I grew up in the Boston area- 7miles north. It's great, lots of fun culture to join in on. I now live just outside 495. I love it. I did commute to Boston from slightly west of 495 for two years and it was a mental health nightmare (that i only realized after i changed jobs).

There are great areas around 495 that have varying prices of homes - Hudson is kind of the middle side. It has a nice downtown with restaurants, a rail trail, and nearby a large shopping plaza with big chain stores but pretty much one of every kind of store so it's helpful.

The boroughs are nice areas too (west, north, and south).

If you like the outdoors i really recommend central MA. I had no idea how great it was when living in/around Boston. Central MA starts just west of 495. Worcester is "getting nicer" it has good parts and bad parts, but overall improving. And Wachusett Mt and Wachusett reservoir have really nice hiking trails kind of spread out everywhere.

So nothing is big and metropolitan out here. But the commuter rail isn't terrible (it's not great to take it daily, but to go out for a night in town without driving is fantastic).

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