Boston, NYC, DC - Best place to raise kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a DMV native who went to HS in the Philly area and college in Boston. Then moved to NYC and now Westchester burbs. Some observations:

Boston area has the best QOL for families. But it is less welcoming to outsiders and has traces of old school snobbery. Still, I would have stayed after college had my career path allowed it.

IMO DMV publics by and large don’t compare to the best suburban districts in MA and NYC area or the Boston Latin/Hunter/Stuys of the world. The nice thing about our Westchester town is that the publics are so good that all the kids really do go to school together, strengthening the community feel. And it’s transplant friendly unlike Boston. But NYC commuting from burbs is awful—due to layout there is no NYC equivalent of Arlington or Newton.

We live in DMV suburbs. Yes, this area is a notch down. However, I think this is far less stressful for our kids. DH earns a seven figure income and our kids are thriving in every way possible. Our 2-3m wouldn’t go as far in NYC and DH would have to work longer hours and likely a longer commute. Our friends either live in an nyc apt with weekend home or live in suburbs with a driver to Manhattan and kids can’t see dad (and mom) as much. DH has dinner with us every night, helps pick up the kids, attends games, etc. We are able to easily afford anything we want and my kids are grounded.

[Anonymous]

Pp again. I recently posted about our friends with a tyrant daughter. They are New Yorkers. The daughter is truly horrible in every way imaginable. She is smart, like her parents.

DH and I went to HYP. Our friends in nyc don’t seem as happy. I think they lack time. They are just go go go. Even when doing something enjoyable, they seem stressed and not completely into the supposed enjoyable moment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these places. I'd look at tier 2 metros like Chicago. Or west - east coast is really stress filled. You can get culture in so many places these days - managing daily life in a way that won't kill you should be more a priority. I say this as someone who LOVES big cities. I just don't know E coast cities like NYC, Boston or DC are all that. Boston would be the only maybe because of its proximity to major towns that's not necessarily suburbia but it's a cliquish city and I never was a big fan of Boston culture personally.

When I think of Boston Culture I think of sports and liberalism. I loved living in Cambridge. To give you an idea of the culture there in the 2016 presidential election Hillary got about 46,000 votes. Trump got about 3,000 votes. The independent candidates together also got about 3,000 votes. The surrounding expensive suburbs also vote Democrat but not as large a gap as Cambridge.

There’s no real corruption in the state since females are running it. The governor is a gay female, the lieutenant governor is female, the AG is a black female, the Boston Mayor is an Asian woman, the Cambridge mayor is a gay black female. There’s your diversity.

So you love living in a community that's ethnically diverse as long as people think the same way? If so, is that really diversity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The one thing I like about DC is how easily we can get out into nature and do some nice hiking. Boston has this a little bit, but not to the extent of DC. NYC has this least of the three. The worst city I've lived in for this is Chicago, however.

I have asthma and NYC has the worst air quality, particularly in Manhattan.

Boston has much better nature around it than DC.

Agreed 100%. For context, I grew up in Eastern MA and have lived in DC since the early 2000s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these places. I'd look at tier 2 metros like Chicago. Or west - east coast is really stress filled. You can get culture in so many places these days - managing daily life in a way that won't kill you should be more a priority. I say this as someone who LOVES big cities. I just don't know E coast cities like NYC, Boston or DC are all that. Boston would be the only maybe because of its proximity to major towns that's not necessarily suburbia but it's a cliquish city and I never was a big fan of Boston culture personally.

When I think of Boston Culture I think of sports and liberalism. I loved living in Cambridge. To give you an idea of the culture there in the 2016 presidential election Hillary got about 46,000 votes. Trump got about 3,000 votes. The independent candidates together also got about 3,000 votes. The surrounding expensive suburbs also vote Democrat but not as large a gap as Cambridge.

There’s no real corruption in the state since females are running it. The governor is a gay female, the lieutenant governor is female, the AG is a black female, the Boston Mayor is an Asian woman, the Cambridge mayor is a gay black female. There’s your diversity.

So you love living in a community that's ethnically diverse as long as people think the same way? If so, is that really diversity?

What seems to be working well in Massachusetts is the top politicians are all female, not necessarily their race.

States like West Virginia and Idaho are examples of everyone being republican. People tend to move where people have the same ideas on how to live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh just go to NYC if you can afford it. This area is full of people that are insecure that they're not New Yorkers anyway.

Plus: our area has the worst traffic in the whole country!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these places. I'd look at tier 2 metros like Chicago. Or west - east coast is really stress filled. You can get culture in so many places these days - managing daily life in a way that won't kill you should be more a priority. I say this as someone who LOVES big cities. I just don't know E coast cities like NYC, Boston or DC are all that. Boston would be the only maybe because of its proximity to major towns that's not necessarily suburbia but it's a cliquish city and I never was a big fan of Boston culture personally.

When I think of Boston Culture I think of sports and liberalism. I loved living in Cambridge. To give you an idea of the culture there in the 2016 presidential election Hillary got about 46,000 votes. Trump got about 3,000 votes. The independent candidates together also got about 3,000 votes. The surrounding expensive suburbs also vote Democrat but not as large a gap as Cambridge.

There’s no real corruption in the state since females are running it. The governor is a gay female, the lieutenant governor is female, the AG is a black female, the Boston Mayor is an Asian woman, the Cambridge mayor is a gay black female. There’s your diversity.

So you love living in a community that's ethnically diverse as long as people think the same way? If so, is that really diversity?

What seems to be working well in Massachusetts is the top politicians are all female, not necessarily their race.

States like West Virginia and Idaho are examples of everyone being republican. People tend to move where people have the same ideas on how to live.

I'd argue it's working because they're competent leaders, not because they have a vagina. Would Governor Palin be someone you'd support being part of the Massachusetts state leadership? Of course not. Was Mike Dukakis a bad governor because he was male? Of course not.

[Anonymous]

Boston and it’s not close.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of these places. I'd look at tier 2 metros like Chicago. Or west - east coast is really stress filled. You can get culture in so many places these days - managing daily life in a way that won't kill you should be more a priority. I say this as someone who LOVES big cities. I just don't know E coast cities like NYC, Boston or DC are all that. Boston would be the only maybe because of its proximity to major towns that's not necessarily suburbia but it's a cliquish city and I never was a big fan of Boston culture personally.

When I think of Boston Culture I think of sports and liberalism. I loved living in Cambridge. To give you an idea of the culture there in the 2016 presidential election Hillary got about 46,000 votes. Trump got about 3,000 votes. The independent candidates together also got about 3,000 votes. The surrounding expensive suburbs also vote Democrat but not as large a gap as Cambridge.

There’s no real corruption in the state since females are running it. The governor is a gay female, the lieutenant governor is female, the AG is a black female, the Boston Mayor is an Asian woman, the Cambridge mayor is a gay black female. There’s your diversity.

So you love living in a community that's ethnically diverse as long as people think the same way? If so, is that really diversity?

What seems to be working well in Massachusetts is the top politicians are all female, not necessarily their race.

States like West Virginia and Idaho are examples of everyone being republican. People tend to move where people have the same ideas on how to live.

I'd argue it's working because they're competent leaders, not because they have a vagina. Would Governor Palin be someone you'd support being part of the Massachusetts state leadership? Of course not. Was Mike Dukakis a bad governor because he was male? Of course not.

I think there’s less corruption with women leaders.

[Anonymous]

I agree that it’s nice that Westchester and Nassau—and even some middle class enclaves in Brooklyn and Queens—don’t really have a private school culture at all and community pours everything into local publics. NJ burbs aren’t really like this as much, they’re closer to DMV or Boston burbs in this regard. All that said, the commute ruins the NYC burbs which makes QOL terrible unless you’re hybrid in office.

I love how welcoming my MoCo burb has been since we moved from another city. To the poster who mentioned Philly—it’s not even in the same conversation, doesn’t attract people of the same achievement level and is definitely a notch down.

[Anonymous]

If Madmani wins the NYC election, he plans to abolish the NYC police and replace them with “social workers.” No, I am not kidding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Madmani wins the NYC election, he plans to abolish the NYC police and replace them with “social workers.” No, I am not kidding.

Zohran Mamdani plans to create a "Department of Community Safety" that would involve deploying mental health workers for crisis responses, rather than relying on police officers.

[Anonymous]

I can tell you from experience that NYC is an exhausting place to raise small children, but it's fantastic for tweens and teens.

[Anonymous]

Switzerland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Madmani wins the NYC election, he plans to abolish the NYC police and replace them with “social workers.” No, I am not kidding.

Zohran Mamdani plans to create a "Department of Community Safety" that would involve deploying mental health workers for crisis responses, rather than relying on police officers.

Yes, because people have called 911 for suicidal family members and then the cops have "helped" by shooting the person. Having a specialized crisis response team for mental health issues =/= abolishing the police.