Moving to Lawrence.....?? (Boston, Haverhill, Everett: sales, apartments, lofts)

[Kenjermin]

Ok, here is my situation. I am in about a week, moving to either New Hampshire, Manchester area, or Lawrence Mass from Overland Park KS for school.
My reasoning is this, My school will be in Manchster, but my job, which is with Costco, only has an opening in the Everett store, if I want to stay in the Pharmacy. So im trying to get something in between so the commute isnt so bad either direction.

Here is my conundrum.
I have read nothing good about Lawrence Mass. I started researching it because I noticed that apartments and Lofts are very cheap there but then i read this article
Lawrence, MA: City of the Damned

and there is also a thread here on City Data forums regarding how bad Lawrence is.

I like to think of myself as someone that can for my own opinions about things and usually take what people say with a grain of salt, however all these stories are starting to worry me a bit.
Is it as bad as people say? Or is it just hype? Is it improving or should I steer clear of the place all together.
I think I read that Andover? which is north of Lawrence is a better place but is pretty close geographically?
Would you guys recommend Andover over Lawerence? or any other areas in particular.
I have never really lived in a big city always lived in Suburbs or small towns, not that Lawrence is a big city but it looks more industrial from what I can tell from google maps lol

Any advice or help would be appreciated. Also not to start this debate but would it be better to live in NH and work in Mass? or live and work in Mass? I read that its a bad Idea to live in NH and work in Mass cause you end up with the worst parts of both their tax structures.

thanks again for any advice or help you guys can give! Look forward to moving up there and soak up all the history this part of the country has being the original 13 colonies and all.

See you soon!!

[CaseyB]

As far as NH vs. Mass, that would apply to property taxes, so since you will not be buying, it's not an issue. New Hampshire has no sales tax and no state income tax. You will have to pay income tax if you work in Massachusetts regardless of where you live.

I would avoid Lawrence, if possible.

[sirk98]

Andover is literally the next town over from Lawrence.

[Valerie C]

You can find the demographics of Lawrence right here on city data. Be sure you are comfortable with the information: //www.city-data.com/city/Lawren...achusetts.html

Lawrence unemployment rate is 14.4% (MA average is 6.4%)

Hispanic - 56,363 (73.8%)
White alone - 15,637 (20.5%)
Black alone - 1,722 (2.3%)
Asian alone - 1,756 (2.3%)
Two or more races - 514 (0.7%)

Visit the citydata page on Lawrence and scroll down to the crime statistics.

Most NH towns will have higher property tax rates than MA, but the property values are generally lower, so it's sort of a wash. NH does not have an income tax, but if you work in MA and live in NH, then yes, you will be paying MA income taxes.

If you decide to live in MA, you might consider Haverhill. It's got bus & train service (commuter rail to Boston and other areas). Do a side by side comparison on the crime stats (vs. Lawrence) and you will see that that while Haverhill does have crime issues (as will most if not all cities) it's not as widespread as Lawrence, and if you check police logs, most is concentrated in certain neighborhoods.