Working in Cambridge, Living in Boston (Somerville, Huntington: for rent, home, transfer)

[Elder18]

Are there any neighborhoods in Boston with an easy commute (via public transit) to Cambridge? I also like to bike, too.

I'm looking for more of a young professional-type area with lots of culture and night life. Safety, of course, is important too. Thanks.

[RemiJP]

What's your budget for rent? Would you consider a roommate? Beacon Hill is home to many young professionals, safe, has a classic brownstone look, is centrally located so it's easy to get to other parts of the city from there, has nice restaurants on Charles Street, and Cambridge is accessible via the Red Line and bike. BUT it is one of the most expensive areas in the city!

I'm 23 and to be honest, if I was working in Cambridge, I would probably live in Cambridge. It has a lot to offer in terms of restaurants, nightlife, culture and is a bit cheaper to live in depending on the neighborhood.

[eevee]

Originally Posted by RemiJP

I'm 23 and to be honest, if I was working in Cambridge, I would probably live in Cambridge. It has a lot to offer in terms of restaurants, nightlife, culture and is a bit cheaper to live in depending on the neighborhood.

I agree! honestly, when I got bored w/ the clubs and bars in Boston (almost all of them geared towards undergrads and located in the Fenway), I mostly hung out in Cambridge. there's just as much nightlife and culture in Cambridge than there is in Boston; indeed, some may say more!

[ogre]

A third recommendation for living right in Cambridge. However, if you want to consider options in Boston, it depends on what is your idea of an easy commute. Compared to what people go through driving in from the suburbs, it's an easy commute of you live in Jamaica Plain and take a fifteen-minute ride on the green line, then change to the red line, which will have you in Cambridge in another ten minutes if there are no delays. If you really want to avoid transfers, options in Boston are scarce. Most of Boston's young professional neighborhoods are on the green or orange lines. In addition to Jamaica Plain, another big young professional area is the South End--not as accessible to the subway in some areas as JP, but workable if you don't mind a bit of a walk. There's also the Fenway neighborhood, also on the green line, and maybe not the top choice for someone with your criteria, because the neighborhood has some young professionals, but also a lot of students.

[RemiJP]

My boyfriend and I lived in JP for the past two years (near the Stonybrook T stop) and he worked near Kendall station in Cambridge. It was a LONG ride with the transfer at Downtown Crossing. Also, I worked at Charles MGH (for the OP, this is the last stop of the Red Line on the Boston side of the river) and I would always leave about 45 minutes to get to work on time. Typically, it would take 30 minutes to get from Stonybrook to Charles, but with delays, it was never consistent.

While we LOVED JP, my bf really got very tired of the commute to Cambridge. Taking the Green Line from Heath Street is not exactly a smooth ride either, delays are pretty much the norm if you travel during rush hour, and the E line is painfully slow along Huntington Ave. If we hadn't totally fallen in love with Jamaica Plain before my bf started working in Cambridge, we would have tried to find a place in Cambridge or Somerville to avoid a long commute for him.