It’s one of the best mottos anywhere

The state motto is great, sad that they're probably going to change it to something in English that isn't as threatening

It's cool until they put it on a flag with an arm holding a sword over the head of a Native American (who wasn't even from Massachusetts).

I have always loved the Massachusetts state motto.

Opinion:

I have never once lived down south, but I sometimes say, "y`all" and "you'll" -- There is nothing wrong with it, in my opinion.

Don’t. I come from a large family of MA educators. They are miserable, poorly paid and riding it out till retirement.

Based asf

Agree - these (and other similar towns like Ayer and Harvard) are great towns west of Boston. The towns themselves are pretty quiet. If you would like someplace with more happening, look into Lowell and Lawrence towards the north. (Also Haverhill and Amesbury). Worcester is a little further beyond 495, but there is a LOT going on without heading to Boston. Also the bigger cities provide a wider range of housing options - modern apartment complexes are fine, but the real New England rental experience would be the top floor of a triple decker in a neighborhood with restaurants, cafes and shopping within walking distance.

As someone else noted, distances are nothing here compared to East Texas. But there are great places here where you don't even need a car - you might pay more for housing, but you can lose the car payments, insurance and gasoline.

If you are already planning to rent at first you might want to splurge on being closer to things that interest you... Nightlife, the ocean, museums... so that you aren't isolated in a small bedroom community that rolls up its streets at night.

Many teachers are quitting in MA due to the wages. Many younger teachers are taking them positions at a low wage/salary. MA might not be the best place for you

Thank you!! Grew up in mass, moved to NH so I decided on snhu because it’s cheap and i was allowed in with only my HISET (high school equivalency). Is it possible to get my associates in NH and bachelors in MA?

Read your post, what you described almost sums up Norfolk. For me 495 is 10-18 minutes depending which exit I aim for. But maybe you find somewhere closer than that. The commuter rail that goes into back bay and south station is in the center of town 3 minutes from me.

While Norfolk itself doesn’t have a ton outside of a few pubs, it is central to a handful of towns in every direction that has pretty much everything. And for this reason is why it’s going to be a bit cheaper than some of the other towns.

Also if possible try to find a house with a nice south facing roof. Electricity is .41 kWh now, with my solar in locked in at .14 kWh

Worcester has been aggressively gentrifying since 2019. You can literally see the luxury condos sprouting up and spreading across Kelly square. Rents are creeping up into the 2k/mo for a studio arenas

Mountains, forests & small towns in Massachusetts in the Fall = The Berkshires. You probably want to shoot for mid-October for peak foliage.

Testing is useless

its actually harder to find affordable housing in the parts of mass that are as you describe. if you want to be in south eastern mass, it is the most expensive part, although this is where most of the population centers are, most of the jobs are, most of the kind of cultural stuff you are into would be. there are some bubbles of cheaper prices, and affordable rents, but this is definitely a you get what you pay for situation, in that many of those areas arent desirable to live in for cultural reasons and general way of those bubbles.

my hometown area, around bristol county, used to be more the way you describe, a pretty short hop to a lot of interesting places, between the cape and boston, and closest to providence which is a fun little city, but much cheaper and nice towns.

since the T went in, many decades ago now but after i was growing up here... it definitely changed, especially in price. theres still some reasonable deals to be found, depending on what you think of as reasonable, its definitely far better than boston, the cape, but the nicest parts of that were really rural and more affordable back then, acushnet, freetown, rochester are all neat places, and then marion, mattapoisett and plymouth have nice coastal areas. since the middleborough t came in though, and it was a commute to boston on train, it definitely changed and the population and prices went way up.

Plymouth and Carver and Wareham are some neat places, almost on the cape, but still some better deals and more open land.

but i think the western part of the state is the best, being a rural woodsy type myself, and definitely worlds away in price, land is downright cheap in western mass, upstate new york, southenr vermont and that general region. there are some expensive bubbles, but compared to the rest of mass, doable and what even i would call affordable all the way to rock bottom cheap. although some of it is deeply rural theres a lot of population centers, and culture, in amherst and North Hampton, all the way down to springfield. Westfield is a neat small town i like, off to the side of all that, or up from there in the north is greenfield. this is pretty rural, but saved some cultural and in opportunity by proximity to north hampton and amherst. ah some ideas. this is my favorite part of the state, although i like woodsy area and sleepy town, though i do enjoy a good coffee shop and some peeps to talk with, live music and art.

OP do you think they saw something somehow that suggested you were having a rotten day, or was it totally random? Either way it was awesome

Great advice, thank you :)

I think you could have probably asked your questions without insulting your previous home and the people there repeatedly. The further you go from Boston the cheaper it will be. You will find good people opertunity to teach almost anywhere in the state.

Come on down here to the Southcoast for the real seafood! New Bedford, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett, Marion if you want to be on the water. Rochester, Lakeville, Freetown if you prefer the forest.

Smart boy! Florida and Texas are in a race to the bottom with their authoritarian governors

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I think it would be beneficial for you to finish in mass If that’s where you plan to teach. You’re gonna have to take your MTELs regardless in order to get licensed in Massachusetts. I’m in elementary education and the school I’m at focuses on prep for it

Welcome! You might want to check out some of the towns near Lowell, Lowell has a wide variety of different international foods and easy transport into Boston. One thing you’ll learn about Massachusetts is that were packed pretty tight here. I’ve seen people in Texas go 10 miles to their mailbox. Here 10 miles will put you in towns that are completely different from each other. Traffic is also significantly worse.

I live right near this place. We tried it over 4 years ago and haven’t been back. I’m not surprised it’s closing.

No