All the surrounding towns are "better", and you should save money on car insurance too.

Your at the low end of sfh rentals, but even the most "luxurious" new 1b are less than $3k.

As for running, this I can really help! Thursday nights Sneakerama on Lake ave has a fun run. 5k down lake ave. Mondays there is a pub run out of Redemption Rock on Shrewsbury st. There are a few groups that run Saturday mornings. Central Mass Striders is a huge club. There are A LOT of hills in town. It's almost impossible to do a flat run. The best trail runs are in the Northwest of town. But there are fewer sidewalks there, and much less street lights. Green Hill park has some nice trails and well lit streets, but the area directly near it isn't great.

For what it’s worth, if this were my decision to make, I’d live somewhere in the city proper, and not the surrounding towns. You can’t beat the convenience of being close to all that Worcester has to offer. And it’s not a bad city. Sure, there are some trashy neighborhoods, but you’ll find that in any MA city. It’s very crowded, but it’s not like driving in Boston. My mom lived down by the bridge that goes over into Shrewsbury (not good with names.) it was a fine neighborhood, right across from UMass Memorial, and she paid like $1,300 for a 2-bedroom in a triple decker. Not the best, but far from the worst. Anyhow, with $3k as your budget I’m certain you’ll have no problem finding a great place.

If you want to live in the city stay on the west side. Newton Square, Tatnuck, Salisbury, even elm Park/highland st is pretty good. Otherwise look into Shrewsbury

The issue with Worcester right now is there are only so many open apartments and everyone is trying to get into them. Which means landlords can be picky.

The biggest thing is you need to make x3 the monthly rent a month. So if rent is $2,500 you need to be bringing in $8500 a month to qualify for that unit.

If I were you I'd get on top of finding a place, it could take you awhile if you're not using a realtor to help you in your search and advocate for you.

To put it in prospective, a good friend of mine HAD to move to Worcester for a complex family situation he has going on. This was about 6 months ago. He makes $120k+ a year and couldn't get into a decent 3br apartment for under $4k, he applied and applied. He was always qualified, but he could never get his applications before other people. (First come, first serve)

Because of that he was running out of time so he ended up buying a house in downtown Worcester for double what it sold for 4 years ago. Newer construction but you can tell it was just thrown together.

Hopefully that gives you an idea of the rental market right now in Worcester lol

If your friend had kids under the age of 6 then most landlords will do their best to not rent to them because of MA’s onerous lead laws. We hit a lot of walls when renting with a young child and finally purchased a place because it was so difficult to find reasonable rentals.

For 3k a month you could live anywhere in the city, really. You could live right downtown or in the Canal District if you're looking for walkability, or way out in the sticks on the west side, where it's quieter and closer to a lot of the hiking trails in the surrounding towns, or on the east side where there's plenty of stuff but it's not exactly walkable but you do have some decent stretches of sidewalks to go running.

West side sucks and is so far from everything.

Not true.

For $3,000/month, you could rent anything really.

Traffic can be a hassle, so I recommend living close to where you work if possible. West of 290 is a little nicer than East IMO--unless you're near UMass. I think Elm Park/WPI area is the best mix of safe, walkable, and attractive. I found my apartment through an agent (now retired, sadly) and it was 100% worth the fee.

Moved to Worcester this past year and a runner. West side, tatnuck, burncoat solid options....downtown has a lot more to offer in terms of within walking distance. I'd recommend staying in Worcester city as it becomes extremely suburban/rural outside city limits. I run basically the entire city footprint and outside of city limits for trail running.......it's alllllllll hills....at least I'm in better shape for races. Within city limits you basically have access to anything within a 10 minute drive.