[Stylo]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

I'm not sure Cambridge is that much cheaper than SF/Silicon Valley but agree with the others. I've also heard that Seattle real estate prices are creeping up fast as many "California refugees" move there....

Boston suburbs are wayyyy cheaper than SF Bay.

[Arminion]

Thank you all of you for the great and thorough comments!
I have only spent half a day in Hartford a couple of weeks ago when I was brought on site for the interview.. I somehow got the impression that it's really ghetto-i, in a pretty dangerous way. And believe me, I'm used to seeing all kinds of crazy stuff working in Oakland, CA. Is my impression exaggerated (perhaps just being new to the area), or is it as bad as it seems?
Also on another note, while Boston/Cambridge has the most energy in New England, it's only slightly cheaper than the Bay Area, so I'm not sure I'd want to leave all this for a similar COL but without the mountains...

[newerabuzz]

median price home in the greater Hartford area is around 218K- in the more upscale towns median price is a bit higher- 250-300K- A new home in many towns 2500 square feet 4 bedrooms 2.5 baths, 2 acres around 425K

Hartford has a population of around 126,000- Oakland over 350,000-

[HeadedWest]

Hartford (the city) is not really a successful place. But very few people who work there live there, so you have to look at where people who work in Hartford actually live.

I've known quite a few people who have moved east from California, and they have had significant trouble adapting to the move. The main issues are:

- snow. It's not trivial, and it does impact your life. In CT, the impact varies greatly from year to year from not much to a lot, but it's never zero. Are you (and your spouse) okay with a number of "snow days" where the schools (and sometimes even all the major roads in the state) close down?

- rain. In CA, there are long stretches of the year where you can plan an outdoor event without any significant chance of it being rained out. This is not even remotely possible in Connecticut, because precipitation can occur any time during the year. (This may sound trivial, but I have found that friends of mine who moved from CA to the east coast found it to be a big deal.)

- humidity. When it gets warm in CT, most of the time it is humid. There are even quite a few days where the temperature barely gets above 80 but you need air conditioning just to extract the humidity from the atmosphere. (People from CA I have known assume that a day with a high of 80 degrees will be a pleasant day; this is not guaranteed to be true in the east.)

[BicoastalAnn]

I think you should consider your long term job prospects too... as a data scientist, I imagine you don't worry about finding another job should you ever need to in the Bay Area. But if you move to CT, buy a house, etc. and you get laid off or despise your job, will you have enough other options in Hartford?

plus Walnut Creek is lovely!

[gentlearts]

I love New England, so I would take the job. There is nothing saying you have to stay there forever if you don't like it. If you have a 2 yr. old, you must be fairly young, so why stay in one place at this point? Save a bit more money than you would in SF and if you want to move back someday you can.

[kidyankee764]

You shouldn't use this poll as your deciding factor, but I will ask - do you think your wife/family will be happy here? As someone else said, don't force someone to move to a new place they're hesitant about. They will find every reason to hate it.

I think if you can comfortably afford SF, stay put.

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

You shouldn't use this poll as your deciding factor, but I will ask - do you think your wife/family will be happy here? As someone else said, don't force someone to move to a new place they're hesitant about. They will find every reason to hate it.

I think if you can comfortably afford SF, stay put.

agreed with that - as I said up in the thread, while I love Connecticut, having a great boss that goes the extra mile to support you is huge in the working world. Just imagine if their next boss was just ok? Or, worse, they had a lousy boss?

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by Arminion

Thank you all of you for the great and thorough comments!
I have only spent half a day in Hartford a couple of weeks ago when I was brought on site for the interview.. I somehow got the impression that it's really ghetto-i, in a pretty dangerous way. And believe me, I'm used to seeing all kinds of crazy stuff working in Oakland, CA. Is my impression exaggerated (perhaps just being new to the area), or is it as bad as it seems?
Also on another note, while Boston/Cambridge has the most energy in New England, it's only slightly cheaper than the Bay Area, so I'm not sure I'd want to leave all this for a similar COL but without the mountains...

You can get a really nice house within a reasonable commute of Cambridge for 500k. The same scenario would be minimum 1mm in Bay Area, so not sure why you think it's a small difference.

No mountains? White Mountains, Vermont, Maine are a short drive away. Boston is close to some outstanding natural beauty.

Hartford the city is not pretty in spots but it's a small geographic area. Most of the metro area is not ghetto at all.

[parentologist]

I love Northern California, but I cannot afford to live there. The Greater Hartford area is NOT like Hartford. Lovely suburbs, where you can get a nice house for your family for about three times your annual salary. Good schools. Not a lot of traffic. Possible to drive to Boston or NYC for events, and there is also stuff to do around here. Cape Cod and Rhode Island shores, and even CT shore, provide opportunity for beaches (with warm water in the summer!) and boating.

The only real con, as far as I can see, is the winters, which can be pretty long and cold and snowy. But there's good skiing only two hours away in Vermont, and crappy skiing nearby, where your kid can learn to ski.

I'd go for the move to Hartford area. Having a house instead of an apartment is a big draw for a family.