Pawtucket has been "up and coming" for a long time. Lived there for about 3 years before relocating to Cranston for job reasons. I have a huge heart for Pawtucket. Like any larger "city" (quotation marks because, RI) there are good parts and bad parts. Oak Hill is basically the East side whereas other areas are still solidly blue collar/middle class. I lived near downtown and never felt unsafe. Pawtucket has a great brewery and burgeoning art scene and a lot of the mill complexes and downtown building are being utilized in fantastic ways (Guild Brewery, Lorraine Mills, Hope Artiste Village, Still On Main). Plus, the Boston/Providence train station will finally be open this January!

My biggest gripe about Pawtucket would be walkability. The downtown still has work to do in terms of attracting both businesses and patrons. There are otherwise pockets of cool things to do and see throughout the town, but they're hard to access without a car unless you live directly in that area. For example, I lived close to downtown Pawtucket so I walked through the Slater Mill National Park quite a bit, but then hopped in my car to go anywhere else. Because although the walk mile-wise wasn't awful to some of the amenities I listed previously, the streets you'd take to get there were busy/crowded with poor accessibility for pedestrians (the walk from the area by Tolman school to Quality Hill is downright treacherous given the students population that traverses through that area daily).

As others have stated, schools are a consideration if you're planning to have a family and send them to public schools. But regardless, I personally love "the bucket". No, it's not the sleek east side of Providence (aside from Oak Hill, perhaps). But if that's what you're looking for, the majority of Pawtucket probably isn't for you. I think it gets a worse rap than it deserves.