Probably makes sense to expand tolls elsewhere to fund mass transit in Boston.

Lmao 10 downvotes. You predicted it!

Anyway, no disrespect to you, but we’re much more open-minded than that. Speak however you want OP.

Hi MV neighbor! I’m not in Haverhill, but not too far.

I agree it’s bad but that’s a bit of an exaggeration. A luxury apartment complex just built in my neighborhood is asking 1,600 for a 1-bed

Do you know where you will be teaching yet? That would help us better focus you toward some reasonable places with reasonable commutes.

And (future) welcome to Massachusetts. Congrats on your (future) escape from hell.

Salary is dependent on location for sure. I have a relative that just retired from Boston Public Schools with a salary pushing $130k. YRMV.

boo

This is bullshit

I’m a teacher in western MA with almost 20 years in, two masters, and I’m barely clearing $80k, can only afford a condo, not a house in my town.

As a Massachusetts teacher I wouldn’t move anywhere here without a job lined up. Since you can apply over the whole state I would then figure out housing after. It’s HIGHLY competitive up here, so not sure what you are certified in, but I hope it’s physics to give you the most possible districts. And yes, you will need a masters within 10 years if you plan on staying teaching here. Happy to answer any teaching questions you might have.

It’s not a hustle, it’s just very labor intensive. You don’t have economies of scale in childcare, hence the high prices. That’s why most countries subsidize this.

>easy travel to the big cities

Boston is really the only "big" city around. Worcester and Providence are much smaller.

Maybe check out Waltham, Framingham, Hudson, Worcester area, Leominster, Lowell, Lawrence, or Quincy.

This is not true. Their are only two costs that matter to a daycare center: labor (plus related taxes and benefits) and facilities (rent + cleaning and maintenance).

The labor is by far the largest cost area. When you factor in administrators and different shifts to cover the full-day, the effective ratio of adults to children is just so low. Then you factor in Boston rents and all the cleaning, etc and there’s not much left. Insurance is <$10k/year for a large-ish center, so a pretty small cost. (It’s not like these policies have to pay out almost ever. Tragedies are few and far between, thankfully.)

As for licenses, it’s a couple hundred bucks a year. Regulation is a bureaucratic pain and has some material admin cost in terms of man hours per month to log/track various things, but do you really want daycare to be unregulated? I don’t.

Source: I’m in the business

Edit: I should add, when I said “this is not true” I meant that about the license and insurance cost. It is absolutely is true that the workers are not paid enough, but that’s because there are no economies of scale in daycare so there just isn’t enough money to go around for workers. The industry needs to be permanently subsidized.

This creates these annoying lines where everyone feels morally obligated to pay for the person behind them. And it totally takes away the spirit of the gesture, because then absolutely no one gets a free drink except for the one guy at the end who doesn't want to keep the train going, so then he's like the jerk of the train *any* is the only one who ever benefitted from the whole entire thing.

So basically the guy at the front paid for the guy at the back, only really inefficiently and annoying all the workers.

Just take the first free drink in the spirit it was given. Pay it forward in some other way at some other time.

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Cape Cod

Merrimac Valley is pretty nice. I live in Haverhill, and it is the start of the commuter rail into Boston (when it is working). Also it is near New Hampshire which is tax-free.

Agree with Lowell. Lots going on there and some affordable housing still. Also check out Worcester.

eh don't mind him. I'm from Oklahoma originally, I still say y'all occasionally even after 18 years. No one bats an eye. Pronounce "aunt" like "ant", on the other hand, and oh boy you will not hear the end of it.

>Always liked Massachusetts

Where did you visit before? As someone who lived down south and now MA is my new home, you are making a great decision. We got our jobs figured out first and then moved, so I recommend applying for jobs first. Last thing you want is to commute across Boston because work and home are opposite ends.

If you are outside of Boston and looking for weekend trips on public transit, check out the MBTA (public transit) maps here: https://www.mbta.com/maps

Just stay flexible! If you find a job you like but don't like living in the town, move. Rip the band-aid off and come up and figure it out as you enjoy all the Commonwealth has to offer.

> And subsidizing daycare isn't even necessarily a good idea because the economic benefit of another parent working often isn't more than the cost of the subsidy

Disagree. The benefit/pay over an entire career of just about any full time job will far exceed the price of childcare.

The problem is when the paycheck doesn’t cover childcare in the short term, and (generally women) are forced to drop out of the labor market.

Depending on what you teach could depend on where you end up. STEM teachers seem to be the most in demand. Some districts are what I call starter districts with high turnover or people who move on to another district. The pay may seem like a lot compared to Texas but we do have a high cost of living here. All public schools have their contracts available online.

In the residential neighborhoods of Boston, quotes for infant care were between $2750-$2900 a month. $2616 for 4 days a week. This is in the West Roxbury/Roslindale/JP vicinity plus immediately outside of the city in Dedham.

Edit to add: for in home daycare in the area I found one spot and the quote was around $1500 a month.

Lowell might fit the bill. It's somewhat affordable, has things to do, decent food, and has a commuter rail stop that goes to Boston. It also has concerts and festivals in it's own right. It's not the "nicest" place but it's not bad. UMass Lowell is there so it has a decent number of younger people.

I haven’t used my car today, so I’m not sure. But now I’m concerned and afraid to go look.

Also north shore.