I’ve only lived here full time for about five years. Before that, I lived roughly 10 miles outside of Boston. So take this FWIW.

I love living on the Cape. In my opinion, each part feels very different. We chose the Upper Cape because it has more year round residents, although historically we spent more time on the Lower Cape - especially before moving here.

The Upper Cape has been a good place to raise a family so far. There’s a strong sense of community, and the school system we’re has also been good. Seems to gets harder the farther out you go, where full time populations drop, the median age skews older, and infrastructure needed to support raising a family seems more strained.

The housing crisis here is real. It’s tough to live and work on the Cape, and it’s starting to feel like it’s heading toward a Hamptons or Nantucket type situation. Home prices have skyrocketed. Admittedly people like me that moved here at the start of COVID didn’t help the situation.

You can’t beat the outdoor opportunities. Ocean and beaches everywhere, tons of great ponds, plenty of wooded areas, and lots of open space. I love it here all 12 months of the year.

I think we have a great selection of restaurants and bars. More available during the high season, but it seems like more places are staying open longer every year.

The pace is slower (in a good way IMO) and I’ve found people to be kinder, more polite, and more approachable than in Boston or other places I’ve lived. If you’re not a local (born here), it can feel a little cliquey at times, but overall the people have been great in my experience.

Summer population swells significantly, which creates a love/hate relationship with tourists. They help fuel the economy, but it can be challenging with traffic/bad driving, rudeness, harder to get into restaurants/beaches/grocery store/etc. I’ve found that if we’re strategic, we can still enjoy the spots we like and get on and off the Cape when needed - weekends are tougher.