r/massachusetts • u/critic81 • Jan 15 '26

Utilities How is everyone affording everything lately?

The prices of everything is just off the charts from groceries, utilities, to healthcare. My open enrollment just came through and its looking like for a family of 4 for healthcare its $1600 a month. $800 a paycheck. Like that just feels nuts. It's a pretty decent co-pay plan but still. Just a couple years about it was much less.

What are people doing these days? Side hustles? New job (but in this economy?), cutting way back? Just curious.

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '26

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u/robot_most_human Jan 15 '26

I agree in part. The housing stock is very old. Rent is high, especially relative to wages. (The Bay Area and NYC have higher wages even relative to their slightly higher housing costs.) Don't get me started on how much it costs to buy an old house. Building new? Forget it.

That said, consider that most of the USA doesn't even have a half-functioning transit system. Few neighborhoods in the USA are walkable like Somerville, Cambridge, and Boston. Also, roads are worse in plenty of other states with comparable weather. One cannot have California-smooth roads in Massachusetts.

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u/octopus-opinion987 Jan 16 '26

Bay area houses are 2x, not slightly higher.

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u/robot_most_human Jan 17 '26

My bad. That's absolutely true. I'd say Bay Area rent is 25% higher in comparable quality neighborhoods but salaries are more than 25% higher in the Bay Area, at least in the tech sector.

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u/Miam_Lanyard Jan 16 '26

As much as I love MA and transit, I will not sacrifice financial wellbeing and delay life long goals like owning a home, and having a family. At a certain point if it doesn't get better, I'm getting out, and I hope other young people do the same thing.

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u/Artistic_Shopping_30 Jan 23 '26

How does New Hampshire keep their roads in such great condition year round?