Can Massachusetts Dopers tell me about Westboro, MA

In My Humble Opinion
1

Suffice to say that an opportunity has come up for me *to look into * moving to MA, something I’ve often thought about. So, I thought I’d ask Dopers for their opinions.
The town in the running is Westboro, MA.

Can anyone tell me pros and cons?
I know how expensive Boston is, I’m hoping Westboro is more reasonable. For example, how much does the average 2-bedroom apartment rent for?
I live outside of Albany, which is a medium-sized town. Is Westboro comparable or larger?
Is Westboro predominantly white? Not that I mind, but Albany is fairly multi-cultural (yes it is, shaddup) and I’d miss that.

Anything else interesting about it?

Thanks ahead of time!

2

Westboro is right by Tufts vet school. Rural & treeful,
but well near to Rt 9, upon which there is heaps of
all the shopping necessities & chain stores & restaurants
you could possibly want. Rt 9 takes you west into
Shrewsbury & thence into downtown Worcester.

I can’t compare it to living in Albany but it is a good
location between the outer edge of Boston sprawl
& Worcester proper.

3

It’ll be beautiful in the fall of course. Cool and snowy/sleety in the winter, and green and vivacious in the spring and summer. It can get balmy. Economy is strait forward, just don’t forget you’ll be in Taxachussetts…

I’d personally stay away from Woosta (Worcester) it is the armpit of New England if you ask me.

1 or 2 bedroom apartment between 7 and 9 hundred depending on amenities. Personally, I love MA. Though I prefer the surrounding NE states.

4

I live close to Westboro. I even used to work there at one time. The Metrowest Boston area tends to be pretty nice and most towns are somewhat afluent. Westboro is one of the larger suburbs in terms of development and businesses in this neck of the woods. Proximity to Boston is good using the Mass pike and should only take 35 - 40 minutes. I believe a commuter rail to Boston is available close by.

I have never been to Albany but Westboro should be much smaller. Westboro is certainly a suburb and not a city in its own right. Most of Metrowest Boston is pretty white with the exception of parts of Framingham which is not too far away.

I think it would be a pretty good place to live if you like outer suburban living.

5

Excuse me? Are you referring to race or the color of ones collar??

6

I meant race. The OP asked about diversity. According to the latest census, Westboro is 88% white with most of the rest Asian professionals.

You can google Westboro and find out that the cost of housing is rising at one of the fasted rates in the nation. The general area is the 11th most expensive in the nation.

7

Ok gotcha! I was thinking you meant something else… oops

8

Never knew anything about Westboro, and I haven’t lived in MA for 25 years now (Makes me feel so old! :eek: ). But…

The Boston area, in general, is the nicest place I know in the US. I still sort of consider Boston to be my “second home” :slight_smile:

When I lived there, it was more along rt. 128 than out around I-495 – closer to the city itself, and you’d be driving against traffic both ways. So those are the places I know to tell you about.

Anyway – I lived in Newton MA. Lovely town, predominantly (almost exclusively?) white but with a very large proportion of Jews as well as Catholics (it was roughly a third of each, the final third being of various Protestant denominations), and very liberal. Right on the 'Pike, Rt. 9, Comm. Ave… and very close to Storrow Drive, too – excellent accessability to DownTown as well as to Cambridge. But I’d have to guess it’s mostly extremely expensive!

Going further west, Wellesley, Framingham and Natick have always stuck in my mind as nice, further-out-and-thus-cheaper-rent places. Try looking at them. Framingham is, I believe, the “World’s Largest Town” – an unincorporated (at the time – early 80’s) town of nearly 100,000 (unless they’ve incorporated since, I don’t know). It certainly seemed to me like a nice place; enough people to have all the services and amenities, but dedicated to keeping a “townish” atmosphere.

Another place you might want to look at is Watertown. It’s very close to Boston (one town over west of Cambridge, in fact; directly North of Newton), and was, way back when, relatively inexpensive and multi-cultural (lots of Armenians, if my memory serves). A bit far from Westboro – probably over 20 miles wither way – but going against traffic. And tremendously close to Boston itself, for when you want to get in to The City! Probably still less bang for the buck, accomodation-wise, than oulying areas, though.

'Course all of this is 25 YO info, so probably inaccurate both due to faulty recollection and to actual changes on the ground. But it may give you a few tips to start looking at. Real estate classifications and Demographics don’t change that much…

In general – MA rocks! It’s the place I’d go live (again) if I ever leave Israel. Go for it!

Dani

9

I spent two years living and working Westboro one week.

Seriously. Two years.

It’s dull. Really dull.

But here are the good things…

  • Accessability to Boston; about a 25 minute drive outside of rush hour or on the weekend.
  • Good accessability to shopping. Grocery stores are right on rt.9 and pretty modern.
  • Great big malls in Framingham/Natick which is just 10 minutes up the road.
  • Worcester is 10 minutes the other way. Not much to brag about except it has a bit of a multi-cultural flavour with a few good ethnic and health food stores and restaurants. It’s a surprise given the “whiteness” of the surrounding towns.
  • More good things about Westboro was a good gym (which is something that’s important to me), good roads for cycling and running
  • Jewel in the crown was a small publically accessible lake (more like a large water reservoire) with a great little white sand beach. Great for hot summer day swim.
  • Plenty of townhouse communities with available rentals and a few appartment buildings (Fountainhead is one I remember seeing).

In general, the area is fairly safe, clean and very rural on the cusp of suburbia. You will be lost without your own car.

Let me know if you have other questions.

10

I just moved from Marlborough which is next to Westborough (and also next to Southborough and Northborough… but strangely there is no Eastborough)…

I second everything that Shagnasty and Phlosphr said.

IMO the area has more of a rural feel than many suburbs with wooded areas and even the occasional small farm tucked out of the way. Near Boston everything inside 128 is very ‘urban’ and the best you’ll find is ‘suburban’. Moving out from 128 to 495 places go from suburban to almost rural. And outside 495 is (to me) clearly the nicest. Noone Special mentioned Wellesley and Natick but both of those places are very expensive as they are closer to Boston while having a rural feel. (I spent a couple years in Natick and their downtown has a classical ‘small town’ feeling to it with a park w/ gazebo where they have a farmers market on the weekends and concerts some weeknights.)

From Westborough the proximity of both route 9 and 495 mean that you go E-W or N-S as fast as traffic will let you (which during rush hour means a slow crawl). At 6 AM when there is still little traffic, you could reach Boston in 50 min. At 8 AM it will take at least an hour and a half. Coming home in the evening, at 3 PM it’s 1 hour. At 4 PM it’s an hour and a half. … and at 5 PM on a Friday night in the summer it will take you at least 2 if not 2 1/2 hours… with my longest commute from hell being just shy of 3 hours. But don’t let that discourage you, it’s a great place to live. Just do like I did and work the early shift. Driving in at 6 and home at 3 I had no problems with the commute. It was only the days that I got delayed that were hell.

In Marlborough we were paying $1000 for a 2 bedroom appartment but all utilities were included.

On preview, I see QuickSilver posted and I agree with everything he said except for the commute time.

11

I haven’t spent much time there, but it struck me as being very white and very suburban. If you’re into manicured lawns and gumdrop-shaped shrubbery, and you make $200,000/year, it could be the place for you. Personally, it makes me a bit uncomfortable, but then I hate suburbs.

But if you end up moving there, you must call me.

12

The suburban part is true but you don’t need to make $200,000 to fit in there (although it wouldn’t hurt anything). IMHO, you get a much nicer environment in Westboro than you would for the same money closer to Boston. If kids are an issue, there are good schools and all that stuff that a nice suburb brings. There are a range of housing options.

There are some good jobs in Westboro proper too. I had one once. Some very large companies like the TJX companies (TJ Max/Marshall’s) have major operations there among others. I was just applying for jobs in IT this morning and many that I found were in that immediate area.

It’s true that you have to have a car.

13

Yes, Westborough is the suburbs, so if you like suburbs it’s fine, and as previously mentioned, there are more urban areas the closer to Boston you go, and not all of them are super expensive (for example, Waltham and Watertown).

re: the racial thing, there are tons of software companies around Westboro and lots of Indians are employed in that industry. Also, the Boston area in general is pretty diverse (not as diverse as New York City but still pretty diverse). And it’s a really great area to live and work, so I hope you move here!!!

14

I most certainly will! Are you in the area? We’ll go out for drinks & Indian food.

Thank you everyone for the great advice. It doesn’t sound like a bad place at all…let me see if the opportunity may become more real than it currently is.

This sounds really good. I want a townhouse.

No oe Special, you can visit me there if you ever come to the States…kill two birds with one stone.

15

We lived at Windsor Ridge for the two years we spent in Westborough, MA.

It was quiet and convenient access to all main roads and conveniences.

Lake Chauncey is just 5 minutes away.

16

I’m in Boston, so it’s a bit of a haul, but nothing a car won’t solve.