Moving to Massachusetts?

Question

My girlfriend and I are looking to move from Buffalo NY to Massachusettes, We have 4 children and are looking for a place with good schooling and kinda inexpensive. We have no idea as to what area to start looking for housing. Any ideas?

Answer 1

I just wrote the answer under the line below for someone else looking to move to Massachusetts and asking about what's rural and maybe less expensive. The towns with reputations for the most excellent schools tend to the towns that have higher housing costs; but there are a lot of suburbs with decent schools.

You may want to ask yourself:

Do you want to live near the ocean, near Boston, out and away from the city areas and in a more rural location, on the Cape, near Worcester, or near either New Hampshire, Rhode Island or Vermont.

If you're from New York you may want to consider the Berkshires, which will make any drives you need to make back easier.

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Generally, any town/city along Route 128 has a lot of high tech and other industry and is in one degree or another very developed. 128 runs from the South Shore to the North Shore. Usually, a "town or two out" from 128 is less developed, although still not usually at all rural (although that could be different closer to the South Shore - I'm not familiar enough with that area to say my "rule" applies there).

Route 495 runs from the Mass Pike up to New Hampshire, and there are a lot of high tech companies (and other companies) along 495 as well. Generally, the towns along 495 run from nicely developed (but not city) to more rural, with the more rural ones being farther out toward Central, MA.

I would say stay away from all the cities immediately surrounding Boston (although Cambridge and Newton have good schools). Boston schools have their problems. Lowell, Haverhill, Springfield, Holyoke, Fall River, New Bedford, CERTAINLY Lawrence, and, although I'm not familiar enough with it to really say, I'm guessing Worcester - all places to stay away from.

If you go enough away from Boston up to Melrose, Stoneham, and Wakefield that's the beginning of where the towns get nicer (until you get as far as Lowell, which is a city). Any of the suburbs of Haverhill and Lawrence, though, are nice. Newton, Welsley, Needham - tend to be more expensive. Salem is a city that is building a new image, but its a city. Braintree and Quincy are cities. Waltham is pretty much city. The North Shore has been growing when it comes to industry and development, but there are some very nice towns along the North Shore.

Westfield is a city, but there are suburbs out and around that area. I don't recommend anything out that way, though, because it is pretty much accepted that some things out that way are not as "on the ball" as they are closer to Boston, (An example is there was horrible child abuse case, and it was said that the child services people out there aren't as "expert" as they are in Eastern, MA. I don't know if this includes Lenox and other towns in the Berkshires or not. It has been said about Springfield, Westfield.) The South Shore has a lot of nice towns.

Towns along the coast tend to take the brunt of Noreaster storms, although towns closer to New Hampshire tend to get more snow (it doesn't always happen that way, but in general). Towns in Central, MA tend to get more snow a good part of the time, and the occasional tornado seems to show up more often out toward Worcester.

Some people set up shop around Worcester and don't worry about getting to Boston to quickly. Others prefer being within, say, an hour or less drive to Boston (which would mean any town within the area from the coastline to New Hampshire to as far down as Plymouth and maybe some of the towns along Route 2 or Route 3. (This is just an approximate picture of what is within an hour to Boston.)



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There are towns that are more rural between Route 495 and Worcester (Bolten, Harvard - others that you can see on a map if you look on a Massachusetts map). Pepperell, Townsend, and Westford are on the rural side, although Westford has been being developed more recently.

There are a lot of really rural areas in Western, MA; but if someone will be working the Boston area that's not the place to go. The Berkshires have a lot of rural towns. There are parts of Western, MA that are not as far West as the Berkshires too.

The North Shore doesn't particularly tend to be rural, Neither is the Boston area or any of the areas surrounding cities/towns like Springfield, Lowell, Haverhill, Lawrence, Woburn, or Worcester.
What tends to surround those cities is suburban towns that have shopping malls, some woods here or there, companies, etc. These towns tend to be nice enough towns to live in (the cities I mentioned are generally not the most appealing places in the world, to say the least), but they are far from rural.

If you look at a map, anything describes as North or West of Boston tends to be suburban and not rural. The South Shore may have some more rural areas. Plymouth is a large town geographically, and its a kind of more wooded suburban-type area.

Pepperell and Townsend are close to New Hampshire. There are towns that border Connecticut. There may be some more rural areas in that area.

Massachusetts is not known for very affordable housing. Not long ago I heard about how many people leave the Boston suburbs and move farther out in order to be able to afford more house for their money.

To the best of my knowledge, the area between Route 495 and Worcester tends to be a little less expensive (but its not as handy to things). To the best of my knowledge, housing may be less expensive near Springfiield (but Springfield is not a nice city).

There are some suburbs or semi-rural suburbs from, say, Lexington out toward the west.

Quite rural are Boxford, Rowley, Topsfied, and Byfield (which are farther North than the North Shore). Boxford is generally not a bargain area for housing, though. Hamilton is a little on the rural side.

Cape Cod has rural areas, but the Cape is a whole different thing and generally is not convenient to where most jobs are.

For the most part, if you look at a map and find the cities I mentioned, the area about fifteen or so miles out from the cities tends to be suburbs (which may then meet with other suburban areas, which would mean not much rural area there). Most of Massachusetts from the Coast to Boston and the Western suburbs is suburban (with the exceptions of the Byfield area).
Once you get past Concord and Harvard toward Central Mass it gets more rural.

Everything from, say, Boston to Newton to Natick to Framingham are city or city-ish suburbs. Heavy duty city areas: Boston, Chelsea, Somerville, Medford, Cambridge, Everett, Malden (right around Boston). Then there's Holyoke, Springfield, Fall River, New Bedford. Then there's Framingham and Worcester. Lowell, Lawrence, Haverhill up North.

I can't give an accurate reading on what's more affordable, but I seem to remember running into a website that gave that type of information. Its possible you could get more information from each town's website or real estate companies dealing in the different areas.

Often people move to the cities that are alternatives to Boston because those are more affordable, but you're not looking for city living.

What I've offered is just kind of a jumping-off point for you. I don't know if its at all helpful....

Answer 2

If you are talking about Boston, and if you have a large family, think about living farther out, even over the border in NH. The cost of housing in Boston is very high, especially for a lot of room. You can do some online search for housing. That will give you an idea for what is available. And you will get better schools outside the urban area too, so look in places out of the main city. But, if you do want to be in the city, then check out the area called Jamaica Plain, Arlington, Watertown, or Somerville. These are less expensive parts of the city and you can still find some decent public schools.

Answer 3

You won't be able to go and live inside Boston and be inexpensive but you could try Cambridge, just outside of the city. You're best bet would be to come and visit and see what type of city you are looking for. Boston has a great public school system, but the cost of living in the city is just ridiculous.

Answer 4

What part of Mass are you asking about? East Mass(Boston area) and Western Mass are almost two different states as far as costs and atmosphere.