Boston - tell me all about it

[Melchior]

I currently live in Melbourne, Australia but yesterday had a job interview for an internal transfer to Boston. I have no idea how likely or unlikely this all is, but I applied more or less because I felt I ought to with no real expectation of it happening and now think I should do some thinking on it. Plus the interview went pretty well I think.

So, Boston. What's it like? Imagine I'm a space alien and no nothing about the US at all really.

We're in our early 30s, with 2 kids and a large dog we'd ideally bring. How do schools work? What's tax like? Where do people shop? What suburbs are good? How much does cable cost? How about internet services/mobile phones and the like? Basically anything you can think of, tell me!

Also, if anyone wants to have a chat about what constitutes good money, how far a salary would go, feel free to PM.

 

[Leo]

i was born and raised in massachusetts, about 50 miles south of boston. never lived there but visited often. some random thoughts: the state is otherwise known as "taxachusetts," although prob not that much worse than elsewhere. an old northeast city, lots of character, cold winters, fairly expensive to live in by US standards, need to be very tolerant of college students because there are a tons of big universities there (harvard, boston u., boston college, MIT, emerson, babson, northeastern, etc.), close to beautiful new england countryside (vermont, new hampshire), best old baseball stadium in existence (fenway park, good luck getting tickets), not a tremendous music scene, used to have some good college radio stations.

again, i haven't lived there, these are observations from a distance. plus, i've lived in nyc for many years, so i'm sure there are other things to note. hope this helps.

 

[petergunn]

I currently live in Melbourne, Australia but yesterday had a job interview for an internal transfer to Boston. I have no idea how likely or unlikely this all is, but I applied more or less because I felt I ought to with no real expectation of it happening and now think I should do some thinking on it. Plus the interview went pretty well I think.

So, Boston. What's it like? Imagine I'm a space alien and no nothing about the US at all really.

We're in our early 30s, with 2 kids and a large dog we'd ideally bring. How do schools work? What's tax like? Where do people shop? What suburbs are good? How much does cable cost? How about internet services/mobile phones and the like? Basically anything you can think of, tell me!

Also, if anyone wants to have a chat about what constitutes good money, how far a salary would go, feel free to PM.

leo covers it fairly well...

taxes, yeah, high by US standards low by international ones i'm sure...

schools, some of the best in the US... i'd suggest looking in Brookline if your kids are school age... great school system, right next to boston (note: "boston" as a city when compared to NYC, London, Philadelphia, etc is very small square footage wise... if Boston was like the above cities, towns like Cambridge, Quincy, Newton, and Brookline would all be in Boston proper... all of the above are served by the Boston subway system...

anyways, if you can find cheap housing in Brookline, go for it... have no idea what rents are these days... nice walkable neighborhoods, decent food, and basically a 45 minute walk from anywhere downtown...

phones and cable and what not are the same as anywhere in the US... basic plans for cell phones is like 40-50 bucks a month...

as for suburb suburbs, i'd suggest looking at Newton, Waltham, Watertown, Lexington, Arlington, Cambridge, Sommerville, Quincy, Weymouth... all are pretty different and have their ups and downs, (ie. some are farther out than others, but you'd have a backyard)

as Leo said, it's a nice location for one day getaways to the ocean or the countryside...

 

[Melchior]

Thanks guys - that's pretty helpful. Especially that stuff about suburbs Peter. The kids aren't school age yet, but they will be in a few years (the older one anyway) and I wouldn't want to get established somewhere and then have to move for the schools.