Medford (Cambridge, Somerville, Lawrence: middle-class, apartment, house)

[shacon_bacon]

I'm looking for any and all info on Medford please

Anything about neighborhoods, schools, the residents, pricing, everything!!

Thanks

[redpanda]

Medford is a pretty solid middle-class suburb. The residents run the gamut from blue-collar townies to educated yuppies. The schools are sort of the same: solidly middle-of-the-road.

Different parts of Medford have very distinct flavors. My favorite areas are the Governor's Avenue/Lawrence Estates area (near Medford Square), parts of West Medford, and parts of the Tufts area. These areas tend to have more tree-lined streets, friendly residents, homeowners with a stake in keeping their property values, etc.

The parts of Medford that border Malden tend to be a bit seedier, with more multi-family homes, trash in the street, etc. Still safe enough, but not as nice.

I live in Medford. We sold our house (also in Medford) last year and are currently in a temporary apartment while we look for a new, larger home (in Medford and some other nearby communities). I like it here; it retains enough townie character to keep it down-to-earth, but still has plenty of yuppie flavor as well. If it's not rush hour, it takes about 10 minutes to get anywhere nearby you'd like to go (Cambridge, downtown, Arlington, Burlington, etc...). There's plenty of green space, and easy access to both big-box stores (in Medford, Everett, Somerville) and more independent boutiques (in nearby Davis Square, Arlington Center, Porter Square).

That said, if the only place in Medford I had lived was where I currently am in my temporary apartment (near the Malden line), I would never want to live here. I had no idea how different the different neighborhoods are. Like I said, it's safe, but other then that, yuck.