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Lot of people don't move to Boston because its a highly educated place which makes is an extremely hard city to find a high paying job, with the extremely high cost of living you need a high paying job to afford to buy a house and add in the high taxes it doesn't make it the most attractive place in the country to move to. One my buddies from High School is a Doctor in MA and he has a house in Wellesley, MA that is like 1.5 million home that would be like a 400k home in most US Cities thats why its hard for Boston metro to gain many new residents its so damn expensive to live.
Boston got the Olympic bid for one reason and one reason only. But anyways, more people are moving to Seattle than Boston. It is the more exciting city right now.
Seattle's definitely on the upswing, but so is Boston, especially economically. The life sciences sector has been booming recently.
Lot of people don't move to Boston because its a highly educated place which makes is an extremely hard city to find a high paying job, with the extremely high cost of living you need a high paying job to afford to buy a house and add in the high taxes it doesn't make it the most attractive place in the country to move to. One my buddies from High School is a Doctor in MA and he has a house in Wellesley, MA that is like 1.5 million home that would be like a 400k home in most US Cities thats why its hard for Boston metro to gain many new residents its so damn expensive to live.
Don't mean to sidetrack the thread but couldn't help but notice the similarity to Boulder, CO.
People move there to attend CU, but fall in love with the place and never leave. As a result you have plenty of folks with PHD's and Masters waiting tables and tending bar. (might be a slight exaggeration but you get the point), many people underemployed. Homes are not in Boston's price range but still close to $250sqft. Which is expensive compared to the rest of Colorado.
These city by city comparisons are not always fair. I love both these towns but being a winter wimp, I would always choose Seattle. I've been in Boston in February - take your head clean off.
Boston's last incident of really serious racism was the Charles Stuart case in 1989. I don't understand, therefore, why Boston is considered racist and LA and NYC are not, when the Rodney King and Eric Garner cases are more recent than Charles Stuart.
Oh well....
Anyway with respect to the thread, I've never been to Seattle, though it's high on my list of places to go.
I will however represent Boston and point out that (to my knowledge) it has the prettier architecture, sunnier weather, and better local vacationing options than Seattle. It is also younger and more bustling.
And also public transportation.
I would disagree with better local vacationing options. Seattle has Portland and Vancouver for fun cities nearby, but also the San Juan Islands, Olympic Penninsula, Cascade Mountains, great towns like Leavenworth and Bellingham, wine country in Walla Walla, etc. Also Seattle is a young city as well and is quite bustling too (although probably not quite to Boston's level)
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Originally Posted by Bernard_
I would disagree with better local vacationing options. Seattle has Portland and Vancouver for fun cities nearby, but also the San Juan Islands, Olympic Penninsula, Cascade Mountains, great towns like Leavenworth and Bellingham, wine country in Walla Walla, etc. Also Seattle is a young city as well and is quite bustling too (although probably not quite to Boston's level)
I've lived in both Seattle and grew up in the Boston area. I agree Seattle has a a lot to do with a lot of appealing weekend trips close by. The Cascades and other WA mountain ranges and the ocean shoreline at Olympic National Park impressed me a lot more than NH's White mountains and Maine's rocky coast. What a lot of the Pacific NW is missing though is a good beach for swimming on a warm summer day. It can't compete with Cape Cod and Rhode Island's beaches. The San Juan Islands are gorgeous, but if its a hot day in July then a day at the beach in Marthas Vineyard is a lot more fun. The salt water is too cold for swimming in the Northwest. NH and Vermont have nicer lakes for swimming in the summer as well.
And Boston has Montreal, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and DC.
Albeit the drives between Boston and those cities are longer than those between Seattle and Portland/Vancouver...
Bolt Bus. Also Amtrak has direct connections to all of the above cities. Extremely fast and convenient with hourly train departures to NYC, Philly, DC on Northeast Regional or Acela Express high speed rail. Pacific NW doesn't even come close to the connectivity in this region of the NE. Amtrak's Acela Express First Class is one of the best train rides I've had - almost on par with many airline business class service which includes multi-course meals, free drinks/wine, and a very smooth ride along the New England coast down to NYC Penn Station.
Last edited by bostonkid123; 01-24-2015 at 11:14 AM..
Ill give an AA perspective. AA in Seattle proper. are fast less numerous 7% vs. 25%. And about half as common in the MMSA. 7.5% vs. 4%. Its nit really fair to compare the city proper because Boston is an old east coast city so much of the inner city of Boston. Is plagued by 'hoodrats' gangs and general sketchiness. There are also census tracts in Boston that are less than 5% white and over 90% African American. In a way it makes these cities very very different. Boston Public school students are 12% white compare to 40+ in Seattle and almost 80% of BPS student are low income. So we need to stop acting ad thought the city prospers are identical. Boston s black unemployment rate is 21%. The city had anti gun violence billboards, "can you help solve XY or Z murder" billboards and Kwanzaa banners in much of the city. African Americans throughout the country have much more cultural and familial ties to boston but say its racist because the black population in Boston is HEAVILY ghettoized and disenfranchised. In Seattle many blacks are or were there with the army or the shipyards and overall there is much less rscisl disparity between blacks and whites there so AA culture in Seattle is less prominent than it is in Boston proper (for true Bostonians) Its a different beat than Seattle and had about as much in common with Philly as Seattle. So I. The more logical compariosons of the MSAs. I would take Boston. Although ghettoization is present in the Boston MSA (Lawrence, Chelsea Lynn Brockton Lowell etc..) the good just is so good it blast through some of Massachusetts truly impoverished urban enclaves. Just some of the reasons you have to love the Boston MSA....because of the skiing hiking and beach all being within 45 mi lutes of each other on public transit or privately. A more big city feel, more public amebiyies, closer connection to providence NYC and new haven. A more diverse and historic culture. Overall boston. Is more unique and prominent than Seattle and it has the good and (a little) bad of everything.
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