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sad0panda t1_iszyyl7 wrote

Reply to comment by Unique-Public-8594 in Massachusetts is 3rd most stressed state in the US, study says by Omphaloskeptique

I moved from Mass to VT and my stress level went way down.

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WinsingtonIII t1_it04j2m wrote

It depends on your situation and what you want from where you live. Vermont is beautiful and I love the hiking and outdoor options there. That said, I'm not sure I could personally live there outside of Burlington as I really value walkability and basically nowhere in VT has that to the level I need other than Burlington (even then you're in an isolated island of walkability).

Vermont also has high cost of living for a rural state, and unlike MA it doesn't have the high-paying jobs of a major metro area. Remote workers making high wages probably have easy lives in VT, it's probably harder and more stressful for people working for lower wages in a high cost state where there aren't tons of job options.

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costcocosmonaut t1_it0q79r wrote

Maybe it’s embarrassing but I thought Brattleboro had really decent walkability when I lived there. It seemed a lot of the little downtowns were somewhat walkable compared to a lot of suburban US.

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WinsingtonIII t1_it21a92 wrote

No, that's not embarrassing, I agree that some of the smaller towns in VT actually have nice little walkable downtowns. Brattleboro is definitely included in that.

The issue is more that those downtowns are quite small and once you get outside of them the walkability drops off completely as it generally becomes immediately rural. For some people that's fine, but I like density and being able to walk around more than just a small downtown area, so even though I enjoy visiting these places I'm not sure I could live in them.

I have a similar issue with coastal Maine outside of Portland. I love a lot of the coastal towns, and they often have great little downtowns, but that's it for the walkability and they are basically small islands of walkability all separated from each other.

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sad0panda t1_it0b752 wrote

Yes, it certainly helps that my employer is in MA, still pays me the same wage, and lets me work remote.

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beeinabearcostume t1_it00a2s wrote

I dunno I was always pretty stressed when my favorite sandwich guy at City Market wasn’t behind the counter.

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