Yes. Despite being a college area, Boston and surrounds is very local. New England in general is.
I just had a mix of people mostly from my apartment building or jobs and accepted the locals didn't take me up to the lake but enjoyed lunch out.

Yes. Before DC I lived in Richmond and I have never met such an insular community of people questioning why you moved there. This was 12 years ago so perhaps it’s changed. But pretty much everyone I met (through work/social events and then being introduced their friends) had known each other since elementary school and still had their families in the area. I tried to make it feel like home, but I was always such an outsider despite being a social/outgoing person who has moved a lot.

Total opposite in this area where everyone was trying to make new friends in their 20s.

Anonymous wrote:I made friends with other non local people, even people from the same state or two towns over were considered "non local."

This is correct. I used to live 15 minutes outside of a small town. I was not a "local."

I made friends with other non local people, even people from the same state or two towns over were considered "non local."

Anonymous wrote:There are places like the DMV, with people constantly coming and going.

There are many places with a nice lifestyle, where people from away settle. People from away tend to hang with others from away.

OP, are you talking about temporarily or permanently being in a place that doesn't have a lifestyle draw and is mostly locals? Yeah, that's going to be tough.

Permanently. It's really rough.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve done this several times. Things you can do to fit in:

Quickly master the local accent & slang.

Don’t compare the new place to your previous place (e.g., no “You call these bagels?”)

Go out if your way to praise the new place.

Attend sports events & root for local high school teams.

Dress like locals. Don’t drive your tractor while wearing a 3-piece suit like Eddie Albert on “Green Acres.”

Definitely this. As a DMV local, I have sat through many conversations where people kept saying "back in wherever..." or "when we move back to wherever" and I instantly write them off as people not to invest a lot of effort into because I assume they will move away sooner or later.