Watertown is not less expensive.
@fendrock agreed…that’s why I put “might” in boldface.
To be honest, I think the kiddo can find a place to live IN the closer in Boston area that will be as affordable as living in the Outer Boston suburbs…and WAYYYYYY more convenient for what most 20 somethings are looking for.
An apartment share in Brighton, Brookline, Alston would be a good start.
There are a TON of apartments west of Boston University on Commonwealth Ave.
My kid needed housing in the area and went with the apartment share option. I helped a few kids get settled into similar situations since we had just survived it. Craigslist is full of apartment shares. A quick GoogleMaps with the public transportation option on lets you know how long the commute will be. Make sure to set the time to his commute time/day. If you’re checking at off times, there may be less busses/trains running. If he has a car, its even easier to figure out. Again, most 20 somethings want to hang in Boston/Cambridge or similar after work, so take that into account when searching. And I made the kids take the cost of public transit into account as well. Paying more to be walking distance actually worked in favor of one of them. Just my 2 cents.
This was an issue even when I lived in the Boston area for 5 years in the early-mid '00s. Recalled rents only really started dropping once one is an hour or more commute away from the Boston area which would not only be an issue in itself, but also cause serious impediments for social life with one’s peers as many remote Boston area suburbs are residential and IME mostly populated by families with children.
In some ways, the issues are similar though less serious than how a friend’s supervisor at a Seattle area tech giant advised me and other friends that if one’s young and single and thinking of moving to the Seattle area to avoid living in the suburbs because one is in danger of being socially isolated because most social groups/venues are geared for married couples and families with children, not young single 20-something professionals.
I was lucky to find an apartment in the Longwood/Brookline area by the hospitals heavily populated by medical students/interns/residents. Surprisingly low rent for the space and very convenient to two T lines. However, it’s been more than a decade since I lived there so that area may no longer be the relative bargain it was then.
Parts of Dorchester may still have crime issues due to poverty in some areas along with remnants of organized crime groups(a la Whitey Bulger). Also, more remote parts of Dorchester are such that commutes can be a serious hassle from what I recalled from visiting some friends who lived there and from conducting some census enumeration and undergrad field work for an Urban Politics seminar class.
My son now has gotten the actual address where his office is and it’s Chelsea, MA 01250.
That seems just NE of Cambridge. Not too far of a commute from Boston/Cambridge.
If one opts to live in/near Chelsea, MA, keep in mind the area’s in close proximity to Logan International Airport.
Your son might wish to search for an apartment in East Boston - that would allow access both to Chelsea (where he should NOT live) and downtown Boston.
Back to add, while not all sections of Dorchester will hold wide appeal for a young professional, there should be no concern whatsoever for “remnants of organized crime groups,” as was mentioned upthread.
Not all of Chelsea is that T-accessible. Unless there are no parking facilities at his firm, I’d recommend that he get a car and drive. Large parts of Chelsea are very industrial. Other parts are very low-income. There is a nice development called Admiral Hill which might be a good place to live if he can afford the rents, but I’m not sure how great a spot it is for social life for a recent graduate.
Look on Google maps on the address and see if a bus line goes there and which ones. That will help determine if he needs a car.
Without knowing a) how much he can pay in rent, b) if he’s willing to live in a share, and c) if he will have a car that needs to be extracted from snow in February so that he can get to work, it’s difficult to make recommendations.
Looking more carefully at this MBTA map
http://www.mbta.com/uploadedFiles/Schedules_and_Maps/System_Map/MBTA-system_map-5.pdf
There is also a commuter rail stop on the Newburyport line.
You can see that Chelsea is served by the following bus lines
111, 112, 114, 116, 117
The 111 is a very quick outbound bus ride from Haymarket Square, which is on the Orange and Green lines.
The 112 goes between the Wellington Orange Line stop in Medford and the Wood Island Stop in East Boston. It looks slow going from Wellington (20-30 minutes), or 10-20 minutes from Wood Island in East Boston.
The others connect with East Boston and don’t seem that useful.
So I would say that if he must commute by public transportation, I would live on either an orange line stop north of the city, or at Wood Island in East Boston.
I still think driving is best.
Chelsea has a rough reputation, but I had a colleague who lived there as a single woman and managed fine commuting to the Longwood area by bus and T. My son’s friend lives in East Boston and seems to like it there.
D2 lives in Somerville. But she lives with roommates. She use to live in Malden, also with roommates. Sommerville is a much better area. So it depends on your S’s financial ability to pay, as is usual for all living decision and whether he needs roommates or not. D2 currently gets along well with her roommates.
East Boston is being gentrified so it probably won’t be cheap for very long, idk for sure though. He could live in the crappy part of Somerville by Sullivan Square. Should be fairly cheap, and close.
Chiming in late, but we have an intern at my work who got a great deal on an apt in a new building in Chelsea. There seem to be lots of new apt buildings going up. There may be something at the old navy yard/hospital too.