Advice on areas north of the city (Boston, Quincy: to rent, safe area)

[Mike7300]

Hi,

I am working in Quincy Market and thinking of renting a place North of the city to commute to North Station.
So it would have to be somewhere that has a commuter rail and also i'm looking to stay around 30 minutes or less to get to North Station. I am single no kids, but i still want it to be a relatively safe area Any suggestions?

[495neighbor]

The towns near the orange line will work best for you. You should search this forum for the poster ProfessorPablo's insights into Medford, Malden, Melrose and East Somerville, the orange line towns.

[MikePRU]

What are you looking for? A place with nightlife? Someplace suburban? Are you looking to buy or rent? What is your housing budget?

[Mike7300]

Looking to rent..this would be short term a year or two. i don't need to be within walking distance to night life. Its not worth it to me anymore to be paying extra money for that, so i would prefer for it to be suburban....basically just a place to live to get away from downtown life and relax after work is over. And having garage parking or if its outside parking, easy parking with actual parking spaces. Had enough of paying a ton of money for garage parking living downtown thats for sure.

If i had my choice i would live somewhere a lot more rural like Middleboro, Franklin, Milford, Holliston, Millis ...but its just not conducive for commuting into Boston unfortunately.

495 neighbor - ill take a look at his thread, thanks I do realize Orange Line is most convenient for me to get to work...but not sure i particularly like any of the areas on that line.

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by Mike7300

If i had my choice i would live somewhere a lot more rural like Middleboro, Franklin, Milford, Holliston, Millis ...but its just not conducive for commuting into Boston unfortunately.

Milford isn't too rural, quite urban in parts.

There is really no place 30 or 45 minutes commute on public transportation from Boston that is anything similar to those other towns you've listed.

Would you be willing to compromise with longer commute on commuter rail? Reading or Wilmington might suit you.

[Shizim]

west medford? its on the commuter rail (last stop before north station), is the same price as the Orange Line, is a smidge more suburban than say somerville or malden, and is still only a 20 minute drive into the city on off hrs if you want to get in and have som sort of night life.

[Mike7300]

ok ill check west medford out.

eh i probably wouldn't go longer than like 30 or 35 minutes on commuter rail to get to North Station, cause from there i still need to walk or take the train over to fanual hall.

whats salem like?

[BostonBornMassMade]

Salem is a city. Nothing to ritzy, just a nice functional city, not a great locations for public transit, but awesome proximity to the water. Fairly large latino presence.

[495neighbor]

Originally Posted by Mike7300

ok ill check west medford out.

eh i probably wouldn't go longer than like 30 or 35 minutes on commuter rail to get to North Station, cause from there i still need to walk or take the train over to fanual hall.

whats salem like?

Salem, somewhat young vibe. There is a commuter rail station there, but your commute would be more than 35 minutes. Fairly inexpensive compared to Boston.

How about Winthrop or Beachmont area of Revere, somewhat more residential than these other areas, and pretty safe. You could take Blue Line to work.

[scratchie]

I mentioned in another thread that a potential problem with Salem, or almost any place north of Peabody/Danvers on 128, is that it starts to get more geographically isolated, the further out on 128/114 you get. It's not that far in terms of distance, but those roads haven't been widened since the 70s (at least) and they fill up with traffic fast. It takes a lot longer to get to Boston (or almost anywhere else outside of the immediate area) than the actual mileage would suggest. Around Halloween, the traffic going into Salem can back up all the way out to Rt. 128.