Overview
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Although Boston's population rings in at just over 600,000 (less than New York's Bronx), as a commuter region, it reaches as far as New Hampshire and Rhode Island, making it - at 7.5 million - the fifth largest in the U.S. The key ingredients that make this town kick are its extensive universities and hospital networks, and a healthy and growing biotech industry. The secret to this town, however, is in its walkable, intimate, character-rich feel. At only 2.6 square miles, Boston could be strolled in a single day, but being a city built on old cowpaths, it is winding and rich with hidden gems and discoveries.
The residents of this town - and indeed the region - are slow to warm up to strangers, but enthusiastic and loyal once a relationship is established. It is worth mental note that, in winter, you can expect people to be rushed and brusque, but in summer, the New England reserve takes a vacation, and folks are more apt to chat and relax.
Your experience in Boston has everything to do with which neighborhoods you want to live in and explore. Powerful city development groups have put significant money and pressure behind full-service gated and tower communities, many of which are strategically located at key commuter junctions. These offer a sense of stability and security, but one must then be bold to tap the city's other pockets and hollows for their remarkable local pride and flavor. There remain a wealth of options in the more modest and authentically local range of row-house brownstones, subdivided Victorians, and triple deckers, but it's important to gain a walking feel for a neighborhood to see whether it's too loud or quiet, dirty or sterile, hasty or friendly, for your taste. This city's neighborhoods have evolved over time in a remarkable range of directions.
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Great place to Live. Excellent restaurants and bars, there is a reason so many families choose to stay here. The best schools and hospitals in the country. A very young and fun city.
Boston is home to a bewildering density of students. This phenomenon brings a huge cultural wealth (art, music, films, lectures) to Boston, and adds a merry and often chaotic note to life here. It also generates a degree of chronic transiency to student-centered neighborhoods. Boston is a magnet for people from all over the world - over 25% of its residents were born abroad - and the intricate networks of support between language and culture are the life's blood of its diverse neighborhoods.
Boston is by no means a cousin to Manhattan. Social life here quiets down at midnight and is sound asleep by two, but its strength is in the fondness and attachment of residents to all their favorite local haunts. Boston is brimming with restaurants and cafes, and in summer, its street artists and free music concerts. A certain persistence in seeking and finding one's own favorite places to go and meet will be well-rewarded.
Cost of living in Boston is high when measured against national averages. This includes most notably prices to rent and to buy a home, and less so the cost of food and retail shopping. Wages (which typically start at $10 per hour) and salaries tend to accommodate this trend, but the hardest part for new residents tends to be putting together first-and-last rent deposits or down payments.
Here it is critical to be strategic. Travel by car is painfully slow and difficult to predict by day, and smooth and swift at night. The city is by no means designed on any kind of a grid, and so the use of a good map is crucial to navigating its winding and confusing streets, which are fraught with one-ways and sudden terminuses. Living close to high-service public transportation (the Red, Orange, and Blue line subways are strong) makes a significant difference in the quality of daily life. The 3-pronged Green Line is frequent, but crowded, cramped, and slow -- it travels the street trolley-style in the same traffic as autos. Buses service an extensive range of neighborhoods, but are often infrequent and are stuck in that self-same auto traffic. Lots of residents choose to walk or bicycle, and make use of the city's lovely park networks to travel in style.
Take your time. The fastest moving rentals and real estate, and the flashiest, most obvious industry behind these ventures, represent the most transient properties. Given the huge volume of students who move in and out of Boston with the summer and academic year cycle, there are a lot of quick 'n dirty opportunists making fast money from young folks who simply need a place to crash. Curiously, it is notoriously difficult to rent a place well in advance: par for the course in Boston is that rentals post within three months or less of intended re-occupancy. This means you need to plan to dedicate serious, focused time and correspondence to research the neighborhoods that compel your interest. Use rentwiki, craigslist, and yelp to gain familiarity with your options. And it is essential to visit both the property and its precinct when you are at leisure to explore extensively by foot. Boston is full of sweet rentals, if you can extend the effort to find something in tune with your personality and needs.
Restaurants and parks are a great way to discover Boston's real neighborhoods. Use the Phoenix and the Dig newspapers to keep up on the rich arts and music scene in town. Boston is also poised between a gorgeous range of regional opportunities, including the coasts north and south, the woods and mountains to the west, and the New England splendor of its neighboring states. There are great beaches, hiking, skiing and snowboarding, small-town day trips, stadium concerts, and city festivals if you are adventurous enough to travel.
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