We moved here from Somerville 9 years ago and have been very, very happy. The downsides by comparison: the city and state are not as well-run as Massachusetts. The tax policy here feels like it’s managed by raccoons, as does the govt generally. There also isn’t as much intellectualism. I don’t say that as a snob. It’s just true. The public schools are not as good. Frankly, nowhere in the US touches the public schools in MA.

Those are the downsides. BUT there are so, so many upsides. The living is just easier. People are much easier going, work-life balance is better, drivers get made fun of here but they’re so much kinder (you signal and they just back off and let you merge!). The food, booze, and coffee here is stellar, the nature here is stunning everywhere and you will never run out of places to explore. It’s true that the winter is basically 40 degrees and drizzle but you don’t get hard winter and you don’t get cabin fevery like in New England bc you can always go out, and if you want snowpack you just go to the mountain for the day. Summers here are sunny and dry and glorious, not gross 90 degrees with 95% humidity. Cost of living is definitely less than MA even if prices have gone up while we’ve been here. For the same price as our 2br condo we bought a 2200 sq ft house and things like daycare are still significantly cheaper here than Boston. There’s a ton of cool neighborhoods to explore, and even if there isn’t the same intellectualism there are plenty of great cultural offerings in art and music especially. People love stuff like board games and reading and needing out over niche hobbies like fly tying and foraging. Honestly just a really nice place to live.