Aside from what others have said, keep excise tax in mind. I believe all towns in MA collect that once a year. It can be very heavy on a new car purchase (like $1000), but trails off fairly quickly in subsequent years.

Some things to consider:

As others pointed out, while this is an awesome state, it comes with a price tag. Given your jobs, I assume you can be flexible in where you live. That will help. Just know that the more rural you get, the more you're going to see similar problems to what you saw in NC. The good news here is they're just a very vocal minority, not a vocal majority with all the politicians that come along with that. The state isn't a monolith. Rural towns tend to be red. The closer to the cities you get, the more blue (and sane).

You mentioned rescue pups. First, awesome that you do that. Be sure to check with the towns you're considering for their threshold to kennel status. Many towns it's 3 pups. If you get a nosy neighbor, you may get animal control knocking on your door for too many pups. I know people that have registered as a kennel. Seems crazy, but I understand it's not that big of a deal. It may just subject you to an occasional inspection. If you're rural, this is likely not a big issue.

As others have said, look towards western MA. Sturbridge area is great. It's just on the outskirts of a reasonable commute to Boston so not too desirable for people that need that. Where your jobs can keep you local, that's not an issue for you. As far as I understand, the need for pediatric therapists is HUGE right now. Most are booked solid. The market for teachers is better than ever around here, but it's still on the tough side to break in. MA teachers are paid well. There's definitely been more of a shortage than ever this year like much of the rest of the country, but to a much less extent here.

Good luck!

I looked into Trinity. Man, they were expensive. Shop around. They were a good 30K over other companies. They had a great financing rate, but I’d rather owe less at a higher rate. Leaves possibility of refinancing in the future and/or paying it down faster. The capper was the asshole sales guy acting incredulous when I said I had a much cheaper quote.

My wife's school district has already made the switch. It's happening. First start is elementary, then high school, then middle school. High school isn't started last as a compromise to get them out still early enough to have after school jobs. It's brutal on my wife (elementary principal) because she needs to be up at 5am to be in well before teachers and students, but it's still a much better approach.

It's caused my office to note that we don't have a defibrillator on site. We're fixing that now.

I'm honestly happy for the Bills. I get that everyone was rooting for them yesterday, and I understand. But is it too much to ask the refs to not be biased by it? Jeez, they had a player in the backfield before the snap... no call. SMH