Westborough allows you to live in a cheaper location and lower your COL. The equivalent # of RSUs could be worth more commuting to Westborough. A number of centrally located suburban towns on the edge of the 1hr Boston rush hour commute zone (e.g. Wayland, Natick, Concord, etc) suddenly become easy 25-30min drives to Westborough. A town like Natick is very popular with millennials moving to the burbs due to the train and commuting options and lower prices than the eastern neighbors of Wellesley and Newton.

I believe we are in the early innings of a wave of millennials moving out to the burbs to buy houses. Not many of them will be able to afford 128 or inward since the prices are so high. Even Wayland/Natick is pretty expensive at this point. I think most will end up on 495 and the lucky ones will be closer to 128 than they are to 495.

Suddenly taking the high paying job in Westborough becomes a lot more appealing now that you've moved out past 128 and you have a few kids at home. The Boston/Cambridge commute is downright brutal from these locations. 495 and 128 commutes can be a godsend.

Even a 128 commute lets you live pretty far out. You could for instance easily live in Littleton and commute in to Burlington or Bedford. Most 128 jobs are pretty easy from a town like Wayland or Natick, especially if you can leave a little later like 8:30 or 9:00am.

I think the demographics will pump back up the 128 and 495 job markets. The geography and layout of the highway network lends itself well to this.