Moving from France to MA or to NH? (Boston, Worcester: home, school) - Massachusetts - City-Data Forum

Aliena · 08-20-2007, 01:30 PM

Hi everybody,

I'am new to this forum... I need your help...

I am currently living in Paris and I plan to move at the end if the year to MA or NH.
My new job will be based in Manchester (NH) but I am thinking to live in Lexington or Bedford area (MA). On one hand I prefer to stay near Boston because I feel I can have a more active life there, but on the other hand I am afraid to spend too much time on the road, now that I have a 2 year old child. Is it worthy to commute from one state to the other? Is that Lexington a nice place to live with children?

Can somebody tell me how is the traffic in rush hours to leave from Lexington MA to Manchester NH by the I93? Does it get worse in the winter with the snow? Anyone has lived in both NH and MA and can tell me the main differences?

Thanks so much for your advice!
bisou

MovingForward · 08-20-2007, 02:15 PM

Aliena:

Some people do commute, but find it tiring after awhile. Your commute would be anywhere from 1 hour-2hours, each way, depending on the weather. Lexington is an upscale town that is safe, beautiful, and very good for children.

Your employer might be a good source of information, in terms of supplying you with additional relocation figures.

ogre · 08-20-2007, 02:29 PM

Without traffic it should take about an hour to drive from Bedford or Lexington to Manchester. If you're working ususal daytime hours you will encounter traffic. In general most of the traffic will be headed toward Boston in the morning and out from Boston in the afternoon, the opposite of the direction you would be driving. However, there is enough movement in all directions around the Boston metro area that you cannot avoid traffic during rush hours, no matter which direction you're going. I'm not personally familiar with the commute you are considering, so I can't tell you how long it would take, but I'm sure there will be enough traffic to slow things down so that it would take longer than the hour it would take with lighter traffic.

Another point you might want to consider is that New Hampshire does not tax earned income, while Massachusetts does. I'm not sure what if any tax MA levies on income earned in another state. You might want to check on this with the Mass. Department of Revenue. It's possible that you may have to pay a tax in MA which you would not have to pay if you lived in NH.

Unless it's really important to you to live especially close to Boston, you might consider living in one of the towns in southern NH, close to the MA border. That would shorten your commute, save you some cost on gas, and keep you from having to pay any income tax MA might want to collect. This would also put you close enough to Boston to drive there in 45 minutes to an hour during times of lighter traffic, which would usually be the case during the evenings and weekends when you would most likely be going out for entertainment.

CaseyB · 08-20-2007, 05:49 PM

I agree with what Ogre has said above and also you will have to figure that the traffic will be so much worse in the winter when it is snowing.

Aliena · 08-21-2007, 08:14 AM

Thanks for your answers... !

I guess my situation is not the most usual one, as most of people work in MA and live in NH.

I am really afraid of changing my current life in central Paris by a too quiet life in NH. I have the feeling that NH towns are much more rural than that ones near Boston. I don't know anything there, I just react from what I read from yours and other posts...

Has anyone lived in southern NH and can recommend me a nice town to live in, half way between Manchester and Boston?
Is there any town in NH prefered by the international expatriation community?

Thanks,
bisous

Valerie C · 08-21-2007, 10:15 AM

If you will be working in New Hampshire, you might well wish to consider living in New Hampshire as well. There is no income tax on your earnings, however, property taxes are somewhat higher than in Massachusetts. The cities of Nashua, Concord or Manchester may be a consideration for you:

Portsmouth NH & Seacoast NH - Guide to the Region
City of Concord NH
//www.city-data.com/city/Nashua-New-Hampshire.html

I wish you all the best in your traveling!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aliena

Thanks for your answers... !

I guess my situation is not the most usual one, as most of people work in MA and live in NH.

I am really afraid of changing my current life in central Paris by a too quiet life in NH. I have the feeling that NH towns are much more rural than that ones near Boston. I don't know anything there, I just react from what I read from yours and other posts...

Has anyone lived in southern NH and can recommend me a nice town to live in, half way between Manchester and Boston?
Is there any town in NH prefered by the international expatriation community?

Thanks,
bisous

ogre · 08-21-2007, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aliena

Thanks for your answers... !

I guess my situation is not the most usual one, as most of people work in MA and live in NH.

I am really afraid of changing my current life in central Paris by a too quiet life in NH. I have the feeling that NH towns are much more rural than that ones near Boston. I don't know anything there, I just react from what I read from yours and other posts...

Has anyone lived in southern NH and can recommend me a nice town to live in, half way between Manchester and Boston?
Is there any town in NH prefered by the international expatriation community?

Thanks,
bisous

What might work best for you in NH depends on what attracted you to Bedford and Lexington in MA, and which NH offer similar qualities. Bedord seems to me to be a nice, pleasant town, but a very suburban town which doesn't have a very distinctive character beyond being small and pleasant. I live near Boston, and am not as familiar as NH residents would be with the details of most towns in NH, but I'm sure you could find a NH town very similar to Bedford in its local character.

Lexington has a fairly substantial downtown area for a town its size. Lexington also is known for its very leftward political leanings. If you were aware of the left-wing politics in Lexington, that leads me to think you might have been attracted to Lexington because you felt it might be an accepting place for someone from another country. I'm not sure what towns in NH to recommend for the international community, but there are enough people from the Boston area living as suburbanites in southern NH that I think you should be able to find such towns in NH.

Of those areas Valerie C recommended, I think you'd probably want to look closely at Portsmouth and the other coastal towns. Nice attractive area, Portsmouth is known as a vibrant small city, you'd be living in NH and not paying income tax on your earnings as you would in MA, you would be closer to Manchester than you would anywhere near Boston, yet still only about an hour's drive (give or take a few minutes) from Boston. Concord, on the other hand, is north of Manchester, and so is that much farther from Boston, probably a little too long a drive for an evening out in Boston.

Unless you really, really, really want to be close to Boston, and are willing to fight the traffic to get from Boston to Manchester in something close to a two-hour commute, I would recommend NH because of the shorter commute and lack of income tax. However, if you are inclined to live in MA, I'd suggest looking for a town north of Boston. Many towns in Essex County are about the same distance from Manchester as Bedford and Lexington are, but are on the northern fringe of the metropolitan area, so you're likely to avoid most of the Boston-area traffic, and thus have a quicker commute to Manchester, and you're only about a 45-minute drive from Boston during the lighter-traffic evening and weekend hours when you'd most likely be going out to enjoy the city.

Valerie C · 08-21-2007, 08:38 PM

Towns in the northeast section of Mass, and having an "easy" commute to Manchester AND Boston might be Andover (40 minutes/33 miles) (andoverma.gov - Official website of the Town of Andover, MA) or North Andover (37 minutes/31 miles) (Welcome to North Andover, MA) or a bit further east would be Newburyport, which is beautiful EVERY season of the year, (52 minutes/45 miles via Rte. 95 to 101) (City of Newburyport)

Aliena · 08-22-2007, 02:08 AM

Thanks a lot for your messages, they are great, I have a lot of work to do now in order to know better about all the towns you told me

In fact I first thought about Lexington because someone told me that there is a french school there so I imagined that meant a lot of french expatriates chose that town to live in....
On the other hand as I grow up in Barcelona I am specially fond of coastal towns, I guess Porthmouth or Newburyporth could suit me! But, what happen with these towns during winter time? Are they still alive? I have been told about the winter storms that are specially scaring in the coast? Is that true?

Is there someone from Andover who can recommend me this town?

Any other nice town near the I93 in the way to Manchester?

Thnks again for your help
bisous

drouhin · 08-22-2007, 05:21 AM

I agree with Ogre that you might want to look at towns in the Seacoast area of NH. From what you said you're looking for, I would recommend Exeter or Portsmouth. Exeter particularly is close to Manshester: a 33 min. drive down Rt 101, according to yahoo maps. Although both have tourist attractions, they're primarily residential, and neither "dies" in winter. The Seacoast region is the home of the University of NH (in Durham) and Phillips Exeter Academy (in Exeter) and the population of the area is well-educated and sophisticated and supports a pretty strong arts scene. Both are easily accessible to Boston: Exeter by train, Portsmouth by bus.

Winter storms aren't particularly dangerous on the coast unless you're living directly on the beach, in which case you have to worry about storm surge. I believe the worst of the snowfall occurs inland, particularly outside of Rt 495 in Mass and in the Worcester hills area.