Whither after Somerville?

[beinneighe.livejournal.com]

Hi all,

It's been clear for a while that I can't afford Somerville anymore, but I'm at a loss as to where to move next.

I've lived in Camberville for eight years, having moved here directly after college. I absolutely love this area--I love that I don't need a car, I love all our festivals, I love the concentration of artists/creatives and scientists/techies, and I love that Somerville is an actual community, not just a city. As a single, childless freelancer, I need those things to avoid going all Jack Torrence.

Does anyone have any suggestions for cities (local, national, international) that would suit someone who loves Somerville but can't swing $1500/mo for a one-bedroom, $18 for a sandwich/latte at a cafe, etc.?  

Comments

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

No specific suggestions, but: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/ is useful, and some of the posts on https://www.reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/

[lb-lee.livejournal.com]

I ended up in JP myself, but have also lived on the edge of Somerville/Medford, where it was cheaper.

I can't rec other cities, since Boston's been the one I lived in best in the country. The only living space I had that rivals my positive experience is Wellington, NZ.

[mirrored-echo.livejournal.com]

Wow, this... post described my present situation perfectly. Thank you.

[zzbottom.livejournal.com]

I think people are finding Providence to be a fun, cheaper alternative to Boston. If you want warmer, the Raleigh Durham area in North Carolina is well thought of. Not sure that either place is quite as easy to be carless, though.

[rax.livejournal.com]

I'm currently in Weymouth, which would not meet your criteria, although meets my related-but-different criteria. :) Had I been able to convince my partner into it I would have gone to Providence, which is much more like what you're looking for, try especially the neighborhood on Hope St near the Pawtucket border or over by Thayer nearish Brown and RISD. If you want something vastly different, Tucson is my favorite place I have ever lived by far, but if you don't want a car you have to be comfortable biking in 100F weather, and I have no idea if that's an option for you. (There are buses, and they're not _awful_, but they don't provide a thorough means of transportation to anywhere in the city, they're mostly just useful for commuting.) If you'd like to be sold on Tucson, I'd be happy to ramble more.

[mem-winterhill.livejournal.com]

My nephew moved to Pittsburgh a while back, and I've visited a few times. Because it has several colleges, it gets part of the way there for me. And they seemed to have some of those festivals as well.

The sports drama turns me off a bit. But I can turn that off here, too.

Seemed quite reasonably priced too.

[secretlyironic.livejournal.com]

In the area, malden, revere, chelsea, quincy, lowell, waltham, and salem are less expensive and have cores that are interesting and fun. The large immigrant populations in lowell and quincy especially mean that theres great food!

Further afield, northampton and providence.

Further still, Philly, Pittsburgh, and Minneapolis are underrated and less expensive.

If you like Northampton, try Charlottesville or Raleigh. College towns, lots of young interesting people, lower prices.

If you go to Charlottesville, PM me, i know people there.

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

Check for blue cities in red states. Austin, I gather, is a good example. Blue cities will have a culture you'll like. Red states tend to have limited zoning which allows the building of enough housing to keep the housing costs down. Unfortunately, I don't think there are many places where being carless works nearly as well as Boston, as Boston is one of the oldest and densest cities. OTOH, there are a lot of places where rent is so much lower that the costs of owning a car are tolerable.

[shadow.livejournal.com]

Portland, OR is gentrifying, but still pretty damn cheap. The public transit is decent though not always reliable; you'll want a bike or the disposable income to use Lyft.

[aedifica]

The Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis sounds like it would fit what you're looking for, though it has fewer festivals. I miss it. (Other neighborhoods might too--Longfellow comes to mind, for one--but Seward is the one I know best.)

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Almost all of the comments here depress the fuque out of me.

I live in Boston(Camberville) because 75% of all the people I like live here, and I REALLY don't want to start my in-person social network all over again.

Providence!

[bostonartist.livejournal.com]

I moved to Providence and love it! The cost of housing in Providence is on average 1/2 of the cost of the Boston area. Surprisingly, the cost for goods and services are only slightly lower. My wife and I where able to buy a nice house in Providence that we could never afford in our lifetime in Camberville. It's refreshing to live in a neighborhood/city that is more down to earth in affordability.

Providence is highly walkable, public transportation is pretty good, you can take a RIPTA bus for $2 from one end of the state to the other! The art/music scene is very healthy for a city of it's size with many yearly festivals downtown, and "Waterfire" on many Saturday summer nights. The city has 2 cute independent movie theaters and a megaplex in the mall downtown. The restaurant scene is also very good. I find Providence a lot less crowded and more laid back, making it easier to do things. If you want to do something in Boston, it's just an hour down the road.

The drawback to Providence is it doesn't have anywhere near the job market that Boston has and it's much smaller in every regard. That may or may not be a problem for you.