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Ok-Lengthiness446 t1_ir40oh2 wrote

4th Lexington 6th Melrose 8th Needham 11th Milton 17-19 Arlington, Burlington, Newton

Not a one in my county.

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bemest t1_ir4qbl8 wrote

All inside 128 and unaffordable to a working family.

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czechmixing t1_ir4s262 wrote

That's what makes them great! No poor people!!!

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FirstOrderRouge t1_ir5405b wrote

That’s the actual implication unfortunately.

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BasicDesignAdvice t1_ir5edg0 wrote

Its also how we have structured things. Investment pours into high wealth low crime areas. The areas that really need investment are ignored and just get worse and worse. Repeat constantly all over America.

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flamethrower2 t1_ir5mqau wrote

At least they Robin Hood the school funding somewhat. People complain about it but it's better than states where property value equals school funding. Which is most states.

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bemest t1_ir4t0ev wrote

Thank goodness for Lowell or who would mow their lawns.

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headrush46n2 t1_ir5g5je wrote

they're going to need to start bussing people in from Springfield to serve them their coffee.

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internetTroll151 t1_ir5b0l0 wrote

Segregation still exists, but nobody will want to admit it or talk about it. It's not an easy problem to solve, most of the rest of the country has larger bodies of government (e.g. school districts with 5+ high schools) - so its possible to integrate poorer sections of the community with wealthier. Here there are such distinct boundaries.

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KawaiiCoupon t1_ir6knwz wrote

That’s the minimum standard to make it on the list lmao

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BasicDesignAdvice t1_ir5e0vb wrote

I grew up in Needham and it was a paradise. Tons of families and school age kids. Great schools. Of course as a teenager it was the worst place in the world but looking back its crazy how lucky I was.

There are still a lot of families but every parent you talk to in the playground is a doctor or an engineer or something.

All the five bedrooms being slapped together on my old street are being bought but childless couples, which I am not judging, but its weird going back remembering that street filled with kids. Kids are all spaced out now instead of all living on the block.

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itallendsintears t1_ir4w2q3 wrote

Those towns suck anyways you aren’t missing a thing

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traditionalsmoke01 t1_ir55n7u wrote

Well apparently not

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itallendsintears t1_ir57fop wrote

Lexington and newton are alright but these are boomer enclaves where everyone is in bed by 8pm and the only sound you hear is the gentle hum of the occasional Tesla that drives by

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traditionalsmoke01 t1_ir590xl wrote

Let’s hear your top 5

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ValkyriesOnStation t1_ir59jgp wrote

Boston, Northampton, Amherst, P-Town, and Turners Falls.

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itallendsintears t1_ir5amey wrote

Swap out turners with Holyoke and that list fire. Turners is cool but the people that live there are legit weird and dumb

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traditionalsmoke01 t1_ir5dtb0 wrote

Holyoke is cool if you like heroin

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itallendsintears t1_ir5eypx wrote

Holyoke has a literal mountain, a downtown, a mall, hydroelectric power and a water reservoir that literally runs downhill. It’s future proof.

And it’s fentanyl now and nobody likes that garbage

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traditionalsmoke01 t1_ir5m51n wrote

Yeah I guess people who like to live in nice quiet towns without drugs and broken down mills won’t get the last laugh afterall

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itallendsintears t1_ir5n1iz wrote

Eversource and national grid energy costs are increasing 60% this winter.

It’s just getting started.

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traditionalsmoke01 t1_ir5pk9s wrote

Except in Holyoke? Do you live in Holyoke?

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eaglessoar t1_ir78mnd wrote

Boston, Hamilton, Manchester by da sea, Lenox and siasconset

Maine should be part of Massachusetts again (in exchange for PR statehood) and then we could add Rockland.

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lazydictionary t1_ir5f4b9 wrote

Does activity beyond 8pm make a great place to live?

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itallendsintears t1_ir5fqpm wrote

Yes. And neighborhoods where you aren’t judged by the quality of your landscaper. Those are two good starting points

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A_Man_Who_Writes t1_ir4n7qg wrote

All rich towns on the eastern side of the state, go figure…

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internetTroll151 t1_ir5bddy wrote

if affordable towns were desirable, they wouldnt be affordable towns anymore

Be glad your town isn't on the list - people read these things and move there - then starbucks comes in, and the local places close, and the school rankings drop.

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anubus72 t1_ir5yffc wrote

Starbucks is responsible for our failing schools

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internetTroll151 t1_ir77uej wrote

There are a type of people that would only move to a suburban town with a starbucks. You dont want them as parents in your school system. They act like they care about their kids, but they wont put in the work.

​

Yes I'm generalizing half of society. Yes I know its not factually correct for everyone.

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Codspear t1_ir851yu wrote

> if affordable towns were desirable, they wouldnt be affordable towns anymore

They can be both if you get rid of residential zoning restrictions.

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richg0404 t1_ir6zcpu wrote

My town is nowhere near this list and I'm very happy about that. I love where I live and more people would make me love it a lot less.

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JaKr8 t1_ir45akf wrote

I don't think people appreciate the quality of life we have up here in the northeast, even if it is a little bit colder than other parts of the country, and a little more expensive. And it does appear the northeast was very heavily represented in the list...

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kasque t1_ir4k1fc wrote

All the weird stuff on the internet doesn’t happen here in small town New England. I suppose that makes us dull to the rest of America. I’m fine with that.

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itsgreater9000 t1_ir57ybl wrote

the best compliment i've heard about the northeast was from Andrew Callaghan (of All Gas No Brakes/Channel 5 fame), who described the northeast as just way too boring to generate a ton of interesting content from. very glad we are not like FL/TX in that way, haha.

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gweal t1_ir5do4m wrote

I also took that as a compliment lol

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lazydictionary t1_ir5fcd9 wrote

Don't know what you are talking about. Guy in my town rocked a Qanon sign on his front lawn for at least a year.

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ipsissimus666 t1_ir50y9k wrote

Even just drinking water.

All over the country, water out of the tap tastes horrible.

Or their ground water is in peril.

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internetTroll151 t1_ir5bo2g wrote

The author is from CT - so perhaps a strong bias on the criteria selected to make the list.

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JaKr8 t1_ir7vchg wrote

There are some interesting inclusions and exclusions on the list.

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headrush46n2 t1_ir5gdjr wrote

its not a little bit more expensive dude. I moved out to the midwest and bought a 3 bedroom house. My monthly mortgage is less than my Cambridge parking spot.

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JaKr8 t1_ir8l6cy wrote

Yeah, but I'd rather be in Cambridge than pretty much almost anywhere in the Midwest, except for Chicago or MSP (One of our houses is there anyway, it's a great city, We spend a couple months a year there). I've been out that way enough to know...

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ak47workaccnt t1_ir78u3m wrote

Why don't you think people appreciate it? There's a post like this saying how awesome Massachusetts is every other day.

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JaKr8 t1_ir8lb9n wrote

No, I just think we take it for granted. I have a relative who's lived in San Diego during their entire lifetime, they've never been to the beach. Sometimes you don't always appreciate what you have in your own backyard...

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NativeMasshole t1_ir4vc5e wrote

Fucking Gary, IN is tied for the top spot. Might as well just throw this list right in the trash where it belongs.

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FirstOrderRouge t1_ir54g0k wrote

It’s literally on the bottom of the list.

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NativeMasshole t1_ir55qw7 wrote

Ohhhh, that's 1 percentile lol. I thought it was in reverse order. That makes a lot more sense.

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FirstOrderRouge t1_ir55xcm wrote

I don’t think it’s a perfect list, but they put Gary where it belongs lol

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william1Bastard t1_ir53eiw wrote

All those cities in the south and midwest should have asterisks. I'm sure they're fine, unless you have a kid and you value education. If so, you'd better make enough to send them to a nice private school.

Fr though, I've never heard so much as one nice thing about Gary Indiana

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nmc9279 t1_ir4u49m wrote

Randolph? Really?

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InfantryMatt t1_ir6gugd wrote

The only reason I came to the comments was because I saw Randolph and couldn't believe it. Both my mom and dad's side all came from Randolph, and pretty much everyone bailed to the south shore in the early 90's. Maybe things have changed?

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SilverRoseBlade t1_ir5f1id wrote

I mean I grew in Randolph and left a while ago so maybe it got better? I just remember their school system was not something I’d be proud of back then.

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Jabrak t1_ir5y06j wrote

I live in Randolph and moving out soon. I laughed when I saw it on the list, it's probably the same as when you left.

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Wild_Jury_6941 t1_ir5c6za wrote

I'll take my very quiet, nothing exciting ever happens here life out in the Berkshires. The leaf peepers will be around soon but other than that it's a very quiet life.

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DBLJ33 t1_ir4toaa wrote

They lost me when they mentioned Randolph.

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Slapshot5251 t1_ir4400d wrote

Surprised Winchester didn’t make the cut

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ZOOTV83 t1_ir56q3w wrote

Maybe the distinction is that Winchester is technically a town and not a city?

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MrFCCMan t1_ir57ajv wrote

Nah they said they did it by population not if it’s actually a city. Burlington is a town, but has just over 25,000 people so it makes their cut

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ArmlessGeodude t1_ir4rmh6 wrote

This is legit probably one of the best places to live right now.

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nonitalic t1_ir3xzoo wrote

5/7 of those are towns, not cities.

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exploremore617 t1_ir4u7ha wrote

Randolph, well now we know the accuracy of this report 🤷‍♂️

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itallendsintears t1_ir4vw5n wrote

I was so excited to read this until I actually saw the list.

Melrose? Needham? Fucking Wellesley??!?

Did the author just drive around suburban hellscapes until he found the one with the most pleasing Audi to person combo?

These towns blow. Full of a bunch of bourgeois bullshit and the people who scamper about pretending they have value and their jobs are super duper important.

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2tuna2furious t1_ir6wevr wrote

Goddamn how much does your life suck you are this unpleasant 😂

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itallendsintears t1_ir73rzd wrote

It’s awesome actually I live in a reasonably priced, diverse town with a beautiful woman ten years younger then me. Also I don’t have any children.

How’s your life look?

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BHKbull t1_ir5a0g7 wrote

Too bad the vast, VAST majority of people can’t afford to live in them.

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Academic_Guava_4190 t1_ir3vugf wrote

Medford seems like an outlier here.

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Chippopotanuse t1_ir4x2jv wrote

It’s right next to Tufts. Get a lot of Somerville/Cambridge overflow.

It’s come a long way since the gritty “Meffa” days back in the 1980’s and early 1990’s when guys like the Saccos and Shawn Bates ruled the town.

That said, yeah, I’d have at least forty towns ahead of it in Mass alone.

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Academic_Guava_4190 t1_ir4y3id wrote

I guess it’s been awhile since I spent significant time in Medford. Some of my family lived there in the 80s/90s and it has always had nicer areas. I was wondering if they had only been to the Tufts or West Medford areas. Back in the day the parts near Somerville were the worst frankly, but I guess some of the gentrifiers crossed the border.

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lucascorso21 t1_ir4ygg3 wrote

Burlington being on this list is hilarious.

Edit: Deleted line about Gary because I'm dumb.

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Ksevio t1_ir57x43 wrote

Gary is the very last on the list, higher percentile is better

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lucascorso21 t1_ir58i2c wrote

Ugh, thank you. Brain-dead this morning.

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Ksevio t1_ir592xp wrote

Ha it happens. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to one of America's top small cities where I'll go work in an office park, then maybe head through the strip mall to the actual mall for some lunch

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fireball_jones t1_ir5cdqm wrote

Americans struggle with the idea of mixed use so we settle for living at the mall instead.

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NeetStreet_2 t1_ir4yje9 wrote

Nothing in the Berkshires?

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Dr_Bunson_Honeydew t1_ir542u0 wrote

I think the qualifier for the report is “cities” where population is greater than 25k. I’m sure some of the great other towns many people are thinking of in MA might not meet that hurdle, especially out in Western MA.

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here-come-the-bombs t1_ir5d06c wrote

I think they may have limited it to municipalities that are officially cities, too, because my town meets the population criteria, but it's a "town".

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Ok-Lengthiness446 t1_ir6bnyx wrote

Shhhhhh and let’s keep it that way please. Gentrification is coming to Pittsfield and I’m terrified. Continue to let people believe there’s no reason to live here.

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Running_In_The_Woods t1_ir5w92a wrote

I moved from Medford/Somerville to Salem a few years back and it was the best decision I made. Salem is going through a boom right now and is a great place to live. I couldn't recommend it enough. Very walkable, beautiful houses and architecture, near the ocean, incredible restaurants, and best of all, nice people.

I have a lot of friends leaving Somerville and moving to the north shore. A shitty two bedroom house in Somerville/Medford goes for 700k dollars and maybe you get a parking spot (definitely no yard)

Sure those cities on the list have good schools and high property value, but they at boring AF. I would take Salem any day over those cities.

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danmur15 t1_ir4j4dj wrote

Now how many more are in New England as a whole

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Bicworm t1_ir5es9k wrote

Burlington fucking blows, and Melrose is too close to the city. The rest I agree with.

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[deleted] t1_ir5wy6l wrote

Donald Trump used to pull all the stops and fudge all the numbers he could to get as high on the Forbes list as possible. Partially this was self-promotion partially this was narcissism so he could see his greatness reflected back at him. Food for thought.

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MrMadLeprechaun t1_ir61db1 wrote

As somebody who grew up in Burlington it's completely unrecognizable when I go back. It would've been nowhere near any of these lists back then

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CLS4L t1_ir4wyle wrote

Every new article is a Top 10 list like Netflix we are in the AWS zone for everthing.

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Loinpurloin t1_ir3utc5 wrote

*WHITEST

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a_white_american_guy t1_ir4sss1 wrote

To compile this list, WalletHub compared 1,319 cities across five dimensions: affordability, economic health, education & health, quality of life and safety.

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