[DZH22]

Most of the density surrounding Boston is near the coast. To focus on the lack of density inland while ignoring the main population areas is completely disingenuous. Most of those towns were small farming communities until people decided they wanted more space and/or were priced out of the coastal areas. The coast remains dense all the way up to Portland Maine except for a couple towns on the northern end of Cape Ann.

There's also a lot of mill cities that grew up as cities and not just "Boston suburbs" like Lowell, Lawrence, and Brockton. Eventually there is suburbia filling in the gaps but there's tons of dense pockets and those cities originally stood on their own.

Most of the city inside of the 95 belt is among the best urbanity in the entire country. There are small pockets of super rich areas full of mansions, especially in ritzy Brookline, but there is much more density in the surrounding neighborhoods.

From an urban perspective, Atlanta is not on par with Boston. The single family housing neighborhoods begin directly adjacent to downtown. Buckhead is like a less dense version of Waltham, except they made a few of the buildings 5-6 times taller. The majority of Atlanta is among the worst urban experiences in the country. It's no contest. Southern cities cannot compete with their northeast brethren in this arena.