I was raised in SoCal most of my life and recently relocated "back east". I live relatively close to both Peabody, MA and Bedford, NH so I can give a bit of insight though there are others who are closer.

First, let me say: You couldn't pay me enough to move to Peabody. OK, Maybe I'm not the best one to give a review of any city in MA since my whole family lives there yet I refuse to live any closer than Nashua, NH. I'll just leave the Peabody reviews for one of the Bostonians on the forum.

I have been to Bedford and it is a nice enough place though I don't regularly go there so I have no in-depth knowledge. I could go on and on about the great things about NH in general: No income tax, no sales tax, great hunting, fishing, camping, relatively cheap to live (compared to most other places in the greater Boston area) and some of the most beautiful mountains outside of Colorado. Just look at the pics of the Loon Mountain Highland games that are only an hour away.