How about Northampton, MA? I've never lived there, but I've been there many times and love the town. UMass and Amherst are right down the street, Boston's only

How about Northampton, MA? I've never lived there, but I've been there many times and love the town. UMass and Amherst are right down the street, Boston's only an hour away (depending on traffic), good restaurants, great music scene, plenty of biotech (depending on your willingness to travel). There's also Middletown, CT and New Haven, CT, both of which I've lived in. Middletown's a neat small city with Wesleyan University in town and a cool small downtown, classic New England. Anywhere in the Connecticut outback is a likely spot for some biotech, Bayer and others are big in the state. New Haven was really ugly 15 years ago but now it's largely an awesome residential city; you want to live in the "grad ghetto" with all the Yalies. Cheap housing, great restaurants, cool up-and-coming atmosphere. I loved the year I spent there. The downside is schools - if you have kids you should send them to private school. I don't know about the biotech scene, but I love visiting Portland, ME. Anybody able to speak to that city? Another great medium-sized New England town.