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The affordable places aren't safe by New England standards.

Just moved to Boston from Casa Grande, way better here!

What price for a house or rental is affordable for you? How many bedrooms? Do you want a yard? Do you have a car? School age kids?

Details like this will help folks suggest areas.

Thanks for suggesting that, I added it to this post.

I bet! What do you like better about it?

The people here are better, more intelligent, and it’s not close to the border! You won’t see anyone open carrying here (gun) or going 95 down the highway acting like it’s normal

Ohh good to hear!

The flip side of this is that everywhere is safe by U.S. standards.

And… greenery.

Also: ocean, sail boats, whales, and islands.

The politicians accept their loss

Lowell has some rough edges to it, but I think that's what you're looking for. It has UMass Lowell, so lots of college/grad-school roommate opportunities and housing situations, and is an actual small city (as opposed to, say, Billerica or Wilmington, which are more sleepy suburbs). Every time I visit friends up there I'm actually intrigued with the strong community vibe there in many places and surprising arts/culture scene.

I don't know the rental market there myself, but I can't imagine having trouble finding a good-to-great place for $1,200 if you're planning on living with roommates. Basic student rentals here where I live close to Tufts University are about $900-$1,000/month per room. That much further away from Boston and in a less expensive city overall and you'll be fine.

Central Mass is pretty affordable, once you hit Metrowest it gets pricey.

Are you saying Brockton or Lawrence are safer than an average middle of nowhere suburb in one of the square states?

I'm saying neither one of those places rises to the level of dangerous, and I would feel safe living in either place.

Billerica and surrounding towns are fine. Lowell would be only one I would not recommend. Not much to do in any Middlesex County town. But Burlington is close, Boston only 20 minutes away. Billerica and all surrounding towns have same housing problems. Should be a lot of apartments to choose from. But you will 100% need roommates to make it work.

As someone who grew up in Middlesex County there is plenty to do(in some areas that is).

What go to Market Basket or Papa Gino’s? No offense to either because I like both. For a college kid there’s not a whole lot of night life. Of course there’s things to do but not like in a city.

You’re right about the gun part, but people here most definitely speed down the highway like no other

That wasn’t my question - I specifically asked, are you saying Brockton or Lawrence have lower crime rate than an average middle class square state suburb?

I managed just fine while I was in college(Framingham area) there are plenty of bars along Rt 9 (Golden Triangle)and it was only about a 20 minute drive via the pike into Boston if we wanted to go clubbing. About the same via Rte 9 if we wanted to hit up Worcester too.

They are safe places to live. I don't care about your personal goalpost, it's irrelevant.

Moved here from AZ in 2011. Didn’t know what towns were safe, dangerous or whatever.

I was fine. You will be too.

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ma/brockton/crime - one out of 156 chance of being a victim of violent crime one out of 63 chance of being a victim of property crime might not be as bad as Jackson, MS but I would not call it “safe” by any means.

Good for you.

Look, I know it feels great to virtue signal and show everyone just how inclusive and progressive you are, but why don’t you keep it contained within your usual circlejerk and not do a great disservice to those not familiar with the area by steering them to clearly unsafe locations? It’s your types that routinely tell others places like Grove Hall are perfectly safe and anyone saying otherwise is all sorts of *ist.

We disagree. Let it go. It's not "virtue signaling" to have a difference of opinion. I've lived in places you are describing and felt perfectly safe. You are free to feel differently. Now go away.

This comment was strange for me to see because I very very far see ocean, sail boats, whales, and islands. #Worcester #🥲

Woburn might be a decent option… a bit more in terms of nightlife/bars than the rest of Middlesex County and more affordable, in addition to a quick commuter rail ride to Boston.

Burlington is super overpriced and most areas seem pretty boring. Also no public transportation whatsoever.

Like most places it helps to know the area. Lowell has some good areas and some that are not. Best to get with a realtor or someone that knows the area. Its a good choice if you want a more city vibe.

To be fair 2-3 hours isn’t very far for the majority of the country.

Oh definitely. It’s just cool to see how differently we all experience the state. I should take the drive to the coast more often.

Totally. After living out west for 14 years I got used to driving a lot farther for things than out here. I’ve kept that mindset since I’ve been back and I’ve seen so much more of New England than my first go around.

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God no, is that the reputation us Arizonans have? 🥲

Lowell's fine. More to the point, it's gentrifying. It's also on commuter rail so it offers easy (if time-limited) access to Boston.

Just checking ... but you know "Billerica" is pronounced "Bill-ricka," right?

I learned that yesterday haha

>or going 95 down the highway acting like it’s normal

Wat? You don't drive on the Pike very often, do you?

Yes, but it was rude so I took it down.

To help ease your move further, more pronunciations:

Worcester - Wuss-ter

Haverhill - Haver-rill (or Haver-ill)

Leominster - Lemon-stir

Chelmsford - Chems-fud

Boston - Baaasssston ;-p

Am I missing any?

Haha thank you! I was pronouncing Amherst wrong for the longest time even though it's one of the most phonetic ones.

Are the rough parts of Lowell scattered or is there a certain area I should avoid?

Grew up in Billerica and currently work there. If you're in your 20's or 30's and plan on roommates, you can still live near Boston in Somerville, Cambridge, Medford, East Arlington and come in at or under $1200 a month. I used to "reverse commute" from East Cambridge to Burlington and Somerville to Billerica. This is assuming you'll have a car. You can live in Allston/Brighton, it's not a bad ride, you'll just hit bottlenecks that will make your commute a little longer. You'll find having a social life and making friends in that area far easier than living in Lowell/Billerica/Burlington/Woburn.

I now commute from central MA to Billerica.

I was looking in those areas so good to hear I can still meet my budget. Do you like Billerica? Is the traffic from the Boston area to there pretty bad? I’m in Phoenix so I’m used to traffic, just not sure how it would compare to Boston.

Tips for pronouncing MA town is to not break them up the way you'd think.
Worcester - Worce-ster
Gloucester - Glouce-ster
Haverhill - Have-rhill (have rhymes with nave)
Billerica - Bille-rica

Other once are just you have to know and there is not shortage of towns like this.

Quincy - Quinzee
Medford - Medfid

I grew up there and have seen the town change slowly, for the better, throughout the years. The town still has it's quirks to put it lightly, but isn't bad overall. Billerica does have some traffic during commuter times, like route 3 north backing up northbound in the afternoon, or southbound in the morning. If you commute from Somerville/Cambridge area, you'll find you're largely always traveling easier as it's reversed. Traffic here is bad, but it really couldn't be worse and there are definitely areas you want to avoid if you can like the southeast expressway at any given afternoon, including weekends.

That's good to know, thank you so much!

Speaking of towns, are there any rough areas that I should avoid?

Generally MA is pretty safe. Even the most dangerous towns here, crime is typically not random. Like, towns/cities to watch out for are downtown lowell, Chelsea, Lawrence, Lynn, certain neighborhoods in Boston and i say that with a huge reluctance, because compared to other parts of of the country, those cities have crime, but not really that bad and have really neighborhoods.

I've been concerned about safety since I'm moving alone and only know one person in MA, so that's good to know. Thanks!

This may be helpful. It shows the crime rates for every city/town in Ma.

Link

There are obviously general concerns like walking alone at night, even in safer neighborhoods and just being aware of your surroundings, locking your car at night, or not leaving valuable or things visible in your car. Otherwise, unless you find yourself in specific neighborhoods for some odd reason, you still have a low chance of robbery/assault

Oh wow, thank you!

Avoid Centralville and The Acre, they're fine for passing through in the day and a lot of the crime is drug or gang related. But you probably don't want to live there, and you can avoid them at night to be safe.

Appleton St downtown has some shady characters.

Upper Highlands and Belvidere are the nicest neighborhoods of Lowell.

Also I forgot to add, I kinda just assumed you were a man because of the dumb internet stereotype. But if you're a woman that may change whether you want to live in Lowell or not. The city has cleaned up a bit but it's nowhere near as safe as the surrounding suburban towns. I know many women in the area would not feel safe wandering around Lowell after dark by themselves. But it's really dependent on you, statistically the crime is around the US average, but some people worry about crime more than others.

Thank you for this!