why Massachusetts (Boston) is one of the worst places to live (Worcester: crime, houses)

[johngolf]

Boston is a great place to live if one can afford it. Is the problem the cost of living or ones ability to afford it? Is this the chicken and egg argument?

I would not return there due to the weather (winter) and cost of living with the weather playing more a role. Same for Chicago.

[atgss]

Originally Posted by johngolf

Boston is a great place to live if one can afford it. Is the problem the cost of living or ones ability to afford it? Is this the chicken and egg argument?

I would not return there due to the weather (winter) and cost of living with the weather playing more a role. Same for Chicago.

I could be stood correct here but SC (where you live) and its jobs or lack of and rate of pay is pitiful from what I can tell even though the COL is lower.

[Shizim]

Originally Posted by lol-its-good4U

I could be stood correct here but SC (where you live) and its jobs or lack of and rate of pay is pitiful from what I can tell even though the COL is lower.

yeah but pretty much year round golf. cant comlain about that.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by lol-its-good4U

I could be stood correct here but SC (where you live) and its jobs or lack of and rate of pay is pitiful from what I can tell even though the COL is lower.

It depends what part of SC you live in. Just like we have our high priced coastal areas, so do they and the wages are roughly comparable. Sure they have their poor areas, but we do, too.

[atgss]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

It depends what part of SC you live in. Just like we have our high priced coastal areas, so do they and the wages are roughly comparable. Sure they have their poor areas, but we do, too.

I'll take your word for it.

In my limited search the Accounting jobs aren't plentiful (from what I see or lack of listed in my expertise) nor pay well enough in my view. Trying to find a potential relocation medium these days.

Anyway, Massachusetts is not a bad state to live in - just have that decent paying job or "jaaab" lol j/k!

[johngolf]

Originally Posted by lol-its-good4U

I could be stood correct here but SC (where you live) and its jobs or lack of and rate of pay is pitiful from what I can tell even though the COL is lower.

I did not come to SC to make a living. I took the money I made in Chicago and Boston (from jobs and property owned) and retired with it here.

PS

The Comm. of MA also send my wife a very nice monthly retirement check and pays our health benefits. We thank the residents of MA for the high rate of taxes residents they pay which allows MA to do so for us.

We were not dummies.........LOL

[unknown00]

Originally Posted by Shizim

so besides the high COL, which is a function of the good paying jobs available to those qualified and great education (both public and private), what makes it the "worst"?

based on just COL, you would also hate NYC, SD, SF, LA, and DC.

to answer your first question, this is a huge argument of it's own - but i think the education around boston is way overrated and overpriced, same as jobs. my argument is simply my entire family's college education is about 1/10 of those around boston (we didn't go to crappy schools either) and we all make more than avg grads around boston. yes you heard me, my brother, sister, and i, all upon graduation, make more than an avg harvard/MIT grad and we paid 1/10 of the cost to go to college

to answer your second question - great point. i have friends that live in NYC/DC/SF/LA, COL is definitely really high there as well, but quality of living is a lot better. Boston you are living in a dump, NYC is the only one comparable to Boston's low life in some areas

[LexWest]

Originally Posted by unknown00

i just moved out of Boston after living there for 3 years. it was horrible. i hope to never go back.

Well, goodbye, then.

As far as being one of the "worst place to live," that is subjective as it can be applied to any place of one 's choosing for a variety of reasons. It wasn't a good place for you (and some others), but it's great for others that actually enjoy living there.

Best wishes wherever you go.

[bohemka]

Originally Posted by johngolf

The Comm. of MA also send my wife a very nice monthly retirement check and pays our health benefits. We thank the residents of MA for the high rate of taxes residents they pay which allows MA to do so for us.

We were not dummies.........LOL

Classy.

In other news, I can't really disagree with anything the OP said. This place drives me absolutely bonkers, and I can go on at length with how it aggravates me. So we've just bought a house.

[jayrandom]

I submit that if you think that Massachusetts is one of the worst places to live you haven't really looked at a lot of other places.

Massachusetts is expensive. That's definitely a mark against it. Salaries are higher than most places, which helps. There are places in the country that are more expensive relative to their salaries, but not many. Housing is particularly expensive and generally old and often just a little bit run down. The roads can be hard to follow and in disrepair. The people can be rude and aggressive and even the nicer ones can be cold at first (where at first can be decades).

It does have some finer points, however. The public transit is better than most cities in the country. The traffic, while crazy, isn't nearly as soul-crushing as somewhere like Atlanta, DC, LA, or Houston. There are four real seasons, including glorious springs, mostly bearable summers, crisp autumns, and winters that only last three months (most years). There's a host of cultural institutions in excess of what a state this size should reasonably have. Large parts of Massachusetts are walkable and almost every town has some bit of history waiting to be discovered. The state is incredibly safe, with relatively low crime (murder rate is ~1.8 / 100000 vs. somewhere like Texas where it's 4.4 or Louisiana where it's 10.8).