My partner and I moved to Greenfield right before the pandemic. I'm from Western MA and went to Greenfield Community College so I already had an idea of what to expect. We love, love, love it here but like most communities, you get out what you put in. We find that most of our neighbors are great and we've become friends with them, the ones who aren't so great are still not bad though. I'm a young woman and I've never felt unsafe walking around town even at night, but I do avoid a couple spots just as a precaution. There are a lot of controversies happening with the government right now, but I don't think any of it is particularly worse than most other towns/cities. A lot of really great things are happening too though, there's young folks making art, live music, fun festivals, great bars and breweries in the area, plus all of the outdoor recreation you could desire.

You should note that while downtown Greenfield is pretty walkable (which is a huge reason why we bought the house that we did) and there's several grocery stores and a BJs, most larger shopping requires driving. Hadley or Athol both have strip malls with a variety of stores.