Previously lived in Washington state, then moved East to be closer to family in Boston.
We stayed with the family in Boston 8 months, while we looked for a house as close as possible. We ended up in Barrington, as it was the closest place to Boston, with the best school district - that we could afford at the time. So back in 2015/2016 - RI was significantly more affordable, and relatively underpriced compared to MA. Housing prices in RI have easily doubled in that time( a 350k house then is a 700k house now) .
I far prefer RI to MA, I know folks complain about Government - but MA is flat out unfriendly and does not want new residents. RI Gov't makes it much eaiser to live here, and do things in RI. Just doing any government related stuff done(official paper work, taxes, permits, licensing, etc) is vastly easier in RI than MA. I know folks like to say RI is all corrupt, and mafia run.. but compared to other places I have lived (VA, PA, WA, MA, RI ), RI is about average, perhaps better than average.

I'd like to add, that I like East Bay (Barrington, Warren, Bristol, Portsmouth) ... it seems less busy, and folks are generally friendly and very quite nice around here, as compared with Warwick/Cranston - people seem more crowded, more rushed, and overall less happy.