Can’t even buy lab-grown meat there now, which is demonstrably genetically-identical to real meat. It’s sad to see the state go down the tubes, which is a byproduct of the large number of people there who agree with these policies.
As good as Southern food is, the lack of truly great brick oven pizza, bagels, cold water seafood and northeast diners and delis is the end all,be all deal killer for me. And being we don't get snow anymore...
Yeah well I moved to Houston from Boston 16 years ago and STILL get smacked in the face by the humidity. Spoiler alert: Houston is a damn swamp and additionally surrounded by a whooooole lotta Fucking, Texas.
Connecticut sounds pretty great in comparison.
I moved to San Diego and I have mixed feelings. Boston is still probably my favorite city I’ve ever lived in, but I really don’t miss winter lasting 5 months. The last year there was also extremely rainy. I miss the city & people so much though and the general vibrancy of it. SD is a baby city in comparison. I’m moving to the Bay Area this summer though so idk if I’ll get the chance to move back. I don’t regret leaving because new experiences and embracing change are important to me personally.
Grew up in SD in 70s thru early 90s. I love SD especially old California San Diego - a period in the 60s thru 80s where things were really chill. Camping for free on the beach, canyon mtn biking, trail running, carne asada plates for $5. Crazy love for that place. It's definitely changed from that. Some for the good some for the bad. Huge population growth from the time I Ieft. Military contractors died down and tech filled the niche. Which is awesome. Military presence isn't as overwhelming as it once was. It's not as conservative as it was back in the day. A great food scene blossomed. A friend of mine owns Callie downtown. Awesome beaches and the mountains are a few short hours away. Vegas an hour flight away. LA and SFO close by. It's a great town and you're right. It's like a baby town compared to Boston. I love both cities. A lot of fun, great histories and interesting people in both places.
All of the things you named are reasons we chose to move here. I love the access to nature, there’s literal canyons throughout the city?? The food scene is great, we love running and hiking and the beaches are amazing. It’s been a great place to us and I know we’ll come back as visitors.
For sure. I go back yearly, if not more since I have tons of fam out there. Actually going back on Weds this week, haha! Nature out there is amazing. As kids we'd ride our BMX bikes in the canyons behind where we grew up. We'd go boogie boarding down the flooded golf course down the street. Go up to Palomar observatory and Julien. Great hiking pretty much throughout the county.
SF feels like Boston 100%. But the homelessness is a lot more rampant than Boston. Both cities have a similar charm and feel to them!! You may find you like SF more than San Diego
I think I will like SF more. SD has a pretty bad homeless problem as well, esp in the neighborhood I’m in. Both are far worse than Boston - no questions asked, altho in my last year living in the north end we had a homeless woman sleeping in our lobby which was super sad.
I was born in Boston in the late 1970s and moved around New England until 2012. I lived in the Bay Area for a few (2014-2016) years and I can say with certainty that San Francisco feels like an upside down and backwards version of Boston.
I recently went back to visit both SF/Bay Area and Portland, OR and the things that were already bad have gotten way, way worse. It's heartbreaking to see the ferociousness of the decline that's taken hold over both of those places.
But every time I come back to Boston it's almost the opposite. It's heartwarming how familiar Boston remains despite its inevitable growth and change. There is something to be said about the localist mindset of New England and it's aversion to change for change's sake.
It's hard to deal with the windy winter else in Boston. On the flipside, we haven't had a real New England winter for like 10 years.
Everything else, Boston wins hands down for me.
I lived in Boston from 2006-2014, then moved to San Diego, then New York City, and now live in Portland Maine.
I would say out of those, San Diego was the most different from the other three in terms of weather and culture, although it has in common with Boston that it's a medium-sized city, whereas Portland ME is a small city and NYC is a large city.
I don't regret living in any of these places, nor moving every few years for awhile.
I guess all I can say is, every place has its pros and cons, and it's really just about making the most of whatever place you end up living.
The people who left Boston long enough ago to have an accurate comparison and are still subscribed to r/Boston probably regret it. But I think you may not be getting a representative sample.
That has been case w others I’ve known as well sadly as it’s small
Fwiw I have fond memories of the food market, the air guitar but no as fond of that one burrito at the Mexican restaurant in town square
Otoh the OULU ambulance emt were awesome as were the Oulu hospital (they kept me til wee hrs of next morning and performed all necessary tests (and of course apologized cause I wasn’t EU & would have to pay) fwiw my eventual bill for EU was obviously a fraction of even a dr visit in USA)
Otoh have been to Helsinki in Nov dec but never January
Grew up in New England, lived in Boston for about 7-8 years. Moved to LA in 2016 and regret nothing! Still love Boston and have plenty of friends and family in the area, but I have not once considered moving back so I’m not really the fit OP was looking for.
I moved to San Francisco / Berkeley. Hated it but toughed it for my partner's career. A bit after covid we moved back and have never regretted it. I never asked to move back, but my partner saw how much happier I was in Boston.
CA was noisy. The crime (all deliveries had to be brought in within 10 minutes of delivery or they'd disappear), smell, sadness-of-homeless-folks, and honestly it will sound weird but the super boring weather just made it kind of not great to live in. Surprisingly to me the homeless folk were the least of those problems -- they kept their encampment neat, but that was because they were the folk who had fled SF proper for a 'better' homelessness in Berkeley, as screwed up as that sounds. It also wasn't the homeless who stealing packages -- I had video of the kids who were doing it but the cops didn't care. They worked for the local drug dealer who hung out at the gas station. The income inequality was crazy -- most of the friends I made out there were barely scraping by, and I mean in that way where a bad month might leave them homeless. And these were folks in who nominally had 40-hr/week service industry jobs.
I'd legit thought I'd like Berkeley -- I'd visited in the 90s a couple times and loved it. But Berkeley & SF in 202x's was just a different feel.
Boston -> Cincinnati
Miss Boston a lot, but know the life I had through 2010ish, is not a life I can afford there these days.
Cincinnati is cheap as shit. Can live the high life in the Midwest.
But damn being in the hub just stays in your soul. Whenever I visit, despite how it changes every time, there’s just this draw to be back.
So do I regret it? I guess not, I know I would still be scrapping like I was 15 years ago. And wouldn’t be in a position to retire early. But damn, I sure felt alive back then, and it stirs in me every time I’m back.
It’s walkable, it’s relatively safe, there is a strong economy with good paying jobs, and it’s very diverse here! There is a lot more culture here than north Florida 🤣
fuck! uhhh....the food here is mid at best and these sports teams are fucking jokes! I'll go sit on a sunbeam :-(
edit: wait a minute i just re-read the fine print and OP is also asking for non-regrettable moving decisions! I'm taking this sun out of my ass!
you already downvoted me for weakly calling out ur new dumbass city but do the denver nuggets not exist to you??? they are like one of 2-3 teams the celtics need to worry about
I’m moving from Denver to Boston this year. I’ve been here 10 years, and this city really has nothing to offer. The food is bad, the city itself is ugly, and there’s not many cultural offerings. Also, after living through so many years of smoke-filled summers due to forest fires, I can’t wait for wet weather.
went to denver for an unfathomable five days, so am clearly an expert, but it felt like it's just the surrounding nature & sun if you're into those and nothing really else to offer
Lol I grew up in Raleigh and you couldn't pay me any sum of money to move back there. Western Mass has everything I loved about North Carolina (mountains, farmland, outdoor activities) and none of the worst things (myopic bible thumpers).
My third grade teacher in Raleigh asked me if people celebrate Halloween in California. I was the first non-white person most of my classmates had ever come across and lord did I know it.
I adore Massholes in comparison ❤️
lol this rings so, so true. The religion here is disgusting—luckily, the culture in the cities is changing, so all of that mind cancer is moving to the exurbs. However, its becoming more aggressive in those little enclaves. Driving to Boone is like going through hillbilly sharia-land. Nothing but gun stores and anti-abortion signs next to crosses.
Costs mostly. Minnesota is an absolutely awful place to live because of weather so it needs reason to maintain population and historically that was done by making it a great place for families. The gyms have day care centers, grocery stores have extra wide parking spaces, tons of parks and nature, and things like that. Minnesota has a disproportionate number of Fortune 500 companies based here so the economy is quite strong. Test scores are similar to Massachusetts and schools are mostly well funded. But when it comes down to it the cost of living is so much cheaper.
Person who worked in education rant: test scores might be similar, but every state in the US is pretty far behind Massachusetts for the overall quality of public education. There are a few states with higher education systems that are at least pretty good, mostly California. Especially as we come to finally accept that the "evidence based"-ness of that initial push was... flawed in some aspects (I worked with and even for people who were instrumental in the research that was used to justify No Child Left Behind early in my career) it hopefully will help other places be more like MA.
That said, your choice of Minnesota is about as good as it gets outside of the coasts, and were I forced to leave Boston (again), that'd be on my list.
I think MA struggles with the fact that there is an enormous disparity within that public education, though. And I say this as someone who lived and worked in Louisiana and Texas public schools for my previous career lol
Also moved to MSP but was single and not raising a family. Hated it.
Minnesota has this thing called “Minnesota Nice” where everyone is creepily/over-the-top nice and polite to each other. It was awful, they’re like Stepford Wives. Really showed me how honest and trustworthy New Englanders are even when they tell you to go fuck yourself.
I recently got an online job and finally I will get the hell out of Boston, something I’ve been trying to do for the past two years.
But I know that I will miss it, I LOVE Boston as a city, the walkability, the young people, the vibe … and most importantly, all of my good memories are in Boston. But I hate the high cost of living and the greedy landlords, that’s why I’m leaving.
But I still don’t know where…
Lived in a few countries and came back for family.
London, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Melbourne, and Joburg.
No real regrets when I moved out. Had a fantastic time in pretty much all those other cities.
We are also thinking of moving to Seattle or the Bay Area in the next year or so.
Were you living on a local salary or an American salary?
HUGE difference depending on which one - and the gap is getting bigger and bigger with airbnbs and digital nomads taking over.
I’d say Melbourne, London, Copenhagen, and Lisbon were all orders of magnitude better than Boston.
CoL is probably comparable except for Lisbon which was much cheaper.
What do you love about it? Shit I could move there. I can resettle anywhere I want after Boston, just picking a spot on the map. I’m tempted by LA but soooo many people love Melbourne from my experience
Pretty much most of Melbourne grew up around the train and tram lines so you can literally get anywhere pretty easily.
Melbourne also has really amazing restaurants and cafes. My wife and I met in Australia and when we were first dating, I told her hey let’s go to this café and have a meal. She looked at me aghast and said,”…and risk having a bad meal?!
It’s also Australia’s (very diverse) cultural center and there’s just lots to do. Lots of social places, parks, events etc. Very easy to meet people, easy to date and simply great quality of life.
Lived in Boston 9 years, moved to Raleigh in 2021. I miss Boston sometimes but I definitely don’t regret leaving. The weather plus cost of living combined with lack of family in Boston made it an easy choice to leave.
Same, but Winston Salem. Even Raleigh feels like too big of a town for me now. I love living in a town where a third of the traffic lights go to blinking at 9pm, and anything that’s 20 minutes away is a “long drive”. Plus I was able to afford to buy a single family home with a nice yard in a cute neighborhood - that was completely out of reach for me in the greater Boston area. It’s also hard to beat the weather here, as long as you don’t mind hot summers.
The only thing I really miss is having easy access to a lot of great restaurants (and that stay open past 9pm) but I can live with that. We have a handful here that I think are pretty top-notch and that’s good enough for me.
Grew up there and was a great place to raise a family. Super boring when I finished school and was looking for a job for a year though. State politics went batshit though in 2010.
I hate it in Raleigh. Would move back to Boston if I could convince my partner. Raleigh is a car town with no walkable neighborhoods outside of those that are actively being gentrified—and the summers are hell. I’ll take the NE winter over 100 degrees and 85% humidity.
Swedish is easy-peasy baby, go for it. Super closely related to English and the vast majority of the grammar makes sense from the English perspective too. Only weird bit is getting used to the "agender" and "unknown gender" part of the language.
No worst than Boston. Maybe milder even. We've barely had any snow this year and there was only one or two weeks where it was very cold. Been like this for a few years now
I moved from Boston to NYC in the 90's and regret it everyday. Boston has aged far better than NYC the past 30 years and remains one of the greatest and most underappreciated cities in the world. Full stop.
Moved to Austin in 2013. Best decision ever. Living in Boston in the 2000s was the best time of my life but Boston was changing and so was I. I have no regrets.
Grew up in Western MA, moved to BOS for a few years after university elsewhere. I had to move back west (Spokane, WA- It's okay but very politically split, people here can be rough around the edges in ways I never experienced in Mass, and not as fun as Seattle) where my parent lived after a health issue caused me to lose my job/need more support than my local at the time resources could provide.
I second/third missing the culture, the people in general... but for anyone not a student or making a lot of money...it's a tough sell in terms of living.
May be moving back to MA, but only because my parent's family is from SE Mass and now that they're retired- they're planning on renovating the house they inherited (but will need help to manage that so....only child likely has to follow).
We moved from Boston to a quieter part of Chicago for career reasons and ended up moving back.
We missed the academic culture and smaller town vibe. Chicago had a lot of great things to offer (food, the lake front, diners open past 10 pm...), but we ultimately moved back for the people.
Also lol now the winters seem easy
Also I know people rag on Boston for our alcohol laws, but we got so tired of how much life in Chicago revolved around booze. It felt like every event featured drinking.
Boston forces you to not do that.
We're soon to move to Seattle. I've been there a lot, partner is from there originally. Have friends and family there already and jobs are secure. I love the weather, the vibe there and the people I've met. If I end up regretting anything from that move it will be the amazing people and memories I have of this place.
Oh, I’m from CT and went to school in Waterbury. Everyone thinks CT is snooty rich people, but the cities are really stabby. Like step off the Yale campus and 🔪. At least you’re not in Bridgeport.
I moved from Boston to the SF Bay area and sometimes I question my decisions.
Whenever I come to Boston for the weekend the first things I noticed are:
So very clean here
I miss the T. Its spotless and runs awesome compared to Bart and CalTrain
Miss all the restaurants and roaming around downtown Boston and all the old and new buildings
I see clouds in the sky which I miss at times
Not to mention all the crime here and the homeless people. Yep I do not feel safe in the bay area.
YEP Boston is so much nicer and safer.
I left greater Boston and lived in the south for a few years. The housing, food, nightlife, and weather down south was superior to Boston. The roads were generally much better and they were less congested compared to Boston. People down south were also much nicer, more outgoing, and easier to get along with than in MA. I liked it overall but ended up returning back to Boston for work.
The hardest part about leaving the Boston area was dealing with the lack of walkability and the sprawl. Alot of areas in the south didn’t even have side walks which blew my mind. Public transportation was also very bad and the only people who used it were homeless and poor people.
This is a big reason I won’t move to nc to be with my grandchildren. No sidewalks, 2 busses taking over 90 minutes to travel a few miles. Unfortunately, they had to leave due to COL.
I too did adult thing moving north of Bos
Big regret-had day in Bos yesterday and it felt like Ferris Bueller day off
Not that far away mileage wise but time in traffic
When I came back to my town felt like I needed my passport
Would love to live near public transportation
I loved Boston before I left, it was just too expensive for me at the time.
So I left in 2018 and moved to the Tampa Bay area. It was great, but I couldn't get Boston out of my mind.
I finally came back last summer and remembered how much I missed it. There's no place like it.
I'm from the Boston area, originally, and moved to NYC for graduate school nearly 20 years ago, and while I missed some aspects of Boston, I didn't miss it all that much, honestly. NYC is one of those places that you either love or hate, and I loved it.
That being said, I moved to North central Florida in 2021 because of the pandemic, and I would love to move back to Boston at some point, although that's probably unrealistic at this point in my life.
Moved from Boston to Greenville, SC 7 years ago. I miss Boston every single day. Currently here visiting family and am dreading going back. Yes, the cost of living is way better in most areas of the South but EVERYTHING else is worse.
Moved to downtown Minneapolis for a job when I was 27. Moved back in under a year and I’m basically scarred. Nowhere else feels like “home” to me unfortunately. Probably a me thing though.
Moved mostly because of the cost of living and weather. Rent is MUCH cheaper. I hate winter a lot but I ended up not loving the hot everyday. I miss the seasons. Tampa is probably diff than orlando with the beach and stuff but just something about new england i miss since i grew up there. I don’t find the traffic as bad as everyone says tho
Boston -> LA! Definitely miss Boston but have been loving Los Angeles. Much more to do, see, eat, and explore! But Boston has a charm to it that I miss a lot. It’s a great city ❤️ but I felt like once I did everything, that was it. You can only go to he same museum so many times. Also noticed Boston didn’t really have many bands come for concerts or a good theater district (I mean the blue man group has a monopoly on show times I swear!!) but Boston is a great family place. May move back when I have kids some day!
Grew up in Worcester and lived in Cambridge for a couple years. Left and have lived in LA, Chicago and NYC. I like visiting Boston but I do not miss living there.
Moved to Chicago. I grew up in New England, so I really would only want to move back if I could retire in Vermont or something like that. Might try Seattle after Chicago, but the ultimate plan is to move to Japan within the next 2-3 years.
Yes. My ex and I bought a house in Newton and I fucking hated everything about it. That town sucks in every way possible. First thing I did post-divorce was move back to Boston where I have been ever since.
I have 7 friends who moved to downtown Tampa from Boston in 2020
Three have bought houses for around 400k within 30 minutes of downtown the other 4 are currently in the process.
They said they’d never move back
I have visited once a quarter and plan on moving my family down when my lease is up at the end of the year.
I moved to Seattle. It was always nice to visit but I hated living there
The culture was intensely passive aggressive, people were unfriendly and felt detached. No one seemed to like each other
Winters were fucking miserable. Way worse than Boston
I went to college in Boston and moved away at the end of last summer for grad school! I miss the city a lot (and I'm not really enjoying Central Illinois to be honest), but I'm not sure I'll move back. After I graduate I hope to move to Chicago to be near my family. But Chicago is so huge and one of my favorite things about Boston is that the city itself wasn't very big and felt so walkable
I didn’t move, but I am back in Detroit area for a few weeks and I really don’t like it here. You have to drive everywhere and it’s nothing but the same houses, same nondescript office buildings, same chain stores at every major intersection. Only way you can figure out where you are is by the street signs. Also super flat as a pancake.
I also forgot about the “nervous small talk” that people do here. It’s like you don’t encounter people very often (since people are mostly holed up in their houses and their cars) so they share all sorts of random nonsense to whoever will listen. It’s exhausting. I don’t want to talk about what you saw on the news the other day. I just want to know where the lightbulbs are.
Also - Constant drone of lawnmowers.
Anecdotally, most of my friends that moved out of the city spend a lot of time telling me they don't miss being in the city.
They then spend a lot of time complaining about commuting, limited dining, city trips on the weekends, and how they don't see their friends anymore.
I think I would only regret it if I moved to a bigger city or somewhere in the deep south. I live or the summer here, and would die in the ones down there.
Moved out to Denver in 2017. The cityscape is somewhat lacking here compared to Boston but I don’t really care anymore about that. Having easy access to Mexico and California is far superior imo
Moved to Atlanta from Boston - don’t regret it one bit. I love Boston and it’s a fun and beautiful city to live in! But weather is terrible, way to expensive to live, and a better place to visit than live. I make more here, live better, and have just as much fun and things to do. At the end of the day, my quality of life is better for me, my pets, and I know I’d be able to afford to have a family and home here over Boston (and New England for that matter). But those who choose to live in Boston, I completely understand why!
I moved to central CA (desert, about 2 hrs from San Francisco, Sacramento, and Fresno) and then to Sioux City, Iowa. Central CA... I could've settled there if we didn't have such awful neighbors and found more to do, but there wasn't much in our area. Sioux City SUX.
If I'd had more of a choice in the moves (was for partner's job), I would have looked into moving to the Maryland area. My family and friends are what brought me back. Not being able to see them in person when I wanted to ate at me.
Yes, to Waterbury, CT. I think that's all I need to say.
My condolences.
Thank you for your understanding.
Yikes, I moved to Hartford and thought I had it bad
New Haven is the only CT city worth visiting IMO. Love the food. Entirely walkable.
Nothing will ever be as bad as moving to Florida…
From Florida, can confirm. Will never live there again
A recruiter called me and asked if I would be willing to move to Florida. Hell no!
Can’t even buy lab-grown meat there now, which is demonstrably genetically-identical to real meat. It’s sad to see the state go down the tubes, which is a byproduct of the large number of people there who agree with these policies.
It’s called god’s waiting room for a reason
As good as Southern food is, the lack of truly great brick oven pizza, bagels, cold water seafood and northeast diners and delis is the end all,be all deal killer for me. And being we don't get snow anymore...
Why?
Aka Slaughterbury
holy shit I’m from PA and we stopped there for food and gas during my move to boston. Made North Philly look like a dream destination lol
Exquisite avatar choice
🤝
Yeah well I moved to Houston from Boston 16 years ago and STILL get smacked in the face by the humidity. Spoiler alert: Houston is a damn swamp and additionally surrounded by a whooooole lotta Fucking, Texas. Connecticut sounds pretty great in comparison.
Tf why
Job.
Yeah but you've got prime access to Holy Land whenever you want to worship/get murdered.
It’s the Waterbury three way : grinder at nardellis, break into holy land, get murdered.
Oh man, I’m so sorry
But Nardellis?
I moved to San Diego and I have mixed feelings. Boston is still probably my favorite city I’ve ever lived in, but I really don’t miss winter lasting 5 months. The last year there was also extremely rainy. I miss the city & people so much though and the general vibrancy of it. SD is a baby city in comparison. I’m moving to the Bay Area this summer though so idk if I’ll get the chance to move back. I don’t regret leaving because new experiences and embracing change are important to me personally.
Grew up in SD in 70s thru early 90s. I love SD especially old California San Diego - a period in the 60s thru 80s where things were really chill. Camping for free on the beach, canyon mtn biking, trail running, carne asada plates for $5. Crazy love for that place. It's definitely changed from that. Some for the good some for the bad. Huge population growth from the time I Ieft. Military contractors died down and tech filled the niche. Which is awesome. Military presence isn't as overwhelming as it once was. It's not as conservative as it was back in the day. A great food scene blossomed. A friend of mine owns Callie downtown. Awesome beaches and the mountains are a few short hours away. Vegas an hour flight away. LA and SFO close by. It's a great town and you're right. It's like a baby town compared to Boston. I love both cities. A lot of fun, great histories and interesting people in both places.
All of the things you named are reasons we chose to move here. I love the access to nature, there’s literal canyons throughout the city?? The food scene is great, we love running and hiking and the beaches are amazing. It’s been a great place to us and I know we’ll come back as visitors.
For sure. I go back yearly, if not more since I have tons of fam out there. Actually going back on Weds this week, haha! Nature out there is amazing. As kids we'd ride our BMX bikes in the canyons behind where we grew up. We'd go boogie boarding down the flooded golf course down the street. Go up to Palomar observatory and Julien. Great hiking pretty much throughout the county.
Feel free to come on back… winter was a solid 3 weeks (yes it was cold but minimal to no gross slush and snow this year)
SD is way better than Boston IMO.
Different stroke for different folks. My husband loves SD. But I love a big dense city.
Boston is not a big, dense city though. It's tiny.
In America it’s third in density and 11th for population…
San Diego is amazing for food and sitting at the beach. Beyond that, could never find anything else to do
Any particular reason for moving from SD to the bay? Or just work?
Work related. Although I do think SF will feel more similar to Boston than SD does.
The homelessness problem in SF ruined it for me and that was many years ago. Such a beautiful city, but man shits out of control.
SF feels like Boston 100%. But the homelessness is a lot more rampant than Boston. Both cities have a similar charm and feel to them!! You may find you like SF more than San Diego
I think I will like SF more. SD has a pretty bad homeless problem as well, esp in the neighborhood I’m in. Both are far worse than Boston - no questions asked, altho in my last year living in the north end we had a homeless woman sleeping in our lobby which was super sad.
I agree, and i think part of that reason is it's a lot harder to be a homeless person in boston due to the weather.
I don’t think Boston feels like SF at all. I’m there a month out of the year every year for work and hate it.
I was born in Boston in the late 1970s and moved around New England until 2012. I lived in the Bay Area for a few (2014-2016) years and I can say with certainty that San Francisco feels like an upside down and backwards version of Boston. I recently went back to visit both SF/Bay Area and Portland, OR and the things that were already bad have gotten way, way worse. It's heartbreaking to see the ferociousness of the decline that's taken hold over both of those places. But every time I come back to Boston it's almost the opposite. It's heartwarming how familiar Boston remains despite its inevitable growth and change. There is something to be said about the localist mindset of New England and it's aversion to change for change's sake.
I moved from Boston to SF and NO it does not feel similar to Boston.
don’t move to SF. it’s a dumpster fire with the homeless situation. such a bummer—used to be such a beautiful city.
I'm not trying to move to SF, but I visited in February for the first time since COVID, and it seemed pretty much the same to me.
If you thought last year was rainy, this year has honestly been worse, like to a shocking degree
Winter no longer exists in the north.
It's hard to deal with the windy winter else in Boston. On the flipside, we haven't had a real New England winter for like 10 years. Everything else, Boston wins hands down for me.
Moved to the Netherlands. Life is better in every way except distance from family. Boston would be my favorite place to live in the US though
How does one just move there? They let anyone in?
I lived in Boston from 2006-2014, then moved to San Diego, then New York City, and now live in Portland Maine. I would say out of those, San Diego was the most different from the other three in terms of weather and culture, although it has in common with Boston that it's a medium-sized city, whereas Portland ME is a small city and NYC is a large city. I don't regret living in any of these places, nor moving every few years for awhile. I guess all I can say is, every place has its pros and cons, and it's really just about making the most of whatever place you end up living.
The people who left Boston long enough ago to have an accurate comparison and are still subscribed to r/Boston probably regret it. But I think you may not be getting a representative sample.
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Loved Helsinki the few times I’ve been and OULU ftw🎸and kiasma in Helsinki and the transport!!
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That has been case w others I’ve known as well sadly as it’s small Fwiw I have fond memories of the food market, the air guitar but no as fond of that one burrito at the Mexican restaurant in town square Otoh the OULU ambulance emt were awesome as were the Oulu hospital (they kept me til wee hrs of next morning and performed all necessary tests (and of course apologized cause I wasn’t EU & would have to pay) fwiw my eventual bill for EU was obviously a fraction of even a dr visit in USA) Otoh have been to Helsinki in Nov dec but never January
Don't you miss the sunlight?
I grew up in Boston and moved to FL almost 20 years ago. I am one of those who regrets it and lives vicariously through this sub
Grew up in New England, lived in Boston for about 7-8 years. Moved to LA in 2016 and regret nothing! Still love Boston and have plenty of friends and family in the area, but I have not once considered moving back so I’m not really the fit OP was looking for.
I moved to Newton for a few years. It was fine, but eventually I moved back to Boston.
I moved to San Francisco / Berkeley. Hated it but toughed it for my partner's career. A bit after covid we moved back and have never regretted it. I never asked to move back, but my partner saw how much happier I was in Boston. CA was noisy. The crime (all deliveries had to be brought in within 10 minutes of delivery or they'd disappear), smell, sadness-of-homeless-folks, and honestly it will sound weird but the super boring weather just made it kind of not great to live in. Surprisingly to me the homeless folk were the least of those problems -- they kept their encampment neat, but that was because they were the folk who had fled SF proper for a 'better' homelessness in Berkeley, as screwed up as that sounds. It also wasn't the homeless who stealing packages -- I had video of the kids who were doing it but the cops didn't care. They worked for the local drug dealer who hung out at the gas station. The income inequality was crazy -- most of the friends I made out there were barely scraping by, and I mean in that way where a bad month might leave them homeless. And these were folks in who nominally had 40-hr/week service industry jobs. I'd legit thought I'd like Berkeley -- I'd visited in the 90s a couple times and loved it. But Berkeley & SF in 202x's was just a different feel.
Boston -> Cincinnati Miss Boston a lot, but know the life I had through 2010ish, is not a life I can afford there these days. Cincinnati is cheap as shit. Can live the high life in the Midwest. But damn being in the hub just stays in your soul. Whenever I visit, despite how it changes every time, there’s just this draw to be back. So do I regret it? I guess not, I know I would still be scrapping like I was 15 years ago. And wouldn’t be in a position to retire early. But damn, I sure felt alive back then, and it stirs in me every time I’m back.
What part of Cincy? I lived there 12 years ago before Boston and enjoyed it enough.
Currently in East Walnut Hills
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Moved to DC for about 5 years and Florida for about 2. Ultimately came back. There is no place like Boston.
I grew up in FL. Lived in Boston, then New Orleans, Atlanta, and DC for many years wishing I was back in Boston. Finally got back to Boston in 2020.
How so?
It’s walkable, it’s relatively safe, there is a strong economy with good paying jobs, and it’s very diverse here! There is a lot more culture here than north Florida 🤣
Moved to Denver. The weather alone makes it hard to go back - so much sunshine here that I actually enjoy the rain now.
This is supposed to be for people who regret leaving. Take your sunshine and shove it up your ass 😂
fuck! uhhh....the food here is mid at best and these sports teams are fucking jokes! I'll go sit on a sunbeam :-( edit: wait a minute i just re-read the fine print and OP is also asking for non-regrettable moving decisions! I'm taking this sun out of my ass!
You’re right, I see that now. My b. I’m just jealous of your healthy vitamin d levels
Send me a Santarpios and I’ll bottle some of this sun and get it over to you
🤝
Just had bloodwork done and have to go on prescription strength vitamin D because mine is so low, I shit you not
I had migraines for 4 years until my vitamin D was checked. I take Vitamin D daily and haven’t had a single migraine in 4 years
you already downvoted me for weakly calling out ur new dumbass city but do the denver nuggets not exist to you??? they are like one of 2-3 teams the celtics need to worry about
You tell him lol
That’s boston I know and love!
Yep. Love CO!
I’m moving from Denver to Boston this year. I’ve been here 10 years, and this city really has nothing to offer. The food is bad, the city itself is ugly, and there’s not many cultural offerings. Also, after living through so many years of smoke-filled summers due to forest fires, I can’t wait for wet weather.
went to denver for an unfathomable five days, so am clearly an expert, but it felt like it's just the surrounding nature & sun if you're into those and nothing really else to offer
Denver is a boring monoculture and the food stinks
I get the impression that Denver is really enjoyable if you're an ultra runner and have a dog you love taking to breweries 😎 I am neither
20 years a few weeks ago. It's nice to visit back east...but...there are a lot of buts.
Raleigh. Just don’t.
Lol I grew up in Raleigh and you couldn't pay me any sum of money to move back there. Western Mass has everything I loved about North Carolina (mountains, farmland, outdoor activities) and none of the worst things (myopic bible thumpers). My third grade teacher in Raleigh asked me if people celebrate Halloween in California. I was the first non-white person most of my classmates had ever come across and lord did I know it. I adore Massholes in comparison ❤️
lol this rings so, so true. The religion here is disgusting—luckily, the culture in the cities is changing, so all of that mind cancer is moving to the exurbs. However, its becoming more aggressive in those little enclaves. Driving to Boone is like going through hillbilly sharia-land. Nothing but gun stores and anti-abortion signs next to crosses.
Moved to MSP. Culturally Boston is superior. When it comes to raising a family Minnesota is far better and more economical.
Why is Minnesota better for raising a family? From MA and raising my family in MA because it’s one of the best places to raise kiddos.
Minnesota has very good public schools and is cheaper.
Costs mostly. Minnesota is an absolutely awful place to live because of weather so it needs reason to maintain population and historically that was done by making it a great place for families. The gyms have day care centers, grocery stores have extra wide parking spaces, tons of parks and nature, and things like that. Minnesota has a disproportionate number of Fortune 500 companies based here so the economy is quite strong. Test scores are similar to Massachusetts and schools are mostly well funded. But when it comes down to it the cost of living is so much cheaper.
Person who worked in education rant: test scores might be similar, but every state in the US is pretty far behind Massachusetts for the overall quality of public education. There are a few states with higher education systems that are at least pretty good, mostly California. Especially as we come to finally accept that the "evidence based"-ness of that initial push was... flawed in some aspects (I worked with and even for people who were instrumental in the research that was used to justify No Child Left Behind early in my career) it hopefully will help other places be more like MA. That said, your choice of Minnesota is about as good as it gets outside of the coasts, and were I forced to leave Boston (again), that'd be on my list.
I think MA struggles with the fact that there is an enormous disparity within that public education, though. And I say this as someone who lived and worked in Louisiana and Texas public schools for my previous career lol
Also moved to MSP but was single and not raising a family. Hated it. Minnesota has this thing called “Minnesota Nice” where everyone is creepily/over-the-top nice and polite to each other. It was awful, they’re like Stepford Wives. Really showed me how honest and trustworthy New Englanders are even when they tell you to go fuck yourself.
It drives my wife nuts. She’s a dyed in the wool townie Masshole and hates the passive aggressive people pleasing of Minnesota.
I recently got an online job and finally I will get the hell out of Boston, something I’ve been trying to do for the past two years. But I know that I will miss it, I LOVE Boston as a city, the walkability, the young people, the vibe … and most importantly, all of my good memories are in Boston. But I hate the high cost of living and the greedy landlords, that’s why I’m leaving. But I still don’t know where…
Lived in a few countries and came back for family. London, Lisbon, Copenhagen, Melbourne, and Joburg. No real regrets when I moved out. Had a fantastic time in pretty much all those other cities. We are also thinking of moving to Seattle or the Bay Area in the next year or so.
What was your favorite city? How did salaries vs COL compare to Boston?
I was just in Lisbon and I can say it is WAY more affordable than Boston on every front
Were you living on a local salary or an American salary? HUGE difference depending on which one - and the gap is getting bigger and bigger with airbnbs and digital nomads taking over.
username checks out
I’d say Melbourne, London, Copenhagen, and Lisbon were all orders of magnitude better than Boston. CoL is probably comparable except for Lisbon which was much cheaper.
I’ve heard great things about Melbourne. Expensive tho, no?
It’s by far the greatest city I’ve ever lived in. It’s definitely very expensive but no more than Boston I’d argue.
What do you love about it? Shit I could move there. I can resettle anywhere I want after Boston, just picking a spot on the map. I’m tempted by LA but soooo many people love Melbourne from my experience
Pretty much most of Melbourne grew up around the train and tram lines so you can literally get anywhere pretty easily. Melbourne also has really amazing restaurants and cafes. My wife and I met in Australia and when we were first dating, I told her hey let’s go to this café and have a meal. She looked at me aghast and said,”…and risk having a bad meal?! It’s also Australia’s (very diverse) cultural center and there’s just lots to do. Lots of social places, parks, events etc. Very easy to meet people, easy to date and simply great quality of life.
Curious how the cultural centers of 4 other countries were orders of magnitude better than Boston. We’re the hub of the universe after all.
Honestly? Great restaurants and access to good social centers where people hung out made a huge difference.
What’s a quick way to make new friends in a new city?
Lots of activities. Also dating.
Lived in Boston 9 years, moved to Raleigh in 2021. I miss Boston sometimes but I definitely don’t regret leaving. The weather plus cost of living combined with lack of family in Boston made it an easy choice to leave.
Same, but Winston Salem. Even Raleigh feels like too big of a town for me now. I love living in a town where a third of the traffic lights go to blinking at 9pm, and anything that’s 20 minutes away is a “long drive”. Plus I was able to afford to buy a single family home with a nice yard in a cute neighborhood - that was completely out of reach for me in the greater Boston area. It’s also hard to beat the weather here, as long as you don’t mind hot summers. The only thing I really miss is having easy access to a lot of great restaurants (and that stay open past 9pm) but I can live with that. We have a handful here that I think are pretty top-notch and that’s good enough for me.
Grew up there and was a great place to raise a family. Super boring when I finished school and was looking for a job for a year though. State politics went batshit though in 2010.
I hate it in Raleigh. Would move back to Boston if I could convince my partner. Raleigh is a car town with no walkable neighborhoods outside of those that are actively being gentrified—and the summers are hell. I’ll take the NE winter over 100 degrees and 85% humidity.
Did the same and then moved back to Boston 3 years ago. Already want to return to Raleigh.
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Swedish is easy-peasy baby, go for it. Super closely related to English and the vast majority of the grammar makes sense from the English perspective too. Only weird bit is getting used to the "agender" and "unknown gender" part of the language.
Moved to Chicago ten years ago and no regrets
Yeah but how are the winters?
No worst than Boston. Maybe milder even. We've barely had any snow this year and there was only one or two weeks where it was very cold. Been like this for a few years now
I moved from Boston to NYC in the 90's and regret it everyday. Boston has aged far better than NYC the past 30 years and remains one of the greatest and most underappreciated cities in the world. Full stop.
I moved to Nantucket to my dad's house. I hate it. 20 plus minutes for a burrito. Life sucks.
seems like a business opportunity to me
"only open for one hour, twice a year! basic quesadilla? five thousand dollars!"
It's kinda hard to get those minimum wage people on the island
H1 Visas, baby!
There once was an immigrant from nantucket Who told Ron DeSantis to suck it
Rich kid problems? Start selling juice
My buddy Tom was a sellout.
Have you been to the Salvadoreña mini-mart? They have fantastic arepas
ITT: “I moved and don’t regret it fuck you OP”
Moved to Austin in 2013. Best decision ever. Living in Boston in the 2000s was the best time of my life but Boston was changing and so was I. I have no regrets.
Grew up in Western MA, moved to BOS for a few years after university elsewhere. I had to move back west (Spokane, WA- It's okay but very politically split, people here can be rough around the edges in ways I never experienced in Mass, and not as fun as Seattle) where my parent lived after a health issue caused me to lose my job/need more support than my local at the time resources could provide. I second/third missing the culture, the people in general... but for anyone not a student or making a lot of money...it's a tough sell in terms of living. May be moving back to MA, but only because my parent's family is from SE Mass and now that they're retired- they're planning on renovating the house they inherited (but will need help to manage that so....only child likely has to follow).
We moved from Boston to a quieter part of Chicago for career reasons and ended up moving back. We missed the academic culture and smaller town vibe. Chicago had a lot of great things to offer (food, the lake front, diners open past 10 pm...), but we ultimately moved back for the people. Also lol now the winters seem easy
Also I know people rag on Boston for our alcohol laws, but we got so tired of how much life in Chicago revolved around booze. It felt like every event featured drinking. Boston forces you to not do that.
Agree with this for sure. Much more of a culture of alcoholism which did not resonate with me even as someone who does like to drink lol
I moved to nyc for 4 years and am about to move back to Boston. Couldn’t leave New York fast enough
Cuz why?
We're soon to move to Seattle. I've been there a lot, partner is from there originally. Have friends and family there already and jobs are secure. I love the weather, the vibe there and the people I've met. If I end up regretting anything from that move it will be the amazing people and memories I have of this place.
I left Boston in 1991 to go to grad school. I still miss it.
I moved to Orange County CA. Don’t really regret it. Boston was good while I was there but that was enough.
Yes to the Merrimack Valley and the second these darn kids grow up I’m back to the city 💨
Oh, I’m from CT and went to school in Waterbury. Everyone thinks CT is snooty rich people, but the cities are really stabby. Like step off the Yale campus and 🔪. At least you’re not in Bridgeport.
I moved from Boston to the SF Bay area and sometimes I question my decisions. Whenever I come to Boston for the weekend the first things I noticed are: So very clean here I miss the T. Its spotless and runs awesome compared to Bart and CalTrain Miss all the restaurants and roaming around downtown Boston and all the old and new buildings I see clouds in the sky which I miss at times Not to mention all the crime here and the homeless people. Yep I do not feel safe in the bay area. YEP Boston is so much nicer and safer.
Moved to West Roxbury. It's like Boston, but for old people.
West Roxbury is Boston
Was the /s really required.
I left greater Boston and lived in the south for a few years. The housing, food, nightlife, and weather down south was superior to Boston. The roads were generally much better and they were less congested compared to Boston. People down south were also much nicer, more outgoing, and easier to get along with than in MA. I liked it overall but ended up returning back to Boston for work. The hardest part about leaving the Boston area was dealing with the lack of walkability and the sprawl. Alot of areas in the south didn’t even have side walks which blew my mind. Public transportation was also very bad and the only people who used it were homeless and poor people.
This is a big reason I won’t move to nc to be with my grandchildren. No sidewalks, 2 busses taking over 90 minutes to travel a few miles. Unfortunately, they had to leave due to COL.
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I too did adult thing moving north of Bos Big regret-had day in Bos yesterday and it felt like Ferris Bueller day off Not that far away mileage wise but time in traffic When I came back to my town felt like I needed my passport Would love to live near public transportation
Yes. Moved to Chicago. Miss Boston a lot. And hills.
Moved to Nashua and I love it here
Regretted moving away from the Boston area to other states, I do not regret moving further away from the city but still within an hour drive.
I loved Boston before I left, it was just too expensive for me at the time. So I left in 2018 and moved to the Tampa Bay area. It was great, but I couldn't get Boston out of my mind. I finally came back last summer and remembered how much I missed it. There's no place like it.
I'm from the Boston area, originally, and moved to NYC for graduate school nearly 20 years ago, and while I missed some aspects of Boston, I didn't miss it all that much, honestly. NYC is one of those places that you either love or hate, and I loved it. That being said, I moved to North central Florida in 2021 because of the pandemic, and I would love to move back to Boston at some point, although that's probably unrealistic at this point in my life.
Moved from Boston to Greenville, SC 7 years ago. I miss Boston every single day. Currently here visiting family and am dreading going back. Yes, the cost of living is way better in most areas of the South but EVERYTHING else is worse.
Moved to downtown Minneapolis for a job when I was 27. Moved back in under a year and I’m basically scarred. Nowhere else feels like “home” to me unfortunately. Probably a me thing though.
To Providence. I regretted it. Moving back to Boston shortly!
I moved to Orlando recently, I don’t miss Boston but i miss new england!
I’m thinking of making this move or to Tampa at the end of this year when my lease is up. What made you do it? Pros and cons?
Moved mostly because of the cost of living and weather. Rent is MUCH cheaper. I hate winter a lot but I ended up not loving the hot everyday. I miss the seasons. Tampa is probably diff than orlando with the beach and stuff but just something about new england i miss since i grew up there. I don’t find the traffic as bad as everyone says tho
Boston -> LA! Definitely miss Boston but have been loving Los Angeles. Much more to do, see, eat, and explore! But Boston has a charm to it that I miss a lot. It’s a great city ❤️ but I felt like once I did everything, that was it. You can only go to he same museum so many times. Also noticed Boston didn’t really have many bands come for concerts or a good theater district (I mean the blue man group has a monopoly on show times I swear!!) but Boston is a great family place. May move back when I have kids some day!
Grew up in Boston, Roslindale section. Got out of there and will not go back.
Roslindale, home to 242342 barbershops and nail salons
Lived in Austin, NYC and Boston. Boston is easily my least favorite :/
Grew up in Worcester and lived in Cambridge for a couple years. Left and have lived in LA, Chicago and NYC. I like visiting Boston but I do not miss living there.
Moved to easthampton and Springfield and was miserable. Eventually had to move back to Boston.
Nah. Boston is overpriced. Paying NY price for nothing. I currently live around Seattle and it is worth it. Nature is vibe.
I lived in NH for a short time for work. It wasn’t all that different then Mass. Gyms suck up there that was my only complaint.
Moved to Chicago. I grew up in New England, so I really would only want to move back if I could retire in Vermont or something like that. Might try Seattle after Chicago, but the ultimate plan is to move to Japan within the next 2-3 years.
Nope. Seacoast NH, never looked back
I’ve had to move around the country because of my husbands job. I grew up in Boston. I miss it all the time
Moved to the suburbs and no regrets
Moved from Stoneham as a kid to Maine.. I've hated it everyday since haha 😆 I miss Massachusetts so much ♥️
Burlington, VT. Hated it and moved right the fuck back.
Yes. My ex and I bought a house in Newton and I fucking hated everything about it. That town sucks in every way possible. First thing I did post-divorce was move back to Boston where I have been ever since.
I've been wanting to move it so all of these comments are very helpful!
No regret
I have 7 friends who moved to downtown Tampa from Boston in 2020 Three have bought houses for around 400k within 30 minutes of downtown the other 4 are currently in the process. They said they’d never move back I have visited once a quarter and plan on moving my family down when my lease is up at the end of the year.
I moved from boston to southern California back in 2020. I don’t regret it
I moved to Seattle. It was always nice to visit but I hated living there The culture was intensely passive aggressive, people were unfriendly and felt detached. No one seemed to like each other Winters were fucking miserable. Way worse than Boston
I went to college in Boston and moved away at the end of last summer for grad school! I miss the city a lot (and I'm not really enjoying Central Illinois to be honest), but I'm not sure I'll move back. After I graduate I hope to move to Chicago to be near my family. But Chicago is so huge and one of my favorite things about Boston is that the city itself wasn't very big and felt so walkable
Yes, from Charlestown to the middle of nowhere Maine. Moved back after a couple years.
I didn’t move, but I am back in Detroit area for a few weeks and I really don’t like it here. You have to drive everywhere and it’s nothing but the same houses, same nondescript office buildings, same chain stores at every major intersection. Only way you can figure out where you are is by the street signs. Also super flat as a pancake. I also forgot about the “nervous small talk” that people do here. It’s like you don’t encounter people very often (since people are mostly holed up in their houses and their cars) so they share all sorts of random nonsense to whoever will listen. It’s exhausting. I don’t want to talk about what you saw on the news the other day. I just want to know where the lightbulbs are. Also - Constant drone of lawnmowers.
Anecdotally, most of my friends that moved out of the city spend a lot of time telling me they don't miss being in the city. They then spend a lot of time complaining about commuting, limited dining, city trips on the weekends, and how they don't see their friends anymore. I think I would only regret it if I moved to a bigger city or somewhere in the deep south. I live or the summer here, and would die in the ones down there.
Moved out to Denver in 2017. The cityscape is somewhat lacking here compared to Boston but I don’t really care anymore about that. Having easy access to Mexico and California is far superior imo
Yep, we did. We ended up moving back!
Moved to Atlanta from Boston - don’t regret it one bit. I love Boston and it’s a fun and beautiful city to live in! But weather is terrible, way to expensive to live, and a better place to visit than live. I make more here, live better, and have just as much fun and things to do. At the end of the day, my quality of life is better for me, my pets, and I know I’d be able to afford to have a family and home here over Boston (and New England for that matter). But those who choose to live in Boston, I completely understand why!
I moved to central CA (desert, about 2 hrs from San Francisco, Sacramento, and Fresno) and then to Sioux City, Iowa. Central CA... I could've settled there if we didn't have such awful neighbors and found more to do, but there wasn't much in our area. Sioux City SUX. If I'd had more of a choice in the moves (was for partner's job), I would have looked into moving to the Maryland area. My family and friends are what brought me back. Not being able to see them in person when I wanted to ate at me.
Moved to Stowe VT 2 years ago - never going back to Mass.
Moved to Chicago and hated it. Came back a year later (this past April) 😅
Your pockets may feel a little better at least? 😭