(countArriving-countLeaving) / (countLeaving+countArriving)
Score
33
Salem
MA
•
US
Moving to
Staying
Leaving
I've lived in the Boston area for several years. Renting was expensive, so I ended up buying a smallish condo. Of course, all the buildings in New England are a hundred years old, so it needed a lot of work. I loved my town of Salem, but I had to commute over an hour each way to work. It was dreadful in the winter. Once my company went fully remote in March, I started looking seriously at moving. My family lives in NC and I've been wanting to move there for over a year. When our CEO told us we would not be coming onsite again until at least January 2021, I put my condo up for sale, signed a lease on an apartment in NC, and left. I'm in a bigger place with awesome amenities for less than I paid before, and I'm close to family for the first time in years. My office is now just my laptop, so it doesn't matter where my body is.
Tough to justify $3000 a month for 750sq/ft when every possible perk of living in the city has evaporated. Quick commute to work! Now I just roll out of bed and stumble over to my desk Access to great outdoor spaces! Hard pass on crowded farmers markets where strangers touch the fruit before they buy it Let's go see a Red Sox game?! Mmmm, tough to justify the risk for a 5 hour game and $15 dollar hotdog Being in a bustling city is fun! If by fun, you mean "epicenter in the state for the virus," then yes it's fun. We're trading things off for a much larger, much cheaper, much quieter town that still affords us quick access to the city if we'd ever really like to be there.
There's no need to keep paying these ridiculous rent prices to live near to work when my commute is now from my bedroom to my livingroom! I've also found that I never really spent much time in the city or missed it when city life went away. I want easier access to sunshine and seawater!
