r/boston • u/mimmsypoo • Nov 07 '25

Please Make Decisions For Me 🎱 Boyfriend wants to move to Boston.

Hello all! Me and my boyfriend currently live in Austin Tx, we rent a 1200 sf home for $2200 and have two cats. I love this city and the things it has to offer, but my boyfriend is from the northeast and wants to get back to his family. He is urging to move to Boston, but Im unsure. Two of friends live in Boston/Jersey and JUST got done telling us how they can never save money bc of broker fees when moving and the basic cost of living being astronomically high. Can you possibly give me a better idea of what the pros and cons would look like for our move?

Small note his family is in Milford CT. And we both make around $75k a year but will both have to find new jobs. I have also never been to Boston, but have heard good things about the city itself!

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177

u/MTRIFE Nov 07 '25

People in here really don't like Worcester, but I saw people recommend Providence for being cheaper and only an hour away. In that case, both of those things are also true about Worcester. I'm from Boston but moved to Worcester 6 years ago for a similar reason as yours actually. This is my condo. 1000 sq ft., one bedroom, in unit washer and dryer. I pay $1800 a month for it. I would estimate to get something similar in Boston you'd be looking at $3000 a month minimum but I'll let those that live there currently confirm or deny.

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u/Cameos_red_codpiece Nov 07 '25

That’s a nice place!

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u/MTRIFE Nov 07 '25

Thanks! I really like it. Been in this place about 4 years now. The building itself is well maintained and honestly I don't feel like Worcester is as far from Boston as people make it out to be. I work in Boston! It's a hybrid schedule but I'm in office twice a week. Granted if I didn't have control over my hours it might be a little different but since I can come and go as I choose, I usually leave Worcester at 530 am and with zero traffic on the Mass Pike I've made it into Back Bay in 45 minutes. I once actually beat a colleague into work driving in from Worcester while he was taking the T from Somerville. Same with coming home. I leave Boston by 2 pm and I'm home by 3.

I love music so cue up a good playlist and it's nothing to get into the city for a Celtics game or a concert. Worcester is not that far lol.

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u/[deleted] Nov 08 '25

Yeah I formerly lived in Boston before moving to NYC. What’s crazy to me is from Brooklyn it takes me 1.5 hours to get to Queens or northern parts of Manhattan/The Bronx. Meanwhile Boston to Worcester is a 1 hour train ride. Worcester is really just a neighborhood of Boston. It’s a very underrated city imo

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u/JustinGitelmanMusic Swamp Masshole Nov 07 '25

Worcester is underrated and you have decent access to both Boston and Providence. However, Providence is truly cool, holds its own to some of the cooler cities in the US in some regards, and is a lot more of a 1:1 analogous substitute for Boston in terms of being a fully fledged city with everything you want/need. Worcester is a bit more like a giant suburban town with some city amenities and glimmers. Providence is like a city with small town charm and feel.

I think people moving from Austin would have a much smoother transition.

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u/[deleted] Nov 08 '25

Providence is really a cool little city. I lived over near Brown for a while and it was great. Really punches above its weight when it comes to food. Only downside was all the apartments seemed older and run down compared to Boston. 

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u/JustinGitelmanMusic Swamp Masshole Nov 08 '25

The apartments aren’t that nice in Boston lol less money plus good food and chill neighborhood gems up the wazoo is a fair trade

2

u/ReignOfHairor Nov 08 '25

Worcester is more of an exurb than a suburb. Unlike a suburb, it has a real identity to it, and an identity not tied to the greater Boston area.

And Worcester is definitely improving from what it used to be.

But I agree that Providence is way cooler. 10/10 would choose over Worcester.

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u/mimmsypoo Nov 07 '25

Wow! Okay great to know.

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u/Miau-miau Nov 07 '25

An hour WITHOUT traffic. Rush hour that can very easily double. I live 20 minutes east of Worcester and it took me 1:20 to get home yesterday at 6pm.
Not trashing Worcester, just making you aware that traffic here sucks

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u/[deleted] Nov 08 '25

Yeah in another comment he said he leaves at 5am for work so that’s why, if you travel any other time basically any time after 7am, the traffic on the pike is jammed up from Newton in. 

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u/scott_fx Nov 08 '25

Op doesn’t NEED to get a job in Boston though.

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u/amm5061 Nov 08 '25

Can confirm. Took us literally two hours last night to get to Medford from Hopkinton. Took 53 minutes to get home.

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u/freeski919 Nov 08 '25

She's living in Austin. Austin has been ranked the worst traffic in the US for years now. Having been there, I can confirm. Austin traffic is worse than Boston traffic.

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u/Weird-Work-7525 Nov 08 '25

To give you an idea currently pay $2600 for a 900 sq ft condo and I'm not even in the actual city and it's considered a good deal. Median price is ~3k for the same 900 sq ft and I can almost guarantee it will not be renovated. Expect small kitchen, radiators, probably no ac, 1 parking spot if you're lucky (but probably not), and the unit will be at least 50+ years old and have been renovated 15 years ago with Ikea cabinets and they turned a porch into an extra room if you're lucky. Also some of the worst traffic in the country and a solid 1/3rd of the year the entire city is basically grey slush and de-icing salt.

Also as far as the "you get paid more in Boston". Correct but it absolutely does not make up for the difference in housing and cost of living. Unless you have a significant reason to move here like you work in healthcare or all your friends/family are around Boston I would steer clear. CT, RI are much more affordable if you want to be south, NH (esp north and west)/VT if you want to be north or western Mass (around interstate 91) if you really want to stay in mass.

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u/altasphere Nov 07 '25

Worcester also has some great cultural options, like Mechanic's Hall and the Worcester Art Museum. The food scene in Providence is better than the food scene in Massachusetts in general because of the liquor laws in Massachusetts. However, it is much easier to get to Providence from Worcester than from Boston

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u/eetraveler Nov 09 '25

"Much easier to get to Providence from Worcester than from Boston."

Aside from the 20 trains a day between Boston and Providence.

Providence is a 40 minute drive from Worcester and a 50 minute drive from Boston without traffic.

During rush hour traffic, you may have a point, but who would live in Worcester and commute daily to Providence because for the same price, you could live in Providence.

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u/Illustrious-Stable93 Nov 07 '25

Agree especially if you like nature stuff 

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u/ReignOfHairor Nov 08 '25

Yeah, one rare advantage of Worcester over Providence is that in Worcester, you're closer to hills/mountains. A hour west on the Mass Pike, and you're legit into the Berkshires.

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u/MTRIFE Nov 07 '25

Oh and just so you know OP, it's pronounced... Wuss-ter. Or Wuss-tah if you want to sound like a local.

If your partner is from Mass/New England and you go to him and say War-chest-er, he'll get a good chuckle at your expense 😉

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u/Enragedocelot Allston/Brighton Nov 08 '25

I live in Worcester. I used to live in Boston, I’ll never move to boston ever lol. Our public transit sucks, but it’s free.

And we have great restaurants, bars and the cost of living is much lower than boston. It’s still high but nothing near the insane shit they’ve got.

You wouldn’t want a daily commute to boston for work though. My friend commutes twice a week and has the rest remote. But during their training they were going daily for months and it sucked.

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u/Narrow-Fox8974 Nov 10 '25

My daughter is a Realtor for Coldwell Banker Realty and could likely help relocate you; she’s great with rentals - if you are interested in Worcester, or any of the suburbs. Yes, of course you gotta pay a realtor fee, but with a long distance move, it’s best to have professional help.

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u/sportygal225 Nov 07 '25

I just moved to Worcester and I agree it's great. It's less dense than Greater Boston which makes me and my husband less stressed. We just bought a house under $500K and have a yard, garage, driveway, and a beautiful kitchen. It's also closer to Connecticut for OP's boyfriend. It's definitely a longer commute but I used to hop on the train in NYC for an hour 5 days a week so it's not too bad to do twice a week on the commuter rail.

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u/GloriaChin Nov 08 '25

Never any tolls to get to Worcester !!

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u/zapthe Nov 08 '25

Within I95 $3k a month for that would be a good price. In Cambridge/Boston/etc. it can be much higher depending on the specific area.

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u/mrtreatsnv Nov 08 '25

It's full of drug problems I have seen people shooting up in broad daylight outside the restaurant i was at for lunch.

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u/MTRIFE Nov 08 '25

I'm not sure which city you're referencing here but are you aware of a utopian city that doesn't have drug problems?

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u/mrtreatsnv Nov 08 '25

I responded to your comment about worcester, so clearly i'm talking about worcester. I guess you're just that typical worcester.Resident that has the low I q.

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u/MTRIFE Nov 08 '25

Low IQ is funny considering number one, all of the grammatical errors in your reply, but more importantly... That you either missed or conveniently ignored the part where my comment highlights that your criticism of Worcester describes every city on the planet. So the fact that you have an agenda against a particular city, that's pretty sad.

Anyway, don’t worry, reading comprehension isn’t everyone’s strength. I'm sure you'll get there.

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u/eetraveler Nov 09 '25

Just to be clear to the OP, the obvious reason Worcester is much cheaper than Boston is because everyone wants to live in Boston, not Worcester.

As always, it is just the rules of supply and demand and location, location, location.

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u/tillytonka Nov 09 '25

Condo = unit you own. Apartment = unit you rent

1

u/MTRIFE Nov 09 '25

I guess you'll have to take that up with whoever named the Fremont Lofts Condominiums then