Maine to Boston: Is the money worth it? (Salem, Beverly: health insurance, student loans)

[aolson1]

I'm a Database Administrator in my upper 20's living in Portland, ME. If money were no object I would live here forever, but I'm hurtin. Obviously the cost of living is lower here in Portland, but so are the salaries. Its hard to come by a DBA job here in Maine and I know I could make OVER DOUBLE what I'm making now if I were to move 100 miles south.

Portland is great during the summer and fall, but during the winter there isnt much to do other than go out drinking and go skiing. Is there really that much more to do in Boston during the winter or is it just going to be more drinking and 2 hours further away from the ski areas?

I pretty much know what to expect for the most part, but I'm hoping to get some insight from some former Mainers on if they think living in Boston with the higher salaries and better job opportunities is worth the traffic, parking, and cramming yourself into a green line trolley car smelling other people's BO for an hour every day...

Thanks!

[CityGirl52]

Aolson1,

I was just in your lovely City of Portland this past week, small world. I got a nice tour of the East & West Promenade & the Portland Head light, we also had lunch at DiMillo's & HAD to see the chocolate moose at Len Libby's, yes, all touristy things, but that's what we were that day, day trippers! I was with my cousin that lives up there, so we got a first hand look at it all thru her eyes. Nice City you got up there. Now see how you learn something new every day? My mother & I now realize that the City of Portland ALSO has that beautiful rocky coast just like the rest of the famous "rocky coast of Maine!" It was JUST beautiful to see that coastline you got up there. I wish I had my camera that day, but I didn't unfortunately, so I'll have to take a ride up again one of these days....

To get to my point...I worked in downtown Boston's financial district with a girl that transferred down to our office from Portland. She lived right in the Back Bay for a good 6 years. She moved back up to Portland though because she was like a "fish out of water" living & working down in the City of Boston! She missed Portland SO SO bad and couldn't wait to get the transfer back up! So my friend, it's up to you & what you're looking for out of this big transition. Will you be happier? That's something you'll have to find out. Is it more expensive? YES, no doubt about it either. Boston is extremely expensive now to live & it'll be a lot more expensive than Portland, BUT if you intend to make more $$$? May be it'll help you in the long run. I myself feel that Maine is more expensive than where I live in the state of New Hampshire. My cousin shops in NH & even food shops in NH a lot of times.

The cost of living is better for me in NH than it is in Boston OR Maine. BUT like I said once again, you'll have to decide what you think is best for you. With me, I'd go back to or near the City of Boston in a heart beat only because I'm from there originally & I'm the one that's like a "fish out of water" living in this state of NH, LOL, so see how life spins for every one of us?

Your quality of life could change if you move to Boston & it could change for the better. That part is up to you in the long run, as I know you are aware of that. I know that with my friends and I, we started to migrate away from the bar scene completely once we were in our late 20's. That could be starting to happen with you right now and you want to change your lifestyle & it WILL change, and ALL for the better; I know because we had the "disco era" that my friends and I had to all get thru when we were in our 20's! There's a LOT of culture in Boston, always remember that one, it's wonderful that way! You're going to meet more people with a lot of various ideas on lifestyles. I ended up going back to school & getting another degree & met such wonderful people as a result of that. It's a continuous lifestyle change, trust me!

If you move to Boston, you could always move to one of the outlying communities. The rents are extremely high right in the Back Bay & thruout the City itself. You could still try one of the neighborhoods & take the train or bus in to downtown Boston if that's where your job is. Then again, you could always live further away too, that's the beauty of living down thru the greater Boston area. You could ALSO live along the coast you know too, that way you won't miss Maine as much as time marches on and you can always shoot up over long weekends! You could check out Beverly or Salem, MA. & take the commuter rail in to Boston, it's not that bad on the commuter rail you know? There's a lot of various possibilities, as I'm sure you know. The door is certainly wide open that way!

I just wanted to make sure you had this perspective on it , while you're thinking about this move.

Good luck to you & I really hope you're much happier than my old friend was that's from Portland & I hope that things work out for you with this decision in the long run! Who knows, may be it will.

[aolson1]

citygirl,

Thanks for the reply. The main factor is just money. I doubt that I would be living in Back Bay, but I know that certainly my cost of living will go up. Right now there are no job prospects in my field, and I haven't gotten a raise in 3 years. I know it sounds crazy that a person would have more dispensable income living in Boston rather than Maine, but it is true. I just get by right now, and don't have anything left over to save. Down there I could make double my salary here. In fact, probably more than double. Plus not everything would get more expensive... Cable is actually less, health insurance is less, and (the biggest part of my monthly expenses other than rent) student loans would stay the same. For some crazy reason Portland, ME is more expensive than Chicago or Providence, and our salaries here are significantly less than even Portsmouth.

I get a lot of hits on my resume from companies off of 128... Anyway, I just wonder if the extra money is worth the decrease in quality of life.

[CityGirl52]

To make the type of $$$ you're talking about? You need to GO for it now while you're young & I'm not kidding you about that either & YES Boston is where the good salaries are & also along 128 among other places. So YES, you need to definitely GO for it when you get offered good $$$ like that, trust me about that one. I kid you NOT about it either! Grab it and run for the hills afterwards (like the rest of us have done & are doing right now as I speak!) That's the name of the game these days anyway. I didn't make these particular rules up either, instead these rules are staring at all of us right in the face, it's just up to us to GO for it! Hey, if you can't beat them? Join them! LOL!!!

Good luck with your decision!