Western mass..opinions..

[johnhopkins22]

There is alot of misconception on this form; the most important is regarding jobs. Obviously no one here has used any facts or data to support their conclusions; I previously lived in eastern Massachusetts(Worcester County).
Worcester County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state; so employment outside of Suffolk county in eastern massachusetts is in fact not plentiful; in fact the second lowest unemployment rate out of ALL the counties is in Hampshire County.
When I lived in worcester county I could not find a job and I moved here to hampshire county specfically for that reason and shortly after I found two jobs; one which pays great. So if you are content on to moving to massachusetts; do yourself a favor and look up the unemployment data by county(you can find it on the new york times or mass.gov).
I will say previously to living here I always hated new england; heavy traffic; the cities are spread apart, horrible weather; rude people; et cetra...until I moved to western massachusetts. Yes we have our urban problems much like the rest of state(fitchburg,lowell,dorchester) in springfield and holyoke but outside of those cities western massachusetts is a great place.
There are plenty of opportunities to go hiking; the area is beautifully dotted with verdant mountains and trees. Our education system is fanstastic; there are plenty of colleges to go to(amherst, umass, smith, and so on). In fact outside of boston we have more universities than anywhere in new england.
AMherst and northampton are nice towns as well as all the surrounding towns. Traffic is bad in northampton; but outside of that is much better than eastern mass; where it takes you an hour to get anywhere.
Also there is little to no nyc influence in western mass it is hundreds of miles away; if it matters to you there are just as many ardent boston fans here as the rest of new england; I have no idea what that poster was talking about.

[ChrisA70]

Originally Posted by johnhopkins22

There is alot of misconception on this form; the most important is regarding jobs. Obviously no one here has used any facts or data to support their conclusions; I previously lived in eastern Massachusetts(Worcester County).
Worcester County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state; so employment outside of Suffolk county in eastern massachusetts is in fact not plentiful; in fact the second lowest unemployment rate out of ALL the counties is in Hampshire County.
When I lived in worcester county I could not find a job and I moved here to hampshire county specfically for that reason and shortly after I found two jobs; one which pays great. So if you are content on to moving to massachusetts; do yourself a favor and look up the unemployment data by county(you can find it on the new york times or mass.gov).
I will say previously to living here I always hated new england; heavy traffic; the cities are spread apart, horrible weather; rude people; et cetra...until I moved to western massachusetts. Yes we have our urban problems much like the rest of state(fitchburg,lowell,dorchester) in springfield and holyoke but outside of those cities western massachusetts is a great place.
There are plenty of opportunities to go hiking; the area is beautifully dotted with verdant mountains and trees. Our education system is fanstastic; there are plenty of colleges to go to(amherst, umass, smith, and so on). In fact outside of boston we have more universities than anywhere in new england.
AMherst and northampton are nice towns as well as all the surrounding towns. Traffic is bad in northampton; but outside of that is much better than eastern mass; where it takes you an hour to get anywhere.
Also there is little to no nyc influence in western mass it is hundreds of miles away; if it matters to you there are just as many ardent boston fans here as the rest of new england; I have no idea what that poster was talking about.

I thought the same thing when i read that. NYC influence???? Maybe with the latin King gangs.... western MA has no NY feel at all. Come to FL, everyone from NY is here...

[holden125]

Originally Posted by johnhopkins22

There is alot of misconception on this form; the most important is regarding jobs. Obviously no one here has used any facts or data to support their conclusions; I previously lived in eastern Massachusetts(Worcester County).

Worcester County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state; so employment outside of Suffolk county in eastern massachusetts is in fact not plentiful; in fact the second lowest unemployment rate out of ALL the counties is in Hampshire County.

Worcester County is not eastern Mass. except perhaps in the Southboro-Westboro area. It's central Mass. and it's in the sticks. There are jobs in eastern Mass. counties other than Suffolk: particularly Middlesex, but also Norfolk, Plymouth, Essex.

Hampshire County contains the state's 2nd largest metro area, because there are a number of populous cities clustered together. Springfield is in the middle of the county, so nobody in Hampshire County is all that far from the jobs corridor of I-91.

[western mass and love it]

just a side note,Springfield is in Hamden county and Northampton is in Hampshire county. But both are directly on 91 and yes as Holden125 pointed out right on the job corrider.

[teachertype]

Originally Posted by western mass and love it

As far as western mass having a big NYC influence i just do not and have never seen it....i wonder if the people who comment on this area have ever actually been to or lived in this area.

Actually, I lived for 8 years in a neighborhood in Amherst where 80% to 90% of the 50 or so families were New Yorkers. And, I don't mean New York state; I mean people who grew up in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, etc. Some of them did their shopping in NYC, still kept apartments in NYC, or commuted to work in NYC during the week and only stayed weekends in Amherst.

There's tons of New Yorkers in the Valley, also out in the N. Adams area, around Middlefield and Worthington I hear them, and up the road in Bratt, Putney and Bellows Falls to the north. I hear the NYC accent all the time. Whenever I get together with friends there's usually some side group talking about Broadway shows or some deli they've all been to, with just the right pastrami or pickles, bagels, whatever.

[teachertype]

Originally Posted by western mass and love it

Springfield is in Hamden county

Springfield is in Hampden County....seven letters with a "p" in the middle.

[western mass and love it]

Sorry didn't know i slipped off my perfection chair!

[John Buettner]

We lived in Chicopee for 27 years about a mile west of Westover ARB and loved it. A couple other towns not mentioned is South Hadley, Hadley and Belchertown. If you have a boat ( or not ) South Hadley is the place. Brunelle's marina on the CT. river is awesome. Beautiful beyond words.
We visit as often as we can.