Racially Diverse Neighborhoods

[enpan13]

I'd certainly agree, it seems there is much more a hispanic presenc in the region in general...

[Amerie]

Cambridge is a wonderful place to live and has a diverse population. It may be a little pricey though.

I am of mixed heritage and lived in East Boston without a problem and loved it and it's short commute to downtown. I can't say I feel the same about Chelsea or Revere which are in close proximity to that area.

Jamaica Plain is also a very diverse neighborhood in the Boston area. I lived there as well too and it's probably more affordable than other areas in Boston and has a lot of stuff to do for children. My Landlord at the time who is white lived in the apartment upstairs and I used to babysit their daughter and would have take her to or retrieve her from all sorts of cool activities. I have since moved out of state, but they still live in the neighborhood.

Other neighborhoods that I would consider are Arlington, Brookline, and perhaps Waltham.

[goyguy]

It's always good to "dig" some when you see percentages only broken down between "White" and "minority" (such a joke when Caucasians make up less than 1/10 of the population of the planet!) Practically the entire "minority" population of inner-ring areas such as Quincy, Lexington, etc is Asian - whether that be Pakistani or Japanese or from any other nation on that continent.

Unfortunately for you, the sector of Greater Boston which has the most successful track record of what was once called "integration" is the Route 24 corridor south of the city. That's where historically diverse Brockton and Randolph and more recently melting-pot Avon, Stoughton, Holbrook, and Milton can be found. To this day, virtually the entire African and African-American community here is contained within Boston and Cambridge, with some moneyed folks in Newton and Brookline. There are also a few quiet, isolated communities of true color-blindness such as North Waltham and West Medford. Either of those are fine neighborhoods with some (in Medford's case) and many (in Waltham's) rental opportunities. But the public schools are so-so at best.

I concur with others who report, personally or secondhand, of positive experiences in White Suburbia as someone who is not. My accounts are all secondhand but are all good too. But it makes sense to me that you want your kids to see people who "look like them" in everyday real life and not have them all be Metco students. The best I can suggest is Waltham or Medford, and also Lynn; Lynn gets maligned a lot because of some of its bad sections, which are bad indeed, but it also contains great neighborhoods and is on the rebound after its industries' mid-20th-century collapse. The school system, while not top-notch, allows for cross-district transfers if diversity is enhanced and contains two high schools.

Metco, BTW, is a program which was launched in the '60s to bus AA kids from Boston and Springfield to suburban schools. Many of the participating school systems are still involved.

[sportsfan146]

wilmington is a good place .. friendly people .. its coming up good with all the new stores and the homes are very affordable . highways can get you anywhere and then u have the train !!! the kids here get together and there isnt all white people.. thats what everyone thinks . there is mostly white , asian . but its not a redneck town

[BIGTDOG93]

I think where ever you decide to live as long as you raise your kids proper they shouldn't have any problems. I am in a interracial marriage and have 3 bi-racial children in my life and our neighborhood we live in which is Franklin is wonderful, people here seem to be more educated less ignorant. I use to live on Cape Cod which the area I lived was very diverse but many of the people who were bi-racial had a negative past or present so it was hard because of my job I couldn't or wanted to socialize with folks of that nature, nor have my kids hang out with them.

[azaleaeight]

In general, the areas North of Boston are pretty much a matter of heavily white with minority families interspersed here and there. Lowell has its heavily hispanic or heavily Asian areas, and a town like Andover tends to have plenty of people from India, Europe, the Middle East, or Asia; and there are certainly Black families there - but there's aren't generally any "mixed racial neighborhoods". The towns North of Boston (and many South or West) tend to have streets with only so many houses on them (as opposed to more densely populated cities), and for the most part - if you're going to stay away from very ethnic areas of Lowell or Boston - I think any non-white families are just kind of mixed in here and there.

Andover has a lot of high-tech industry, so if your children were in something like preschool there I think they'd run into a mix of children more than they would in a town like Tewksbury, which doesn't have much industry where professionals can work. Woburn has a lot of companies, and it's city-ish, so maybe there's a better chance of meeting more non-white people there. Cambridge is known for being pretty mixed. Haverhill has a high percentage of non-white people, but Haverhill has it's bad areas; and I don't think I'd recommend living there with little kids.

It isn't my business and you didn't ask for my opinion on this, but if it were me I'd just find the nicest place to live that I could afford, and if my children's school didn't have enough non-white kids in it I'd look for some activities where they could meet non-white children. When my daughter was younger her girlfriend's family came from India, but her girlfriend hung out with whoever happened to be in the neighborhood and at school. Her family made it a point, however, to let their daughter attend special dance classes (Indian dance) and other activities aimed at families from India.

Lowell has tons of people who are not white, but Lowell isn't the best place in the world to raise children (or do anything).