Nicer Areas to raise a family (Boston, Newton: apartments, neighborhood, college)

[TheBS19]

Hi all-

Me and my wife are a young married couple (each 23) with a young son (almost 1 now) currently living in Jamaica Plain. We had our son my senior year in college and my wife is finishing up her masters so needless to say, money is tight. Our place in JP fits us well for now, as we are the first floor of a triple decker and have more room than any other apartments we had looked at during our search for less money than most of the downtown apartments. However, its not in the best location (fairly near Forest Hills, right off South St, with a small mini-projects at the end of our block) and we are looking to settle into a more family-friendly neighborhood. In addition, with my wife jumping into the work force next year so that we have two incomes, suddenly we have the means to move to a nicer area.

Basically, what we are looking for is a good amount of green space/parks for our son and any subsequent children to enjoy, a nice town "square" to walk around, with shops and restaurants galore (a little more expansive than centre street in JP is, ideally). We don't want to go too deep into the 'burbs, as I work in the financial district and rely on public transportation to get there. Further, we are still young and still do enjoy going out into the city quite often.

Some areas people have mentioned to us include Newton, Arlington, and Somerville. As these are fairly broad areas that I am not too familiar with (except Newton center), I was wondering if people either chime in on these areas with more-specific "villages" or "squares" that we should look into, or if they had other suggestions. Thanks everyone!!!!

[DreamworksSKG]

Try the Arlington-Wakefield corridor.

- jeff
Winchester, MA

[maggiekate]

brookline, west roxbury further out plymouth and you could take the bus into Boston or the train. arlington is also nice or maybe quincy area