bostonbubble.com

[news]

Use this forum thread to discuss the following link.

Description: Massachusetts census numbers flat compared to other states
URL: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/massachusetts_census_numbers_f.ht ...truncated...
Info/Broken?: http://www.bostonbubble.com/link_info.php?id=2352

Subscribe to New Links: RSS Feed
Suggest a Link: Reference Suggestion Forum

[WestCoastXPlant]

This makes sense to me. We moved from an overpriced West Coast city and just two of our friends aged 22-37 had kids. The truth is, cost of living is insane, even on two salaries. We chose to have kids but we forego one income (alternative would be 1500/mo in daycare, which, let's face it, is pretty much a mortgage payment)...

In my opinion to have kids in the coastal cities(NE/West) you either have to give up quality of life, or be so low income that having kids actually helps you get by. I don't know how we'll resolve this as a society -- I expect at some point immigration policies will have to get a lot laxer in order to support the aging population...

[balor123]

$1500/mo is cheap for daycare. In Waltham that was the cheapest I could find. Try more like $2000 - $2600/mo. There is incentive for the smart ones to produce dumb kids since the smart ones avoid putting themselves in precarious situations. That leaves the kids with smart parents in worse school districts since schools and houses are coupled here. Immigration won't solve this problem because immigrants don't want to move here. The largest group of immigrants, hispanics, have largely been moving to Southern states. As this article points out, MA lacks immigrants compared to the rest of the country, which is too bad because immigrants are great workers (of all skill levels).