What price for a house or rental is affordable for you? How many bedrooms? Do you want a yard? Do you have a car? School age kids?

Details like this will help folks suggest areas.

most have dog rules, so check if you plan to bring a dog

Dean Park in Shrewsbury. Fenced play equipment are, walking trails, a pond you can fish (just Sunnie's).

Castle in the Trees in Littleton. Souch fun.

Northborough has a splash pad with an abutting playground. The playground was redone and is good for littles more than older kids now.

SMILE Playground/Haskell field in Sudbury. Big, shade and fence. Bathrooms open most of the year. Huge soccer fields for municipal games, so playground can be packed on weekends and evenings.

Coes Park in Worcester. Really nice equipment. Not huge. On a reservoir good for walking and have an overlook.

Cushing Memorial Park in Framingham. Big manicured park with flat walking paths and fun playground.

I can just speak from the builder side. They are not spending money to add septic capacity over what they are building. So, certain lots may pay more to have that, but its not the standard I see.

You will need a building permit and a septic approval (varies by town). Most septic systems are not sized for more bedrooms than the initial build due to cost. So, you may need to upgrade/increase your septic system.

We used an Ikea wardrobe and added some crown molding. Instant closet that satisfied the realtor and buyers.

The pipes largely were not to deliver gas to Massachusetts. They were traveling through and would have required a lot of taking of private land and removing land out of conservation. Massive right of way widening.

Gas prices are not driven by local things like this...they are driven by global trends. So, high gas now is related to the way in Ukraine and massive corporate profits, as well as infrastructure impacts from hurricanes over the last few years. Local prices can be affected by delivery, but not in a tiny state with tons of pipelines already.

Hudson rail trail, lunch and ice cream in town

The problem with Holden is that its hard to get to (as a location) and one way in/out. My friends live there and regret it. They are planning on move back eastward to Stow/Concord/Hudson/Sudbury.

For an autistic child in any school, there are a lot of differences in needs and delivery + how much of fight it will be to get services. Some kids thrive with ABA and some hate it. Knowing how your kid responds to the structure of a particular program is important. If your kid is 2E -- there are not a ton of programs that really excel for that mix.

You might do well to join the two Facebook Groups "Massachusetts Parents of Autism" and "Autism Moms of Massachusetts". They may have a lot to offer.

Edit: My kid is not autistic, but has overlap (call him autism adjacent).

No, the benefits are not good. They are better than municipal jobs, but rarely stack up to academic positions or private consulting -- at least in my field. The union you would be a member of would determine vesting, years in service and retirement age. If you were an academic in Massachusetts, you may be able to "buy back" years of creditable service. Salary increase are slow (low), but steady. Look at the salary cap in the position to see if you could live with that.

Any position Assistant Director and above are generally non-union. The health insurance is expensive but comprehensive.

Mass is pretty easy! You will need to establish residency, but otherwise, no time in state that I'm aware of.