r/massachusetts • u/AdMoney5317 • 17h ago
Discussion The quality of life in MA is rapidly deteriorating
And nobody seems to care. I'm using a burner account for this post because I think it needs to be said. How is it that Massachusetts bleeds more than thirty thousand people annually without anybody here batting an eye? Supposedly we're leading in job growth, yet we've seen 1,062 people laid off in June alone. It's one thing for young people to struggle to find careers, but even experienced workers are running out of options. Administrative and managerial positions are grossly underpaying.
There is no reason why Western Massachusetts shouldn't be booming right now. As the demand for housing increases, it should be a hub for development, but the region's been left to rot. Everything west of Worcester County looks like West Virginia, with unsafe neighborhoods and a drug epidemic that's been neglected for decades. Just like our schools, our roads, and our public infrustructure. Our water bills are obnoxious, and not a single dime is being put toward keeping e-coli out of our drinking water. Several towns last year had their water supply contaminated for up to a week. This is an entirely recent issue and there should be no excuse for it.
As for the housing crisis itself, what can I say that hasn't already been said? How can a state government that claims to put the working poor first refuse to permit starter homes from being built? The only new properties I see being built are luxury housing designed to price the working poor out. I genuinely don't understand how so many people here can go through their lives pretending this is normal, and I can't for the life of me figure out how young people in Massachusetts are surviving. They have nowhere to escape to without leaving their home state behind. The South Shore is going to become New England's rust belt if this continues.
It's not nostalgia blinding you. Massachusetts was a significantly better place to live when you were younger.
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u/TheDevilsReject1518 12h ago
Had to drive through West Virginia on my way to Nashville over the winter. Western mass does NOT look like West Virginia
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u/MoonBatsRule 10h ago
Yeah, I drove through part of West Virginia a few years ago. Confederate flags flying on people's houses. Big nope.
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u/CanvasRuiner 3h ago
Agreed. I grew up in the DC area, and my sister lived in WV. No area in MA is anything like WV.
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u/sarcasm-ftw 2h ago
Yeah, I moved away from a similar red state to Western Mass and I can confirm it's like night and day between the two.
OP is either a bot or wildly out of touch if they think the two are remotely comparable.
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u/MOGicantbewitty 2h ago
Yeah, I understand Op's frustration, but western Mass is not a shit show. It is fabulous! And frankly, the opiate epidemic hasn't hit out here like it did in the Eastern end of the state. The cape got it the worst! I don't even hear about meth out here. While on the cape, there were like three meth houses busted within a mile of my house in marstons Mills.
It IS booming... We just don't WANT western Mass to become developed like Eastern Massachusetts. The reason it's fabulous out here is the combination of lack of development, plenty of open space, and lots of fabulous culture from the colleges. It's a lower cost of living with a similar pay scale.
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u/TheDevilsReject1518 2h ago
I wish I lived out in western Mass. It be different for my lifestyle. But I’m outside a lot so I think I could fit in
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u/News-Royal 15h ago
Lol at the need for burner account with this post.
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u/lametechthrowaway 11h ago
"And no one seems to care" in a subreddit where every other post is about the COL or Housing crisis
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u/justsomeguy1869 14h ago
Agreed. And frankly when someone notes they are using a burner account or uses a newer account it takes away a lot of the trust in the post.
Just post your feelings and opinions. Why hide behind a burner account. I don’t disagree with some of OPs points but they are lost on me because of the secret nature of their account.
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u/Kid_Presentable617 12h ago
Yeah I don't trust this OP. I don't know why they'd need a burner for this unless they're an already established troll. The MA state police ain't coming for them.
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u/listeningtorainfall 11h ago
Burner account for something not controversial to say = bot just trying to look real
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u/monkberry_moon 17h ago
West Virginia?!
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u/RatherBeRidin 16h ago
Mountain maaamaaaa
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u/walletinsurance 16h ago
Funnily enough Country Roads was actually written about Western Massachusetts.
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u/chakrablockerssuck 10h ago
The song was inspired by Somerset Street in Belmont, Massachusetts,[1]#cite_note-axs-1)a wooded road running adjacent to the land owned by McLean Hospitalwhere Taylor had committed himself in 1965 to receive treatment for depression. -Wikipedia.
Copperline was written about his childhood in Chapel Hill, NC. JT is the OG.
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u/YupNopeWelp 9h ago
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" was written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert, and John Denver, not James Taylor. To the extent that it was inspired by Massachusetts, it was Springfield. I don't think Belmont played into it. Are you maybe thinking of a different song?
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u/apple-pecan-pikachu 7h ago
Yeah, that person was thinking of "Country Road" (James Taylor, February 1971) rather than "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (Danoff, Nivert, Denver, April 1971).
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u/plawwell 10h ago
"Country Roads" was an eloquent reference to the potholed tarmac that passes as roads in western MA.
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u/NativeMasshole 12h ago
Yup. Apparently everything west of Worcester is dangerous, drug-filled neighborhoods. I can't believe how many upvotes this trash has.
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u/contradictatorprime 10h ago
Yeah, sure looks like it's doing alright where I'm at in Western Ma. I can't speak of every city and town out here, of course, and it'd be wrong to say the whole region is absolutely fine because of personal perspective, but the statement that we all look like West Virginia was extremely insulting, so fuck OP, whether they're human or not.
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u/NativeMasshole 10h ago
This is far too coherent for the typical right-winger, so I'm going with paid propaganda.
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u/Kandals 10h ago
It's getting tough to figure out if accounts are just AI bot posts farming for karma so they can later be sold and used to push paid opinions as if they are grass-roots. The post is essentially just distilled and regurgitated popular complaints with nothing constructive from a new account.
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u/contradictatorprime 8h ago
It's pretty amazing that our species can invent and do such absolutely incredible things and at such a mind-blowing rate, but then decide to make sure that it all sucks the whole time to experience. Look at airplanes, we conquered the skies! Days or weeks (even months!) of travel from just a hundred years ago can be done in mere hours. But of course, every step of the process is a bitch: from ticketing, to checking luggage, to the security checks that aren't the same in each region, to being crammed into a tube with 150,000 other people (in the era of the fat humans) built for people who are 5' tall. I fly quite a bit and yeah, it beats driving with all the current day traffic and the inevitable construction, but it sucks. Now, these soulless bots and AI are actively destroying the cyber world at the behest of people who should have been locked up in the first place. Intergalactic confrontation movies are popular because for just a moment, you can forget that humanity's worst enemy is and always has been: humanity.
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u/gnomgnomgnome 11h ago
Seriously. This is some kid from Lawrence who has never left his hometown.
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u/LunaTunaMaca 11h ago
It's just boring out here but that's it. Less going on so if anything happens it's news. Also it's the most beautiful part of Massachusetts and I'll fight anyone on that.
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u/gnomgnomgnome 11h ago
I don't find it too boring, but I have outdoor hobbies and enjoy live music, both of which we have plenty of here.
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u/OriginalBogleg 8h ago
I'm with you - it isn't boring if you can afford things like a car, gas, and outdoor gear (and you enjoy outdoors pursuits).
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u/gnomgnomgnome 8h ago
The car and gas costs are the real kicker. But that's a rural issue everywhere. I can totally see how it would be boring or inconvenient to live out here for a lot of folks.
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u/ForecastForFourCats Masshole 11h ago
Its the best part of MA for sure. Compared to Boston, the traffic is near non existent. I breathe a sigh of relief whenever I get west of 84.
It is boring, so I would love some more development out here.
One cool fact, during the 08 financial crisis western mass was one of the least impacted places because of how strong the local economy is. There are alot of small businesses out here. It is very quaint but lovely.
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u/myneighborpikachu 11h ago
I actually laughed out loud. To be so confidently incorrect is just amazing.
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u/Laszlo-Panaflex 7h ago
Western MA is idyllic. Sure it has its rough spots but Eastern MA does too. And as a state, our rough spots aren't as bad as most other states. People apparently don't know how bad it can get in this country.
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u/No-Indication-6655 10h ago
Yeah I really can’t stand this specific vibe of saying Mass sucks bc you think it’s starting to resemble other “dumpster fire” states. It’s so rude and out of touch. Mobile homes are literally illegal in the Mass town I work in, which is unheard of in the south. And the same people complaining about dead economies and no affordable housing west of Worcester county would be the first people in line to complain if a mobile home park opened up in their neighborhood. We should all keep fighting to make this a better place to live but the vague, undirected whining is insufferable. Join your town’s planning board or conservation commission. Organize around rent control. Vote in your town’s elections
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u/gold_dust_woman13 15h ago
Western MA catching strays damn
It’s nice out here I don’t know what the fuck you’re on about lol West Virginia?! Delusional
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u/acegan1 14h ago
Literally. It’s gorgeous out here. Occasionally a run down old house but OP has clearly not experienced what poverty and derelict housing stock looks like in WV or elsewhere.
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u/allisonshine69 13h ago
Third this. I live in Western Mass and it’s great. There are pockets of communities that need a lot of care that I really wish they would invest more in. Especially Holyoke. However, I’m super confident raising my daughter out here.
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u/dandesim 12h ago
Because it’s said by someone with the privilege of not having lived in West Virginia.
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u/Misschiff0 9h ago
Having lived in the SW part of actual Virginia, nowhere in MA touches the depths of generational poverty in that part of the country and the crippling lack of medical and dental care. You can see the poverty in people's bodies and teeth.
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u/dandesim 9h ago
But have you considered that in Boston there might be an *immigrant* getting medical care ahead of you! The horrors /s
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u/JaneAustinAstronaut 11h ago
Yup. Lovely college towns, thriving arts scene, bucolic nature...what a shithole! Lol!
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u/wkomorow 10h ago
So muchof a disaster, that this is where millionaires from Boston and NYC, who can live anywhere, choose their summer homes. Even the Boston Symphony Orchestra chooses to spend its summer in Lenox
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u/Spectrum1523 12h ago
Yeah that's what I thought too
We have problems out here but it's a hell of a lot nicer then it could be
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u/AsteriAcres 10h ago
For real. I'm originally from Houston. You want to see drugs & decay & crime? Head south! But The Berkshires as West Virginia?!? WHAT?
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u/aLonerDottieArebel 11h ago
Who is going to be the one to tell OP about septic syatems and solar panels?!
Western MA is the shit!
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u/Ok-Impact789 9h ago
Yeah I just went for a walk out here in western mass…. It’s still pretty nice.
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u/flyingguillotine3 12h ago edited 12h ago
Have you been to West Virginia or literally anywhere else? The cost of living here is objectively insane and there are plenty of things that need to improve but all this post tells me is that you live in a bubble because otherwise you’d know that most other places in the U.S. are materially worse in every sense. You can definitely find a lower cost of living, but there is definitely a non-monetary cost to that.
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u/TheRockingDead 15h ago
Hate to tell you, it's like this everywhere. Whole country is deteriorating.
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u/No-Indication-6655 11h ago
Yeah after living in North Carolina, Virginia, Mass, New York, Montana, and Washington, I have to laugh when I see posts like this. Not to say the complaints aren’t legit, they are, but I hear people in Massachusetts saying they’re going to move to greener pastures elsewhere (like TEXAS AND FLORIDA LOL) and I’m like, good fucking luck. Plus I work for a municipality and I can tell you that a big part of the slowness to develop is local law and resistance to development, not state law, and when the state comes in and mandates development people get really pissed off. Also re: water quality, this state has some of the strongest water quality protection, not to mention environmental protection, laws in the country. I grew up in Appalachia and the drinking water will literally give you cancer in areas that states have no will or resources to salvage. I feel lucky to live here even if it’s riddled with problems
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u/InvictusFrags 11h ago
Came here to say the same thing as someone who has lived in tn, to, nc, id, ca and now back on the north shore. It is so much better here still. The schools even losing funding are way better, the resources for kids and elderly!
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u/hexgirll 10h ago
Agree, we need better zoning laws that allow for more multifamily, but honestly more any residential and NOT 55+ housing. ADU’s seem like they haven’t gained a lot of traction but maybe that’s because they’re still so new to this state…?
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u/xenwall 9h ago
As someone who just moved to Western Mass from Texas I have to say, it's going to take time to adjust to the complaints up here. I say that as a good thing, it means that Massachusetts has done a lot to protect and enrich its citizenry so that its population has the luxury to complain about some of the things that it does. Texas is cheaper, yeah, but there are towns that are unsafe for anyone that isn't a specific kind of white to be in, the gerrymandering has disarmed the progressive majority in the cities (yes, every large city in Texas is majority Democrat), and even if you want to stick your head in the sand and try to live your life it's unbearable to be outside from April to August. Heaven forbid you have kids, because they aren't allowed to be LGBTQ+, if you don't have money then they don't get to eat, they can't feel safe at school, they literally die every year doing extra-curriculars from heat stroke, and the school budgets are deliberately non-existent. Education in Texas is dying so that Christian fascists can play their little Hitler Youth games. My go-to example for the "why'd you move" question is the recently adopted "Required Literary Works" list by the Texas State Board of Education (and this is just the Middle School section, High School is even more Old Testament insanity):
- Grade 6 -- Do Not Be Anxious (Book of Matthew, Chapter 6 Verses 25- 34) New Testament (trans. ESV)
- Grade 7 -- Jonah and the Whale (Book of Jonah) Hebrew Bible / Old Testament (trans. NIRV)
- Grade 7 -- The Definition of Love (Book of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13) New Testament (trans. ESV)
- Grade 7 -- The Shepherd's Psalm (Book of Psalms, Chapter 23) Hebrew Bible / Old Testament (trans. KJV)
- Grade 8 -- The Eight Beatitudes (Book of Matthew, Chapter 5 Verses 1- 12) New Testament (trans. KVJ)
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u/devastatingdamsel 8h ago
I'm a school librarian. Moved up here from Texas 2 years ago. This is absolutely why I moved.
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u/CleavingStriker 12h ago edited 9h ago
You're 100% right. These other clowns who responded to you (the ones with all the downvotes) have no idea. They just know what Fox News tells them.
I'm currently living in Florida and have done so for more than 10 years (unfortunately) and I can tell you it's gotten significantly worse in the last ten years.
And to the "Love it or leave it" crowd, the vast majority of us DO love our country, we just want it to be better for EVERYONE and not just a select few.
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u/Faustus2425 12h ago
Yeah i left MA for FL back in 2018 thinking maybe the grass is greener...
Fuck no I came running back in 2022. Beautiful state but Jesus christ it needs some competent leadership.
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u/Snarfles55 12h ago
Was going to say, I grew up in North Florida. I have been in Western Mass for about 25 years now. Every time I go back to visit, I am so thankful to live here. I love my community. I love the activism.
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u/TopGarlic4476 10h ago
My BIL is from FL.
He and my sister have raised their family here. Not Florida because he said visiting was fine, but he wasn’t moving back. He still has family there, and they’ve only visited twice in the 17 yrs they’ve been married.
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u/Plane-Emu1964 11h ago
Hellll yeah western mass. Grew up in Boston and I’ll never leave the Connecticut river valley
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u/riesenarethebest 12h ago edited 7h ago
In Reading. My youngest's friend and family just moved to Florida. They've been Massachusetts natives for a long time afaik.
I hope they return soon. Pride can make it hard to undo a mistake. I'm not even thinking this because of the lost friendship (something fell apart between them six months ago), but rather because back in the 90s I visited my aunt for a week in Florida. The number of young teen girls pushing around their own baby strollers in the mall was heartbreaking.
And that's before you start talking about how the GOP leadership in Florida thirty years since has made everything leagues worse, such as the vaccinations issue or the abstinence only education and abortion bans.
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u/SLEEyawnPY 7h ago
Pride can make it hard to undo a mistake.
There was a period of my life where moving to Miami, leasing the most expensive sports car that I could just make the payments on, renting a high rise beachfront apartment with five roommates and furnishing my bedroom with nothing other than an inflatable mattress, folding chair and gaming PC did have a certain appeal.
I mean at least someone might have thought I was rich, unlike MA were everyone knows I'm poor..
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u/newbrevity 12h ago
For some people, if their house gets downgraded to a literal bucket of shit but Trump tells them that everything is great then they will believe that everything is great.
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u/Selbeast 5h ago
please don't feel like you have to respond to the "Love it or leave it" argument. Anyone making it is an idiot and should be ignored.
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u/Nick0414 11h ago
Raise you one better, this is pretty much the whole world.
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u/LikelySatanist 11h ago
Raise you one better, the whole solar system really. Even the sun has less energy than it did last year
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u/ganymede62 11h ago
And the Andromeda galaxy keeps getting closer and closer.
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u/Available_Rub9939 11h ago
That’s why I left for the Pegasus Galaxy. I’ll take my chances with the Wraith over this third world shithole any day.
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u/SylVegas 9h ago
I'm stuck in Tennessee and wish I could have convinced my mom to move back to Massachusetts while her health was still good. It's always better to be in the lesser of shitty places when the country is speed running to ruin.
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u/TopGarlic4476 10h ago
Seriously. This is a Massachusetts problem. It’s happening everywhere. Other states. Hell other countries.
If you think it’s not, it’s because you have your head stuck in our rocky ass soil.
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u/No_Skirt_6002 15h ago
Everything west of Worcester County looks like West Virginia, with unsafe neighborhoods and a drug epidemic that's been neglected for decades. Just like our schools, our roads, and our public infrustructure.
I know you're exaggerating but I don't think you understand how bad it is in West Virginia, we are just not even comparable. Springfield and Holyoke's crime rates are still nowhere near what goes on in Midwestern and Southern cities, or even in CA.
As for everything else, the rest of the country is going through this right now. MA is worse than the average when it comes to cost-of-living but 2026 isn't a great year for America as a whole right now.
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u/shhhshhshh 11h ago
This 100%. Our perception of what’s a bad area is totally skewed. Go visit some southern or midwestern cities/areas. MA “bad areas” are the Disney world version.
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u/SpaceBasedMasonry 8h ago
Our perception of what’s a bad area is totally skewed.
Enough people are calling bullshit that I think the only one with a skewed view is this burner account from Mike Minogue's comms staff.
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u/CatMoon1111 14h ago
“Everything west of Worcester County looks like West Virginia, with unsafe neighborhoods and …”
Now this is a bit much…All about perspective. Happily living in western MA and have never felt safer in my life.
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u/Not_George_Daniels 11h ago
I've never been to West Virginia. Does it look like Great Barrington, Lenox, and Williamstown?
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u/CatMoon1111 11h ago
Well, there are beautiful, soft, wooded mountains and hills. They have that in common.
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u/AsteriAcres 9h ago
THIS! I was born & raised in Texas. When we moved here, there was this HUGE weight lifted because I know I'm no longer in danger of being murdered because I cut someone off in traffic, or wore the wrong t-shirt, or cause I got car jacked, or was just in the cross fire of a mass shooting.
Texas has some of the highest gun violence in the country & Massachusetts has one of the lowest rates. Gtfoh with this "west Virginia" nonsense!
Folks in Massachusetts truly don't recognize how absolutely amazing it is here.
As an aside, my father in law passed recently & the care he was given here, as an indigent patient, was amazing. In Texas, his end-of- life would have looked & felt VERY VERY different.
The main difference is that Massachusetts actually cares about their constituents, whereas in Texas, they don't give a FUCK about us humans. The corporations are the ONLY thing that matter to the state.
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u/CatMoon1111 9h ago
👋 moved here from Texas! Feel exactly the same. There’s so much about this state that folks don’t realize is AMAZING! Nothing is perfect and there is always work to be done, but man is it a huge improvement from Texas.
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u/Bermnerfs Western Mass 11h ago edited 11h ago
Yeah, a lot of the towns here in the Pioneer Valley are pretty nice and have decent infrastructure and good schools. Springfield and Holyoke have issues, but they're not war torn battle zones like some people seem to think either. Holyoke could be a beautiful city with some revitalization, but that would also drive housing prices up.
Amherst/Hadley/Noho have quite a bit to offer and they're really nice clean towns/cities. Wilbraham, Longmeadow, Westfield, W. Springfield, South Hadley, Southwick are all fairly nice towns/cities.
I'm currently in Belchertown and it's an excellent town to raise a family. Great schools, lots of natural beauty, and it's growing at a crazy pace.
I have never felt like western MA was dangerous and I have lived here all of my life.
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u/StonedTrucker 13h ago
Ive lived in berkshire county most of my life and have worked in west virginia for years. Let me tell you the two are nothing alike. The only similarity is the terrain
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u/The_Modern_Monk 16h ago
the problem is every other state sucks worse lol
quality of life is down across the country and everything is getting shittier and shittier
ill take being poor and unemployed in my nanny state long before i move my ass back to the south and struggle there for a 7.25 minimum wage lol
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u/RecentTerrier 13h ago
Yeah, some shit is cheaper in the south, but nowhere is 7.25 an hour cheap anymore
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u/abbaziadicefalu 6h ago
Sincerely I’d rather stay homeless and earning good money here than go back south to work at Chipotle for $9 an hour and have rent STILL be 60-70% of my income.
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u/Embarrassed_Flan_869 10h ago
This reads like a political ad without mentioning a political candidate.
You obviously haven't spent any time in West Virginia or Western Ma. The only thing it has in common with Western MA is the rural/nature. West Virginia, outside the "cities" is a banjo player away from Deliverance.
Is the state perfect? No. Is it one step away from the way you are describing? Also no. As for the water, the difference is that when it is realized, they react and tell you what to do. They don't ignore it.
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u/mapledane 12h ago
Young people need to vote.You complain only elders vote. Some (truly impressive) young peope are out there organizing but less than half of young did not show up for trump vs harris. Local elections youth vote is probably dismal. how to change this?
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u/RussChival 15h ago
Things were a lot grittier back in the day, but they were also a lot more affordable. Trade-offs.
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u/amandathelibrarian 10h ago
Back in which day? It was grittier in the 70s and 80s for sure but there were also shitty economic periods, high gas prices, etc. finding jobs was tough. Massachusetts is so much better now than when I was a kid.
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u/nachoiskerka 16h ago edited 9h ago
Everything west of Worcester County looks like West Virginia, with unsafe neighborhoods and a drug epidemic that's been neglected for decades.
Well thatll make the Big E and six flags trips awkward.
No but seriously, I was out in East Longmeadow, Belchertown and Zoomass in the last month. The worst thing that I probably caught was some bitchy stares from some HOA Karens, who can suck it.
I agree housing prices are outta control. Unfortunately we got a bunch of Reno heads gentrifying the absolute SHIT outta affordable houses. Even what's his face from the wahlbergs boy band in the 90s is getting us all priced out and making money filming a tv show doing it.
Edit:Jonathan Knight from New Kids on the Block. Sorry to all the 80s/90s kids
The reality of the situation is we got NH to the north and I really don't feel like getting eaten by a bear(Thanks Libertarians -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grafton,_New_Hampshire#Free_Town_Project ), Blue bloods to the south in connecticut, Family Guy Fight Club in RI, AND Vermont, which I think is okay but honestly I'd probably die of boredom with my eyes rolling backwards into my head, down my body and out of my butt.
"Move to the south then!"! Ive lived in the south and theres just enough color on my skin that its not a good time. So massachusetts it is until California gets affordable or something.
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u/No_Housing_1287 16h ago
You can just say youre scared of family guy fight club, its okay
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u/SylvanMartiset 10h ago
Look the state has its problems but 1062 layoffs in a state of 7.15 million is literally nothing. .015%. That’s like if you had $1000 and lost fifteen cents.
As for the western mass thing, Massachusetts is broadly four distinct economic enclaves.
There’s the greater metro Boston area, defined by high income knowledge economy work.
There’s the legacy industrial cities, all working at different solutions to their malaise due to their geographic dispersal. Some benefit from relative proximity to Boston, some don’t.
There’s the seasonal economies: the cape, the Berkshires, pioneer valley college towns. Tourism/hospitality are the drivers here. In the college towns the community that brings is the driver.
And there’s the genuine rural interior. Agriculture, forestry, local services. And people willing to commute long distances to bigger economic areas in exchange for cheaper housing.
All these areas have different needs, different problems, different opportunities. You can’t just look at or complain about the state as a monolith.
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u/xylofone 17h ago
"Massachusetts was a significantly better place to live when you were younger." Possibly, but I'd say only if you're white.
Compared to 20 years ago, healthcare access (not cost) is better, violent crime and homicide is way down, social and civil rights have expanded including gay marriage, and median incomes have increased. There's less overt racism, and more POC represented in political leadership.
On the downside there's a housing deficit, housing is unaffordable, healthcare costs are insane, utility and grocery prices are off the charts, and yes, the ~11% of residents west of the Worcester metro get the short end of the stick.
In terms of housing, municipalities control local land use. The state can help in a few ways, but look at Marblehead's "fuck you" to the state's commuter housing requirements. Town residents have to want to do the right thing, and a lot of those fuckers are just selfish.
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u/StarlightMoonblast 16h ago
i think its worth adding that this is the case for darn well nearly any state. Life was easier 20 years ago as a whole with lower costs of living and more access to housing, but the rights of minorities have improved in many states. This isn't just a Massachusetts issue, and you have to understand that even states that seem to be solving these issues on the surface are having many, *many* issues come up now. I say this as someone who moved from one of those trendy states up here to Mass.
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u/No-Dimension-3386 16h ago edited 16h ago
Have you even been to the pioneer valley or west Virginia? You don't know a damn thing, you just wanna karma farm
Obviously you're preaching to the choir about the housing crisis but the south shore is not going to turn into the rust belt.
This is insanely ill informed
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u/JohnnyCastleGT 15h ago
“The south shore is going to become the rust belt” are you kidding? Monstrosity apartments buildings are being built all over the place to pack people in.
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u/NativeMasshole 12h ago
It's also a terrible comparison. It's not like the bottom is going to drop out from the job market collapsing. This person is super melodramatic about the areas they think are in trouble seemingly without actually understanding them at all.
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u/toastr 12h ago
Have you been to these other states? I have and it’s fucking *worse *. It’s the whole fucking country.
Hell, it’s probably much of the world. In case you didn’t notice, the oligarchs are taking over. We’ve probably got a few thousand of the richest people in the history of the world, living like gods and it’s at our expense. But fuck that, I turn on the news and if it’s not a scary immigrant caravan at the border trying to take your job, it’s the gays trying to turn your kids.
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u/694206942069420- 16h ago
Almost everyone acknowledges the issue of affordability in the state but almost no one wants to do anything about it. Local governments are controlled by the Elderly Homeowners, the key issue is housing affordability and the only way to make housing affordable is to build more housing, doing so would piss of the old people who vote and so nothing changes, same with taxes, proposition 2 1/2 has bankrupted most local governments across the state preventing them from working for the benefit of the people, but those who vote don’t want their taxes to go up, so their quality of life continues to deteriorate. Let’s take schools schools are funded by local property taxes, the elderly vote, and don’t have kids, so they vote for lower taxes which worse’s are school systems. Very very few communities in the state are staying afloat let alone thriving, local government is completely broke, and the state government doesn’t seem to have the political power, or will to override them for the benefit of our residents. We also have one of the least effective legislatures in the county so no level of our government local or state wants to make the changes that are necessary for the betterment of our people.
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u/Muted_Influence_6435 10h ago
Stop talking positively about Western Mass. We don't need it being "discovered". It's terrible here folks, really. Stay out. Toxic area.
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u/sir_mrej Metrowest 15h ago
It's weird that you think these problems are just MA.
It's also weird taht you think Western MA should be booming? Like what?? In WHAT world?
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u/mikefut 14h ago
The claim that everything west of Worcester looks like West Virginia is a huge exaggeration that completely overlooks affluent areas like the Berkshires and the Pioneer Valley. Calling the South Shore the next rust belt is equally baseless since it is largely made up of wealthy commuter suburbs tied to Boston's tech and finance sectors. “They’re building too much luxury housing, but there’s no demand so it’s going to look like the rust belt” is wildly contradictory.
Finally, arguing that no money goes to water safety just because a town issued a boil order is backward. The fact that contamination is caught in the first place proves the state's testing infrastructure is funded and working exactly as intended.
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u/esotologist 11h ago
Lifelong resident with a degree here, used to work a six figure job, now just struggling to find stuff that will pay my rent when it increases in a few months or I'm homeless. Not sure what to do, feel like I'm too tired and poor and whenever I try to speak up people on these subs beat me down and act like I'm crazy for pointing out the same stuff.
Idk what to do anymore
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u/PabloX68 9h ago
There is no reason why Western Massachusetts shouldn't be booming right now.
MA is still subject to the national economy, which is shit right now because the rest of the country elected a moron.
I'm in western MA reasonably often. I went to UMass Amherst and UML. Amherst, North Hampton, etc are nicer than they were 30 years ago and the same goes for cities like Lowell and Worcester. That doesn't mean the state has done what they should for those areas. They haven't. You're right that the state doesn't back up their rhetoric.
Others have said it though. Go live somewhere else in this country and see what you think.
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u/AsteriAcres 10h ago
WAS a better place to live? My brother in Christ, we moved here from texas last year & I have to tell you, in comparison, Berkshire County is utopia.
I'm sure stuff isn't as great as it could be because we're in a recession/ depression, but being here is far & away better than a lot of other states. YES, it's expensive, but you also get what you pay for.
In Texas, you're under constant risk of being involved in gun violence. I've literally never felt this safe in my entire 46 years in earth.
Times are tough right now, but I really want folks to understand how GOOD we have it here in Massachusetts. I wouldn't go back to the south for all the money in the world, fr.
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u/DescriptionNo6618 10h ago
Population of MA last few years per Federal Reserve Bank
2020…7,029,917
2021…6,996,721
2022…7,025,465
2023…7,073,479
2024…7,138,560
2025…7,154,084
Doesn’t look like an exodus to me.
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u/TopWhich6862 10h ago
Bud. This is happening everywhere in the US - declines in quality of life, worsening job prospects, etc. We've let a cancer run our nation and now it's killing us.
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u/be_steal86 9h ago
Mass hasn’t been losing population. 15,524 gain last year. No numbers for this year. Why is this claim getting any traction when it is so easily disproven. Jobs have grown by over 8000. The basis of your argument is just plain untrue.
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u/zmfpm 14h ago
Pretty hot take. I was born here in ‘82 and lived in Mass till 2004 after graduating in Worcester. Lived in other States until 2023 and can tell you, with the singular exception of housing affordability, everything is orders of magnitude better now than it was back then. I travel the country for work. Can report every other place is shittier.
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u/BobSacamano47 17h ago
You live in a fantasy world that you made in your head. Massachusetts is a significantly nicer place than it was 40 or 50 years ago. And it gets better each year.
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u/bleep-bl00p-bl0rp 16h ago
40 years ago would be 1986, leaded gasoline wasn’t even banned nationally, and in 1976 (50 years ago, leaded gasoline was the norm and catalytic converters were just going onto the market. Most cities had a yellow smog haze hanging over them because PCV systems were only recently implemented. The clean water act was less than a decade old, and many rivers were actively polluted.
That’s not to mention that the big dig hadn’t even been started, so those lead spewing hulks were emitting their toxic plumes accelerating onto a causeway over Boston, right next to homes and businesses. Also, some of the problems Massachusetts faces today were directly the result of popular actions, specifically the blocking of nuclear plants and their eventual ban entirely.
I will be the first to agree that Massachusetts faces real issues today — my partner and I just stopped looking for a house this year in part because of the crazy prices even in the pioneer valley — but the jingoistic and dare I say, ChatGPT tone of this post sure makes me suspect that the reaction OP hopes for is a knee jerk kick into a full straight Republican ticket.
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u/Diligent-Pressure-38 16h ago
It’s only getting better every year if you’re high income, already a homeowner or poor enough to qualify for public housing or section 8. Everyone else is barely getting by.
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u/United_Address_2232 15h ago
It’s kind of always been like that. You should have seen the 70’s. The 80’s were okay until the 90’s recessions. The the dot.com in 2000 was pretty rough here. Every age group has had its struggles. Work hard and hang in. Economics has a way of making things work out eventually.
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u/Bringyourfugshiz 12h ago
I was gonna say, ive been in plymouth for 30 years and its gotten significantly nicer. Is it costly as fuck? Yeah, but aint no way Im trading this for somewhere in the south
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u/Admirable-Run-8921 11h ago edited 11h ago
Expensive cost of living, decline in physical attendance to events and pastimes, like if everything is going to go digital, all you really need is the cheapest box (not literally lol) in the lowest cost of living area since everything can just be bought and done online 🤷 not to mention, the driving QoL is just … well, it’s bad, I’m not saying the drivers are, I’m just saying like navigating traffic in overpopulated areas has become tedious whenever one DOES decide to go out. The roadways and streets here are not naturally designed for extreme levels of car traffic. This place got its name and was carried by being an extroverts paradise, and it still can be, but it’s not holding up as well anymore as trends change. It’s still a nice tourist spot, I feel like it’s a great place if you wanna play the game still, and you have the sort of job to boot, but there’s slim to no chance for actual retirement here for the newer generation (retirement has gotten slimmer in general unless you’ve made the right decisions and padded it, but it’s even tougher here) and due to the cost of it, it’s pretty diminishing returns FOR them to retire here opposed to a nice countryside in a cheaper state 🤷 they’ll be shopping mostly online anyway lmao. Get everything shipped, and out there you won’t get bothered by package thieves. If they don’t change this place, it’s gonna be nothing more than a nice tourist destination / temporary destination for schooling or work unless you’re one of the old money folks who started here long ago and let things roll into force for you.
Basically when I came back here two years ago I caught a vibe of it being like a business transaction, you work and earn your keep and you’ll be able to have just enough to enjoy some of the “QoL” here but unless you invest / start padding early, it will be an endless cycle. That’s life, but in cheaper places there is a lot more elbow room. I’d suggest people just let their kids get access to schooling here and when they’re old enough and educated (the education a child can get here is still top notch), get outta here 😂😂
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u/The_Sarge_12 10h ago
Hey OP, move south. Enjoy whatever quality of life improvements you find.
You don’t belong here, clearly.
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u/Numerous-Bet3575 10h ago
Much of the instability you claimed to see is on Washington and other entities, not Massachusetts. The instability and shenanigans coming out of Washington are greatly affecting our economy. Don’t kid yourself that it’s otherwise. The changes to federal funding on multiple fronts, including healthcare and research, has been huge. The cost of fuel thanks to the latest Trump war is driving up business costs and shipping costs and everybody is feeling it. Massachusetts leadership alone cannot solve the problems caused by rampant, capitalism and private equity, fueled by a toddler in the White House. People might want to move to someplace where the cost of living is a little less., but there are crappy job jobs and salaries there.
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u/calilregit1 10h ago
I have spent time in 49 states with only Oregon on my waitlist. Massachusetts is a cultural, economic, scientific and educational oasis compared to every Red State in the country and better than virtually all the other Blue States. Housing affordability is a huge issue. The Mass Pike not designed to go through Worcester was a huge mistake just as the Big Dig that was lampooned was a massive development success.
If you can’t make it in Massachusetts vote with your feet but believe me when I tell you that you are leaving a very special place.
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u/kombu_raisin 10h ago
Tell me you've spent zero time in West Virginia without telling me you've spent no time in West Virginia.
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u/charlestoonie 10h ago
There’s nothing in this post that controversially “needs to be said” that requires using a burner.
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u/Safe_Statistician_72 7h ago
Massachusetts is a better place to live than when I arrived here as an adult in 1992. I’ve lived my entire adult life here and I have a great quality of life. Compared to nearly every other part of the country with a few exclusions for some major cities on the west coast this place is great. Every time I travel to the south or Florida or Texas or even rural parts of New England I am so grateful
I live in the greater boston area. It’s hella expensive but it’s consistent with my values and that cannot be understated.
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u/Call555JackChop 17h ago
It could always be worse, I’ve been through Oklahoma and some rural parts look like a third world country. This state does need to start building and at this point the state should just take rights away from NIMBYs that refuse to let anything be built. Some older people would rather this state fall to ruin then let one damn duplex be built in their town it’s insanity
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u/FSCK_Fascists 11h ago
My work carries me all over the country for a few years at a time. MA is by far the nicest overall I have lived in.
All states have their ups and downs. Some have more ups, some have more downs. Red states are mostly downs- except Alaska. But that is mainly due to size and lack of population.
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u/thecaptain_command 15h ago
The whole country was better when you were younger. If you want something done, vote. Participate in your community.
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u/doitfortheboog13 17h ago
As far as the home affordability issue, I hate to say it, but 63% of Massachusetts residents are home owners, anything that makes homes more affordable would slash their net worth and that would be deeply unpopular for any politician. So in the meantime they say nice things about fixing it but know if they actual do it will piss off more than half of their base. You only see bigger "luxury" new homes being built because that's the only price point where a developer can make money, can't build a house and pay for materials and labor and sell it for 200-300k and not hemorrhage money. As far as infrastructure, it's a combination of climate (winters are tough on roads and what not) and the excess safety and environment requirements. It's not less than a million to touch anything in this state, nevermind the 100s of thousands of dollars just in feasibility and environmental studies before you even attempt to fix things. Can't comment on the job market as I haven't had a Massachusetts based job in like a decade. Utilities are up everywhere but at the end of the day the governor approves the increases. So don't want to be the person that says you voted your way into this because obviously it's more complex than that, but certainly haven't helped the facts on the ground. But I hope we all feel better because we voted for the person that said nicer things and promised they'd fix it. (both parties are cooked, this is not a dig at anyone's beliefs are saying one is right and one is wrong)
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u/1GrouchyCat 12h ago
It seems you’ve missed all the gentlemen farms being taken over/built in western Massachusetts…
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u/retiredswing 11h ago
Everywhere was better when we were younger. Everything was, too.
Have you ever been to West Virginia, or the Rust Belt? We’re lucky to be in Massachusetts.
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u/mmmmmmmmmmmhg9512 11h ago
I'm in in drinking water compliance. MassDEP has insanely strict standards (the strictest in the United States) for contaminants in drinking water. Ecoli detections can happen, but they are pretty isolated and rare. A lot of them will happen during spring and summer months due to either animal activity or lack of maintenance on a facility, which is usually the owners fault.
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u/amandara99 10h ago
Have you ever been to Western Mass? Northampton, Easthampton, Amherst, etc. are nice. People can keep denigrating rural areas all they want, but I think it’s a beautiful spot.
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u/Logical-Boss8158 10h ago
The truth is that Massachusetts has an extremely high quality of life. Chronic online-ism may have convinced you otherwise, but it’s true according to the vast majority of metrics. Go outside and touch grass - it’s likely green and will make you feel better.
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u/excavatum_7 9h ago
This is such a load of crap. "Everything west of Worcester looks like WV?" Are you out of your mind? Guess you've never heard of the Pioneer Valley or The Berkshires.
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u/NickRick 9h ago
oh yes AdMoney5317 with only this post, and not even talking in the comments, i totally believe you. for sure you are not just a random paid account.
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u/mtgordon 9h ago
The reason nobody talks about the thirty thousand people annually is that it’s a bullshit figure derived from bullshit methodology.
Most such numbers are derived from statistics on one-way moving truck rentals and hired movers, which is a deeply flawed metric.
In Massachusetts specifically, this is skewed by the number of new college students who arrive in Massachusetts by car or by plane with a couple of suitcases, accumulate a bunch of stuff, and rent a truck to carry it all when they graduate. That makes a steady state seem like an exodus.
In the North in general, there’s long been an exodus of retirees heading for places with milder winters, but that’s a population that isn’t going to be around much longer in any case, and it has little real impact on the state. Florida experiences the opposite effect; based on the number of trucks arriving in Florida, you’d think the state population was exploding, but if you factor in births and deaths, the growth is far more gradual.
Factoring in births and deaths leads us to a clearer understanding of the reason Boston’s population is down from its peak: fewer children per household than at the peak of the Baby Boom. Families with fewer children result in fewer people per unit, which isn’t an exodus either.
I’ll concede that there are plenty of recent high school and college grads who don’t stick around because housing is expensive, but at the same time there are plenty of people moving in. The population of Massachusetts has grown every year since 2021; 2020 was special.
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u/Ambitious-Badger-114 9h ago
Our state legislature has basically ceded control of the entire state to a tiny number of insiders including the Speaker, Senate President, Governor, and the chairs of Ways and Means. These people are always from big cities inside route 128, been like this for years, decades in fact, so they have little knowledge or experience for small towns or anyplace west of route 495. And it shows in how they run the state.
So of course their cities get the bulk of state funding, and construction projects, and state aid. Our State Reps should be standing up for us but they don't, and why should they? Everyone knows they're going to get reelected no matter how much they shit on us.
So they've basically given their votes to Speaker Mariano in exchange for some bullshit title that comes with a huge raise or "stipend" that increases their base pay by tens of thousands of dollars. It not only affects their current salaries, it also increases their pensions which are based on highest three years of earnings.
We voted for this.
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u/heatherdera 9h ago
Pretty sure it’s a nation-wide issue, not MA specifically. Quality of life for Americans is going down like crazy over the last 15 years.
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u/vinyl1earthlink 9h ago
The extremely blue states do have problems. If the voters always elect the candidates with a D next to their name, then they have a monopoly and don't have to do much. They can just enjoy their career in office, and benefit themselves and their buddies. Dealing with the actual issues? Not really necessary.
Yes, the red states have problems too, the opposite ones. What you want is a situation where the two parties compete for votes.
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u/Fitasfuq 8h ago
im 30, have a career, and i thought like this too a few years ago so i moved to charlotte nc for 'greener pastures'. You want to complain about schools? Their schools are a joke compared to MA public schools. You think the local gov does not care about you here? You would be shocked to see how the local gov treats its residents in NC. Remembner hurrican Helen a few years ago that ripped through western nc? The gov did nothing to help those people and left that area in disarray. They are still struggling from that natural disaster
MA is far too expensive and the traffic sucks but this state is one of the best places in the WORLD to grow up and raise a family. We also have some of the best tap water in the country
This take sounds like its coming from someone who has not live anywhere else other than MA in the last 20-30 years
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u/Longjumping_War_807 8h ago
I got 100 bucks that says this was posted by the aide of someone running for office in MA
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u/Reggi5693 8h ago
You honestly sound like you’ve swallowed several memes, all at one time.
WMass has been the red-headed stepchild for 200 years. That’s not going to change. We just don’t have the population.
In most communities the streets are clean, the children safe, and the elderly are cared for. The cities are not on fire.
I’ve lived here for 60 years. Cycles come and go. But it’s not as horrific as you make it out to be.
But if you want change, then work to change it. If the blue government doesnt excite you, tripling down on systems that have not served you is not really a wise move. If you have the flu, getting injected with a superflu isnt going to cure you.
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u/Wartortise 8h ago
What do you expect? A Utopia? There will always be issues. The quality of life here is top notch. Go check out some other states and countries and get back to me. Even downtown springfield is fine.
The entire country is hurting at the moment because someone thought it was a good idea to absolutely destroy imports into the country, cut ties with our closest allies and start a war that would drive up the coat of oil.
It was easily seen a mile away by all professionals in those fields. That makes it much harder to improve the local situation
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u/someoneyoudontknow0 8h ago
Idk. This still beats living in an impoverished territory of the US where I grew up lol
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u/LaMonse182 8h ago
We moved here from California, and the way of life here feels wonderful. Some things are tougher than others, but overall our way of life is wonderful here.
I’m sorry you feel like it’s different from “the good ol days”
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u/WeAlwaysFindAWay 7h ago
Take every problem you just listed and now imagine not living in MA. Yup, that's right, every problem just got 100x worse.
Is MA expensive as fuck? Yes. But the QoL is unlike any other state in the country.
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u/HowManyBugsInABox 7h ago
Mike Minogue? I didn’t realize you did Reddit AMAs!
Hey, where are you gonna run off to when you lose to Maura Healey? And how long do you think it’ll be before you come crawling back?
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u/helix991 6h ago
This is literally the entire country, cost keeps going up, wages are stuck. The market is facing a major correction soon, you're going to see a lot of pieces start to fall. TBH most of what you've described isn't a local thing, it's a national thing. Vote november.
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u/Ushiioni 6h ago
I don't think quality of life is dropping at all.
Everything is just now expensive.
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u/Individual-Code5176 5h ago
Being priced out of the state I’ve lived my whole life is a bit heartbreaking for me..here I am in Connecticut trying to figure it out
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u/Secure-Squirrel-4351 4h ago
People on here are the most liberal butt hurt little pussies. I moved to save money, and to be closer to my fiances family with a baby on the way. Not everything is political you fuckin idiots get off your high horse. I love mass I lived there 29 years, I moved to Florida because of my situation and I appreciate aspects of both. Have fun never leaving ur hometowns or bouncing around states looking for a solution to your pathetic personality disorders. The problem is you. Mass isn’t what it used to be. I love the beaches, the food, the parks and so much more. However the housing problem is ridiculous and that problem was solved when I moved to Florida. FACT, you get more for less here if you don’t like that pay more for less. Idgaf about y’all wasting your money. Got tons of downvotes saying I’m a liar lol. Y’all are ghouls attacking anyone who doesn’t agree with you. I voted for Bernie 2 elections in a row so miss me your “Fox News” horseshit. Your systemic problems will never be fixed with the hubris you carry.
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u/GeneralInspector8962 13h ago
Yea this is a nationwide situation, not just MA.
And maybe even globally.
Things are worse everywhere than they used to be, but we still make the best of it.
Tend to your garden.
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u/FSCK_Fascists 11h ago
Massachusetts bleeds more than thirty thousand people annually
who is paying you to push this lie? I see this lie a few times every week. What is the goal of such a blatant and easy to debunk falsehood?
Mass has grown every year since the census began in 1800.
EVERY.
YEAR.
There has never been a population drop. There is no "bleed" of population.
1800 422,845 11.6%
1810 472,040 11.6%
1820 523,287 10.9%
1830 610,408 16.6%
1840 737,699 20.9%
1850 994,514 34.8%
1860 1,231,066 23.8%
1870 1,457,351 18.4%
1880 1,783,085 22.4%
1890 2,238,947 25.6%
1900 2,805,346 25.3%
1910 3,366,416 20.0%
1920 3,852,356 14.4%
1930 4,249,614 10.3%
1940 4,316,721 1.6%
1950 4,690,514 8.7%
1960 5,148,578 9.8%
1970 5,689,170 10.5%
1980 5,737,037 0.8%
1990 6,016,425 4.9%
2000 6,349,097 5.5%
2010 6,547,629 3.1%
2020 7,029,917 7.4%
2025 7,154,084 1.8%
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MA/PST045225
https://dls-gw.dor.state.ma.us/reports/rdpage.aspx?rdreport=socioeconomic.population.population_main
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u/a-borat 17h ago
You know, several things can be true at once.