Moving from Massachusetts

[Louisville Slugger]

Yeah I never left either. I thought about it. It's hard to make it on your own. Damn high cost of living. Anyways I managed to make it and all my friends and family are here. I also never had any trouble landing jobs.

I have been traveling a lot lately (Nashville, Savannah, NYC) and I enjoy coming back. MA is my home.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Unfortunately I never left. Born here, got my degrees, and settled down here. My work sends me all around the country and I've yet to find something that really drew me.

I have peers that left after graduation and found employment in other job markets. I'm jealous of the fact that they can earn a solid income, and buy a brand new house for $225k. At my age I feel like I'd be starting over, but where yo are young...try it. What have you got to lose?

You can buy a home in Massachusetts for $225K, or at least you could 6 to 9 years ago. Not new since building code for the thermal envelope makes that pretty much impossible. You just can't get to a high paying metro Boston job from it unless it's in a really sketchy place.


When I retire in a few years, I plan to be a Massachusetts summer resident but well outside the Boston job market where housing and ownership costs are reasonable. There's no way I could have retired in the Winchester house I used to own. The property taxes would chew me alive since the house appreciated so much.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

When I retire in a few years, I plan to be a Massachusetts summer resident but well outside the Boston job market where housing and ownership costs are reasonable. There's no way I could have retired in the Winchester house I used to own. The property taxes would chew me alive since the house appreciated so much.

It's tough, my mother is intent on staying in her house, but the property taxes are nuts. I pay most of them, my bro with two kids can't really help much, its brutal. But, meh. It's what you do sometimes.

[New Englander]

I did. I’m MA born and raised. I moved down to CT because I wanted a change and to be closer to my parents who had moved there. Did not like CT and came back after 1 year.

Boston is home and will always be that way. In the year that I was gone, I have noticed a good number of changes, mostly positive (lots of development going on, new restaurants etc.) and some negatives (ever increasing real estate prices, T service continues to decline), however overall it’s been refreshing being back.

Looking at the future, I am exploring remote work options (need a CPA license), and splitting time between Massachusetts and Arizona. The ideal situation would be to spend summer/fall in MA and winter/spring in AZ – basically a younger snowbird lifestyle. Since a number of people mentioned employment, this is the main sticking point for me: If I can set up my own accountancy practice, I won’t necessarily need to be in Boston. I could live in a beautiful Tudor house in Worcester or a charming colonial in Marblehead. Still have access to Boston’s amenities, without the grind of a daily commute.

In short, I would always want to be connected to Boston/MA, it has a great quality of life, excellent amenities and is just the perfect city for me.

Over the years, I have seen many family members, friends, and acquaintances move away from MA. It has been a mixed for them. Some have been extremely happy, while others have been miserable and wanting to come back. As you can imagine, it is a highly personalized decision where your preferences, stage in life, and employment opportunities matter. I wish you all the best as you make your decision.

[dcb175]

I grew up in the directional-boroughs in the western burbs. Enjoyed growing up there, but left MA for PA to attend college. After college, I was open to many different areas to live (actually was hoping for Boston area since I had been away for 4 years), but ended up taking a job in Dallas.

My plan was to stay for 2 years, build up my resume, and move back to the east coast where most of my friends (both HS and now college) were. But, I actually ended up liking it well enough and stayed for 10, meeting my now-wife in that time. Career opportunities for both of us pulled us back east, this time to the NYC-area. We've been here for 5 years now and are fairly well entrenched in our careers (as well as 2 young children, which makes moving harder.) So, while nothing is really anchoring us here, we don't really have any plans to leave.

It's funny, growing up Boston was my perfect ideation of what a big city was. Now when I go back it feels smaller, just based on perspective from travelling around the world. I love Boston still, and would move back under the right circumstance, but don't necessarily feel a "pull" that others do (probably because I've now officially lived outside of MA for more time than I have lived inside of it.)

My recommendation, and a few others have already shared this, would be to follow the job offers. You never know where you'll end up and life will take you, which to me is kind of exciting. Boston will always be there to come back to if that's what you want. Anyway, my $.02.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by dcb175

My recommendation, and a few others have already shared this, would be to follow the job offers. You never know where you'll end up and life will take you, which to me is kind of exciting. Boston will always be there to come back to if that's what you want. Anyway, my $.02.

I agree with this. Don't tie yourself to a place so much you turn down otherwise great offers.

[yellowstatus]

Five bucks says that OP never revisits this thread with a reply.

[Synchromesh]

Moved from MA to California, San Francisco. Hated MA with a passion despite growing up there and spending about 2/3 of my life in it. During college started dreaming of leaving it and finally realized my dream about 10 years later on. I still come back there to visit friends and family about twice a year but if it wasn't for that I'd be happy not to come back for a decade or two easy. Hope that helps.

[G-fused]

Originally Posted by yellowstatus

Five bucks says that OP never revisits this thread with a reply.

Well, this thread was from 5 months ago so it would be a bad bet to take.