Considering MA For Next Move (Boston, Washington: sales, apartments, rental)

[NEOhioBound]

My husband and I along with our toddler son are preparing for an upcoming move this spring. He, my husband, is a military recruiter and it has come time to start making our 3 choices for our next duty station (not that we will get any of the ones we list, but it has happened 2 times so far)

Anyway, he wants Kansas or Oklahoma. He is taking first choice and leaving the other two to me. He will have his choice narrowed down by the 1st of Dec when we fill out our list.

I am considering New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and Washington. I have never been to any of those states. We have lived in Texas, Hawaii, South Dakota (where he is from) and now Ohio (where I grew up).

I came here to see if those living in the state of MA could give me some insight on what you like and don't like about living in the state. Maybe some info on crime rate, cost of living (for apartments) schools, what there is to do for fun, ect.

We do not get to pick exact city, just the state unfortunately.

Thank you so much in advance for any feedback

[brightdoglover]

To respond about Mass., or southern NH (nearby), unfortunately it's important where in the state you'd be going. Certainly for schools, that's a very local thing. Of course, wherever your husband actually works, you might still be preferring to live some commute away in a different community (such as, if he was in South Boston as a recruiter, you might well want to live a good drive or train ride away in a very different, non-urban area).
All I can say is, the cost of living in eastern Mass./southern and coastal NH is quite high, from what I hear, especially compared to Oklahoma or Texas. Housing is high. Fuel costs. Car insurance.
Quality of life is also very high, though. Lots of cultural/educational/natural attractions, museums, the ocean, state parks, arts and entertrainment. I'm speaking of New England in general, sort of mentally drawing an expanding circle around Bostonand then on outside of it.
Without more specifics, I'm afraid I can't offer any more info. I do gather that most Mass. public schools (outside the actual cities) are favorably compared to general public schools in the South and Midwest.
Overall, N.E. is a fine place to live if you can afford it. I don't mean a high-flying life, but even a modest one can run some money.
Best wishes on your choice.

[brightdoglover]

Add- I imagine you've posted on the Maine and Vermont discussions, too. Southern Vermont and southern/coastal Maine are somewhat within the influence of Boston, in fact, some people commute from southern Maine.
Both areas are beautiful with lots of outdoor recreation. Costs of goods tend to get higher in Maine because it's at the end of the supply lines. A good winter car is a necessity.
I imagine your husband is on a federal pay scale? If you factor in local wages and expenses, Maine is considered one of the poorest states in the union. However, there are distinct parts to Maine, that is, coastal, inland, and North Woods (where some areas are so unpopulated and broad that they have no names, just numbers on a quadrant).
Again, best wishes.

[ogre]

First of all, many thanks to your husband for his service.

Pros and cons of the state is a broad question, so I'll address your specific questions. Brightdog covered well the reality that cost of living is generally on the high side, but how high really depends on where you live. Generally speaking, the closer you get to Boston, the higher the cost of living, especially for housing, including rental housing.

Crime? As is probably the case everywhere, this, like housing costs, depends a lot on where you live. There are some bad spots, but generally the crime rate here is relatively low. I recently saw an FBI report on crime stats, which rated the New England region as a whole as the region with the lowest crime rate. This is especially notable in more rural areas.

Things to do. It depends on what you like. Boston has basically everything in the way of culture and entertainment that you would generally expect in a large city (science museum, zoo, couple of world-class art museums, one of the world's top symphony orchestras, other high-culture kind of stuff like opera and ballet, rock concerts, dance clubs, pro sports), as well as historical sites, attractive classic architecture, ethnic neighborhoods, boating on the river and in the harbor. Of course the down side of this is that living near Boston is expensive, but day trips are possible if you live in western MA.

As for outdoor activities, for many people probably one of the biggest plusses of this region is the variety of possibilities for outdoor recreation that lie very close by. In much of New England, and pretty much from just about anywhere in MA, you're within day-trip distance of mountains (where there is both skiing and good hiking), beaches, and lakes. From MA you can make weekend trips to some good white water as well. Pretty much any kind of outdoor recreation is available and is close enough to get to for a day trip or at least a weekend trip.

A few miscellaneous thoughts:

Traffic is especially bad in the Boston metro area, but can be bad at times in other parts of MA as well.

Politics are good or bad depending on your leanings, but definitely lean heavily to the left in terms of overall tendencies, though the political attitudes in this state can get rather complicated. It's not entirely related to politics, but it's worth noting that MA has a funny mix of generally leaning to the left politically, but also tending to preserve longstanding traditions, and to show a certain conservatism in everyday life, such as in manner of dress, even wealthy people often living in relatively modest houses, the fact that Sunday liquor sales became legal just a few years ago (within the current decade), etc.

You do have to be able to handle a certain degree of winter to be comfortable here. Depending on what part of Ohio you're from, you might notice some similarities between that climate and the climate in much of MA. Northern OH would be most similar to the climate in most of MA. This does vary though, with winters generally tending to be a bit milder near the coast. As you move up into northern New England the winters become substantially longer, colder, and snowier than they are in MA.

There's more, but this at least gives you somewhat of a picture. Best of luck with getting an assignment you like, here or wherever it might be. Take care.