>- How are restaurants, nightlife, and recreation in Worcester? Are there enough restaurants where it feels like you can always try somewhere new?

Good amount of restaurants to eat at, but only a few that my husband and I think are worth the money and they tend to be on the pricier side. He used to be a chef, and I've been expanding my cooking skills A LOT since the pandemic, so our opinions could be quite bias.

As for nightlife, we live near Indian Lake so we'd have to take an Uber, or similar, if we both wanted to drink which can make it expensive to go out. We generally just do game nights at friends houses and whatnot, but there are a decent amount of bars and club like bars around.

Recreation is dependent on what you enjoy to do. We like disc golf, hiking, camping, and such but not many good places in Worcester for that. We end up going outside Worcester for most of our recreation, but much of it is within a 30 minute drive of us so it's not bad.

>- How prevalent is public transportation? How do people get around?

We're from the Twin Cities in MN so my opinion may be bias here. I think the public transportation is crap within Worcester. I like that there's the train station so you can easily go to places like Boston, but for places within Worcester, you'll need your own vehicle or an Uber.

>- What are the "good areas" and "bad areas" of Worcester? Where should we avoid? Where do young professionals tend to live/hang out?

It really depends. As mentioned, we live near Indian Lake. We're near Holden, not far from Goldstar Blvd, and not far from WPI. Some people think we live in a bad neighborhood, but it's VERY quiet where we are. We're near a couple busy streets, but we live on a dead end street so we don't get a lot of noise beyond kids playing and people using yard equipment. We hear the trains in the winter, but it's dulled by the trees once the leaves come back.

For young professionals, I'd suggest looking more for the house you'd want and judging the neighborhood second. If you two want kids in the near future, get a house with that in mind. If you don't, get a house with that in mind. There are pockets of super expensive places with mansion like homes, other places with all multi family homes, some with all single family homes, and some with a mix. And think of commuting as well, if you don't WFH. You'll want to be near the highway if you commute as getting around within Worcester can be a PIA and take upwards of 20 minutes to get from east to west depending on the lights and route taken.

>- How easy/hard would it be for us to meet new people within our age group?

Depends on how extroverted you are. We tend to go into Holden more, but we've chatted with people when out and about in Worcester. People are mostly friendly if you choose to start up a conversation. But, if you go out and keep to yourselves, you won't meet anyone.