If you are a young single guy you are nuts not to live in Boston. The dating options are limitless.
In our experience they don’t head to those towns: thry head to Braintree, Dedham if dad works in the city, or developing towns out on 495 like Franklin if not. Our block has eight families with kids: four work nearby, two work remotely, and two commute outbound.
What drives families with children out of Boston is the schools. School busing has been a complete disaster. If you are lucky and diligent, there are some great options like the exam schools and the Charters. Middle class families split for the ‘burbs. What is left are low-income families who don’t have a choice, or high income families that have private and parochial school options to prep for Boston Latin, go to BB&N, etc.
Had lunch once with Mumbles (via a charity fundraiser) in 2008. We brought up these challenges for families with children, and the fact that even San Francisco had a higher percentage of families with children than Boston.
He said he was taking care of it…..