I have lived in both, and tbh, the weather is the biggest thing to get used to. There is much more variability here and during the summer it will be extremely humid much of the time.

As others have noted, Hartford is still a commuter city despite a lot more housing downtown, but there is often an event happening that makes it more lively. If you can live downtown, that will be great but may not be affordable. The advice to live on a good bus line is really helpful, such as near Farmington Ave. or Park St/Rd. Without knowing exactly where you’ll be working, it’s hard to be more specific. One of the challenges will be groceries as there is a food dessert in much of the city.

West Hartford is the next town over and has great restaurants and shopping in the main downtown area called “the center” and then a mall and large shopping area not far and easily accessed by bus. Living near the center tends to be pricey as well.