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My spouse and I are considering retirement (mid-50s) and our children are in middle school. We currently live in Illinois. We would like to move to MA, preferably a college town with educational/cultural options for the 55+ crowd. We also need good public schools for our kids. It’s seems like Amherst might be a good fit but I’ve never been there. We are both Massachusetts prep school grads and love the area each time we return for reunions but would like more insight on what Amherst and the surrounding areas are like. Can anyone help us focus our search or redirect us another area that might be a better fit? TIA
I'll make this a short post because I don't have the time or energy right now...Amherst is a great place to live and it has a lot to offer but make sure you do NOT live near student apartments or near the UMass campus. I cannot emphasize this enough. You could live in South Amherst or other areas on the outskirts as long as you are not near student apartments. UMass is aka Zoo Mass due to the noise and loud parties that are commonplace. No one seems to do anything about it so just be careful of where you live. On the main street near the bars there are near riots after football games and it's also kind of risky to drive in that area or even at the Amherst end of rte 9 on a weekend night due to student drunkenness.
There's a small downtown and some interesting restaurants and the main shopping area is out on rte 9 for everything else. Every store you can think of is on rte 9 and it's not very far away.
The high school is regional. Amherst-Pelham Regional. There isn't much in the town of Pelham though. You can drive via rte 9 (traffic) to the small city of Northampton which has loads of interesting restaurants and shops and is the home of Smith College. There's a lot more in Northampton and it's a good place to live with a pretty good school system. If your heart is set on Amherst, go for it! With UMass and Amherst College there's usually some cultural activity to attend and if you live in the right location, you can even get peace and quiet. There's some sort of retirement community in Amherst where the apple orchards (Atkins) used to be and it's expensive but very nice. You might want to consider that.
Another nearby college town is South Hadley with Mt Holyoke College and a fascinating bookstore that's become somewhat of a legend. It's more out of the way than Amherst though. I would recommend a retirement apartment or condo if I were to live in or around Amherst rather than a single family home. It's become a popular retirement destination so you should be able to find other people with whom you have things in common while avoiding the commotion and vandalism that you risk if you buy a house. That said, if you still have kids in school, you can find lovely homes but make absolutely certain that they are not near student apartments!
I haven’t ever looked at UMass-Amherst but UMass-Dartmouth is tuition-free for age 60+ Massachusetts residents. You still have to pay fees. ~$100 for a 3 credit hour undergrad liberal arts course. I imagine the state university system all has the same policy.
We would (and did) choose Northampton over Amherst. Amherst is nice, but just feels a bit overrun by college students. And they have crazy high property taxes. Northampton has Smith College, all the cultural amenities, if not more, very good schools (NHS) and a vibrant downtown. Both places have ultra leftist politics.
OP, why are you looking at Amherst, again? Retiring in a college town is an idea pushed by the travel writers who are nowhere near retirement. The entire MA is full of towns with great schools (check this forums for detailed discussions).
IMHO, your number one priority should be access to great heathcare providers -- the main reason people like myself stay here. This means being somewhat close to Boston. Being in the Eastern, not Western, MA would also give you access to Boston cultural venues and much better weather.
OP, why are you looking at Amherst, again? Retiring in a college town is an idea pushed by the travel writers who are nowhere near retirement. The entire MA is full of towns with great schools (check this forums for detailed discussions).
IMHO, your number one priority should be access to great heathcare providers -- the main reason people like myself stay here. This means being somewhat close to Boston. Being in the Eastern, not Western, MA would also give you access to Boston cultural venues and much better weather.
There is a lot more to Mass then the Boston area. Many many people hate the congestion that comes with eastern Mass. If you haven't explored past 495 I highly suggest you do. It is wonderful! It is not a desolate wasteland where you have to travel for hours for health care. Besides they are in their 50s. That's still pretty young.
As a side note someone moving from Illinois is not going to be fazed by the weather in The Pioneer Valley.
mdovell mentions the Coke plant closing (which seems true), but they are telling us VA employees that any change there is probably ten years away (even though the media has made it sound like it's tomorrow), and may not happen at all, since all of the area politicians are fighting hard against it. Northampton remains a great place to live, and local health care is also quite good.
OP, why are you looking at Amherst, again? Retiring in a college town is an idea pushed by the travel writers who are nowhere near retirement. The entire MA is full of towns with great schools (check this forums for detailed discussions).
IMHO, your number one priority should be access to great heathcare providers -- the main reason people like myself stay here. This means being somewhat close to Boston. Being in the Eastern, not Western, MA would also give you access to Boston cultural venues and much better weather.
If you’re retiring and moving from Illinois to New England, the retiree housing math probably doesn’t work in metro Boston. Recall the thread with the $1 million little cape in Dedham. That’s a $400k house in Northampton assuming it’s not walkable to the center of town or Smith College. Lots of physicians from BayState and Mercy live in Northampton. You’re not going to get the world class specialists of Boston but it’s good health care.
If you’re retiring and you are facing college expenses, there’s something to be said for being next to the flagship state university. If you’re not funding room & board, UMass-Amherst is a bargain and the quality has improved dramatically as private universities became unaffordable.
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