense | $				$ 18,500	$ 25,900
Common Stock, Value, Issued | $				$ 1,570		$ 1,569
Restricted Stock [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Shares issued				76,228
LTIP Units [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Value Of LTIP Units Issued | $				$ 25,600
MYLTIP 2024
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Value of MYLTIP Awards | $			$ 11,100
MYLTIP 2021
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Final awards percentage of target		112.00%
Value of MYLTIP Awards | $		$ 12,600
Forfeitures, in units		155,625
Unvested Restricted stock and LTIP Units [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Share-Based Compensation Arrangement by Share-Based Payment Award, Number of Annual Installments for Vesting				4
Boston Properties Limited Partnership | LTIP Units [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Number of shares issued				431,123
Noncontrolling Interest, Outstanding	[1]			2,666,636
Boston Properties Limited Partnership | MYLTIP 2024
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Noncontrolling Interest, Outstanding				330,479
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award, Terms of Award			The 2024 MYLTIP awards consists of three components. Two of the components, each weighted 40%, utilize BXP’s TSR over a three year measurement period as the performance metrics and the third component utilizes a leverage ratio as the performance metric.
Boston Properties Limited Partnership | MYLTIP 2024 | Maximum [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Common stock available for issuance			330,479
Boston Properties Limited Partnership | MYLTIP 2024 | Minimum [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Common stock available for issuance			0
Boston Properties Limited Partnership | MYLTIP 2024 | Target
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Common stock available for issuance			165,240
Restricted Stock [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Employee and director payment per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares				$ 0.01
Common Stock, Value, Issued | $				$ 4,900
Ltips (including vested MYLTIPS) And Restricted Stock [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Unrecognized compensation expenses | $				38,900
Unvested MYLTIP Units [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Unrecognized compensation expenses | $				$ 5,800
Weighted-average period (years)				2 years 8 months 12 days
LTIP and MYLTIP Units [Member]
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Employee and director payment per share (in dollars per share) | $ / shares				$ 0.25

[1] Includes 666,405 LTIP Units earned by employees under the Company’s multi-year long-term incentive awards granted between 2012 and 2021 (i.e., 2012 OPP and 2013 - 2021 MYLTIP awards).