Landlord here. I rent to family/friends at much below market rate because I'd rather have tenants there that I can trust than try to maximize profits. Haven't raised rents since I bought the property a few years ago.

As much as the housing market has gone insane the last few years, the increase in Worcester property taxes is a significant driver in landlords upping rent. My property taxes increased 33% over the course of 3 years. City officials love to brag about lowing the per thousand tax rate, but at the same time they've jacked up their assessments which has significantly increased homeowners property taxes.

As a 30 year old yuppy born and raised in Worcester that has also spent a lot time in Boston with college friends, my certainly biased opinion is that Worcester greatly exceeds living in eastern MA when you look at it from an ROI standpoint. Cost of living has increased quite a bit the last few years after the secret got out that Worcester is a great/affordable alternative to eastern MA, but the delta in COL between Boston and Worcester is still tremendous. If you need to go to Boston occasionally, the drive is 45 minutes to and hour.

Restaurant scene is fantastic. Truly a foodies' paradise. New restaurants popping up all the time that my gf and I love checking out. We have a handful of go-to's but when we want to switch it up and try somewhere new, there's a extensive list of options.

Night life has come along way recently. It isn't as lively as big city night life, but there's still plenty of options. Valentino's, the Banner, Funky Murphys, Mercantile, Cigar Bar, Vincents, White Eagle, tons of breweries. There's an option for really every crowd. As with most cities, making friends usually revolves around your social scene (which bars/restaurants you frequent) and the workplace. I have numerous transplant friends that have done just fine meeting people.

Public transit is Worcester's Achilles heel. Very unreliable schedules and inconvenient routes.

If you're going to be working at Biotech Park, I suggest looking in the lake ave/plantation street area first, and if you don't have any luck there you can extend your search to the Burncoat neighborhood or across the bridge in Shrewsbury if your rental budget is large enough. Burncoat and Shrewsbury are farther away but IMO nicer neighborhoods.