Best towns north of Boston for young families. (Lynn, Somerville: transfer, top schools)

[WCNewby]

Awesome, thank everyone. Robr: I hadn't even thought to look at the tax differential between Boston towns, good point. Our budget is a little squishy...for the right place I could see us bumping up significantly, though we don't want to be "house poor". Our plan would probably be to pick the district most likely to suit our needs and strongly consider renting for a year---first kid doesn't start kindergarten till next year and that would hopefully provide enough time to be sure the new job will work out long term. BostonBorn--you're right about southern Westchester--heavily-populated with extremely high tax rates, cramped lots, high prices. I'm not a fan. Northern Westchester has some diverse, "young" hipper towns with real gems in terms of houses and schools, but taxes are still high relative to what I'm seeing around Boston suburbs. We actually live in the north Bronx and put an offer on one place in northern westchester just prior to covid, feeling lucky now that it wasn't accepted.

We plan to visit Boston for the first time next week and will be touring around some of the neighborhoods mentioned--this has been a great help!

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

Southern Westchester is more populated than inner Middlesex

I don't think the data would suggest that's the case. I think Westchester may keep steady density for longer, but not by much. Why do you think that the inner parts of Westchester are more populated than Middlesex? I'd argue it's the exact opposite.

Westchester County
New Rochelle: Population 77k, density 7.5k pop density
Mt. Vernon: 67k, 15k pop density
Yonker: 195k, 11k pop density
Bronxville: 6.5k, 6.5k
Tuckahoe: 6.5k, 6.5k
Larchmont: 6k, 5.5k

Then you move up the peninsula, and things get far more dispersed with the exception of White Plains.


Middlesex County
Cambridge: 120k, 19k
Somerville: 82k, 20k
Medford: 57k, 7k
Arlington: 43k, 8k
Malden: 61k, 12k
Watertown: 33k, 8k
Belmont: 26k, 5.5k
Melrose: 27k, 6k
Waltham: 63k, 5k

Same way, as you move outward, population density drops with the exception of Lowell and Framingham.

[P Larsen]

And Melrose is bordered by parkland on 3 sides (it's tough wander aimlessly into Melrose as a result). And the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School is a popular alternative for school in Melrose, which has 3 commuter rail stops (relevant post-pandemic) in less than 2 miles and is proximate to the vibrant east Asian communities in Malden. Relatively easy to access Medford from Melrose by car without having to get onto a highway.

[jks1985]

I recommend Arlington. It's next to Medford, has great schools, and has a sizeable Asian population. It's very walkable and has some great restaurants and parks.
The only problem is it's expensive.
With an 800k budget, you might be able to find a single-family 3-4 BR in Arlington, but it will be old and need work.

If you don't mind a longer commute, I'd try Acton. You could get a bigger house there, but the taxes will be higher.

[mwj119]

Are people reading the OPs list of criteria? As the conversation has expanded, they've said that they'd love a larger house, with fields, and lots of land. Willing to sacrifice the large lots and land, and settle on not being able to see the neighbors in direct line of site. Similar to New Castle, NY, in upper Westchester County.

As nice as Melrose and Arlington are, they're on the other side vs. OPs asks. Dense, walkable, more urban suburban, much like southern Westchester County which the OP has explicitly said she does not like.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by mwj119

I don't think the data would suggest that's the case. I think Westchester may keep steady density for longer, but not by much. Why do you think that the inner parts of Westchester are more populated than Middlesex? I'd argue it's the exact opposite.

Westchester County
New Rochelle: Population 77k, density 7.5k pop density
Mt. Vernon: 67k, 15k pop density
Yonker: 195k, 11k pop density
Bronxville: 6.5k, 6.5k
Tuckahoe: 6.5k, 6.5k
Larchmont: 6k, 5.5k

Then you move up the peninsula, and things get far more dispersed with the exception of White Plains.


Middlesex County
Cambridge: 120k, 19k
Somerville: 82k, 20k
Medford: 57k, 7k
Arlington: 43k, 8k
Malden: 61k, 12k
Watertown: 33k, 8k
Belmont: 26k, 5.5k
Melrose: 27k, 6k
Waltham: 63k, 5k

Same way, as you move outward, population density drops with the exception of Lowell and Framingham.

Mostly due to Mt Vernon, Yonkers, Port Chester(28k 12kppsqm) New Rochelle and White Plains.

Overall Middlesex and Westchester County have virtual identical densities. One big difference is that Yonkers Is ~21-22% of all of Westchester County. So to me it has an outsized influence. Same for Mt Vernon New Rochelle. Those three communities house over 33% of Westchester County. Add White Plains (southern Westchester IMO) and that’s 40% of the entire county. I. A few prominent very dense towns/cities, that’s how I got my impression basically.

Westchester County has a higher median age but a slightly higher % of children as well.

[semiurbanite]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

SI wouldn’t say Cambridge and Somerville have many young ‘families’ so much as they do singles and couples.

Probably more than you think - as a percentage of population, sure, urban areas have more young singles and couples. But in terms of raw numbers, of # of kids on my Somerville block is quite impressive and increasing year by year. Because it's so dense, there are more kids per square mile here than any suburb, all of my kids walk to all of their friends houses which is pretty priceless.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

Probably more than you think - as a percentage of population, sure, urban areas have more young singles and couples. But in terms of raw numbers, of # of kids on my Somerville block is quite impressive and increasing year by year. Because it's so dense, there are more kids per square mile here than any suburb, all of my kids walk to all of their friends houses which is pretty priceless.

11.4% of Somerville is under 18. Half the national average.

Cambridge is 12.4%

Yonkers is 21.2%
New Rochelles is 20.7%

Westchester county is 21.7%
Middlesex County is 19.6%

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fa...etts/PST045219

Definitely more young families in Westchester.

[WCNewby]

Hi, thanks again to everyone who already provided suggestions.

I just came back from a trip to interview for a couple of jobs in the area and have offers---in fact the one I'm more likely to accept is in Salem, which we are finding is pretty darn far from the kind of neighborhoods we were considering actually living in.

We like the looks of Westford, Andover, and Acton. Less interested in Belmont, Arlington, Winchester because the lots are so small and close together. We looked at Marblehead which has some highly rated schools, but no significant Asian population, which we worry would make our half-Japanese kids isolated.

We could rent for a year and keep exploring options, but we need to make a decision about accepting the job or not, and at this point the biggest unknown for us is how long it would *actually* take to commute back and forth to Salem from these places. The Zillow app is reporting about one hour at rush hour from Westford, Acton, but I'm not sure how much of this is based on current pandemic level traffic versus usual times. Can anyone speak to this?

[robr2]

Originally Posted by WCNewby

Hi, thanks again to everyone who already provided suggestions.

I just came back from a trip to interview for a couple of jobs in the area and have offers---in fact the one I'm more likely to accept is in Salem, which we are finding is pretty darn far from the kind of neighborhoods we were considering actually living in.

We like the looks of Westford, Andover, and Acton. Less interested in Belmont, Arlington, Winchester because the lots are so small and close together. We looked at Marblehead which has some highly rated schools, but no significant Asian population, which we worry would make our half-Japanese kids isolated.

We could rent for a year and keep exploring options, but we need to make a decision about accepting the job or not, and at this point the biggest unknown for us is how long it would *actually* take to commute back and forth to Salem from these places. The Zillow app is reporting about one hour at rush hour from Westford, Acton, but I'm not sure how much of this is based on current pandemic level traffic versus usual times. Can anyone speak to this?

I'm guessing you'll be working for NSMC. I'd consider Beverly then. Diverse, hopping downtown, schools are OK, commute would be simple, easy to reach the other MGH facilities in the area, commuter rail to Boston should your job move West End or Somerville.