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Which Northeast State would you choose based on personal desirability?
Things I would consider:
Cities
Suburbs
Topography
Outdoor Recreation
Local Culture
History
Weekend Trips
Area Aesthetic
Food
Education
Healthcare
COL
Taxes
I’m Boston-centric but if you use these categories, New York State wins easily. If you used New England rather than the 6 individual states, it’s closer.
NYC easily wins the city thing
The suburbs are a toss-up. Mainline vs NYC tri-state vs Boston.
Topography is an easy win for NY. Long Island beaches. Mountains big enough to hold an Olympic downhill.
Outdoor recreation is the same answer.
From NYC, you have public transportation options for weekend trips unlike anywhere else in the country
NYC easily wins food
Boston can make a good case for education and health care
For urban, Philadelphia easily wins COL
New Hampshire wins taxes
My summer house is coastal Massachusetts. My ski place is in Vermont. I lived a decade in Portsmouth NH. I went to college in Burlington VT. I’ve lived in CT and RI. Mom had a summer house on the ocean in down east Maine. I’m in NY a lot. I’ve had girlfriends in NJ and Manhattan. I’ve worked a lot in Philly.
I’d take New England over New York but no one New England state stands up to New York State.
Cities: NYC by far and Boston 2nd
Suburbs: NYC by far
Topography: Maine
Outdoor Recreation: New York state
Local Culture: Massachusetts
History: Massachusetts
Weekend Trips: Connecticut (close to all/more centralized)
Area Aesthetic: Connecticut
Food: New York City area
Education: New York
Healthcare: New York
COL: New Hampshire
Taxes: New Hampshire
Given its sheer size, both in terms of population and geography it is hard to top NYS. It's simply going to have more of everything. But, states are massive places. Someone who lives in NYS can't realistically have easy access to NYC, the Hamptons, the Adirondack and Niagara Falls. They are several hours apart. So in that way I have a hard time picking a state.
A place like Springfield, Hartford, Worcester could offer access to NYC/Boston, mountains, the ocean, tons of cute weekend getaway towns, and a more reasonable cost of living. Same thing with Eastern PA towns like Allentown or Scranton (subbing out Bos for Philly).
Of course, those cities aren't the most interesting and people may prefer to be in more of a boutique town like Ithaca, Saratoga, Burlington or Portsmouth, or a major city like Boston or NYC.
Im biased in favor of a big city, so I would go with NYC and by extension NYS. But others will disagree.
Cities: Boston and DC are my favorite. So Massachusetts and DC I guess?
Suburbs: Massachusetts by a landslide. Nothing really compares to Rockport, Marblehead, Concord, Cohasset, etc ... Im not a big fan of NYC suburbs at all. Philly ones are very nice
Topography: I personally like to be close to the beaches and Mountains. New Hampshire
Outdoor Recreation: New Hampshire
Local Culture: Rhode Island has the most interesting and unique local culture in my opinion
History: Massachusetts
Weekend Trips: Massachusetts (Cape Cod, Marthas Vineyard, Rockport, Gloucester, Nantucket, Berkshires, Boston)
Area Aesthetic:
Food: New York City, but outside NYC in NY .. not very good. So Its a threeway tie between PA, MA and NY
Education: Massachusetts, with New Jersey not far behind.
Healthcare: Massachusetts . Boston was voted #2 in the world for healthcare. I dont think a US city can compare.
COL: Pennsylvania
Taxes: If renting, New Hampshire.
I would chose Massachusetts. I love seafood, the medium-fast pace life, the topography, local attractions and the level of education.
If I had to rank where to live: (Note, ive lived in Mass, Upstate New York, NYC)
1. Massachusetts
2. New Hampshire
3. Maryland
4. Rhode Island
5. New Jersey
6. Connecticut
7. Pennsylvania
8. New York
9. Maine
10. Vermont
Last edited by masssachoicetts; 12-02-2019 at 02:15 PM..
Love Philly and less congested but all the amenities I would need compared to NYC. So by extension, PA. Honestly. I don't get connection with the state but only with the cities themselves. New England states don't interest me and are too far north which makes me feel too isolated.
Pennsylvania. For me, it has the best balance of cost of living, friendly people, things to do, and combination of quality metro areas and small towns. I really love the state.
False. It's the reason I'm moving to Albany. I live in NYS.
Did my time downstate/NYC. Too expensive and chaotic at this point in my life. I value outdoors much more now.
Albany is extremely convenient. Montreal/Canada up the Northway. ADK's very close. Hudson Valley/Catskills very close. City is two hours, don't care about the Hamptons whatsoever. Ocean is close. Spent a lot of my time in Philadelphia area. Not as fond of Boston or New England. It's just kinda there.
Yeah, I was going to say with NY, what makes it dynamic is that you don't even necessarily need to be in or near NYC to have access to legitimate urban environments/neighborhoods and good outdoor amenities. Let alone that you can be in a part of the state to where you can do or do without NYC like the Albany area, where you can take a train to NYC or to the Adirondacks.
I'd like to hear more about RI, since it has 0 votes now, and seems the be one of the runts of the group. Anyone want to clarify? Not that I have plans to move there or anything, just curious.
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