My Lovecraftian monster romance story "The New Annotated Kitab al-Azif" is set in the Classics Department of Miskatonic University, which is located in the fictional city of Arkham, Massachusetts. According to ST Joshi, Lovecraft said that Arkham is in Essex County, which is real and just north of Boston. Given that it apparently takes less than half an hour to drive into Boston from Salem, it's probably fair to say that Arkham is a suburb of Boston.
So I was wondering if someone pushed out of Boston by gentrification might move to Arkham. This ended up being a research question, as "it's too expensive to live in the city" sounds like a New York problem. In Philadelphia at least, it's much cheaper to live in the city proper, as the suburbs to every point of the compass are posh and expensive. The same is true for DC and Baltimore, as well as Atlanta.
What I learned is that, while it's relatively inexpensive to buy an actual house in Boston, the rent is insane. As of February 2023, the average monthly rent in Boston is $3,747. Jesus Christ. Also, starting in 2019, Boston has consistently surpassed Washington DC in having the worst traffic gridlock in the United States. This is unimaginable to me, as it's inconceivable that there could be worse traffic than there is in DC. Damn.
Anyway, I guess it would make sense for someone who can't afford rent in Boston to pick up and move to Arkham, especially if they could get a job at the university. Maybe they could rent a room in one of the Queen Anne style houses with the gambrel roofs I keep hearing so much about.
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