Do people who don't live in Massachusetts view Cambridge as a separate city from Boston?

TL;DR: it's psychological. Mostly.Um, I live in Somerville, work during the day in Cambridge, and teach at night in Boston.  I consider Boston to be a different place, mainly because it takes time, stress, energy, planning, what-have you to make the transition.When I had an office in Boston proper, it was less than 4 miles from my home, and often took an hour to get from one to the other.  On a good day, timed perfectly, maybe 25 minutes, but that didn't happen more than one in twenty.  Walking was the least stressful method, but that's two hours of my day.Regardless of How you choose to travel: walk, drive, bike, skateboard, bus, Segway, subway, any combination of the above, it is a hassle.  If you drive you also typically need to worry about parking.  If there is snow on the ground, you may wander around for a while upon your return as well.Contrast this existance to say, Dallas, where my office was 15 minutes away by car or Tampa, 20 minutes, parking was plentiful, and mass transit impractical.The lunch food is typically the same. The shopping is the same, although there is more high-end in Boston  There is nightlife in both. Boston is probably more 'sophisticated', dive bars exist at on both sides of the river. Cambridge/Somerville has outstanding restaurants that are affordable.Another way of looking at this question is as follows:  Is Davie, FL considered part of Ft. Lauderdale to,  say, a resident of Tacoma, Washington.  Probably.  Likewise, somebody who lived in Ft Lauderdale might consider Tacoma part of Seattle. although locals may feel otherwise.  The longer distances also tend to simply places in terms of the local major airport.  Therefore, Cambridge is part of Boston, because the airport is cpnvenient to both.

Yeah. Everybody has a relative who went to MIT or Harvard, so they know all about the slums of Cambridge and winos of Central Square and the hippies who used to beg at Spare Change Park (aka Cambridge Common). "Boston? You say Boston is near there too? Howja get there?" Boston, land of Beacon Hill, Franklin Park and that monstrous university they call Bijou, is a foreign land to most of these outsiders!

Well it is, but if you think about Greater Boston, no. I think outsiders don’t realize that Boston proper, the one tourists visit, is a relatively tiny city. It’s been seriously suggested that Boston should annex Cambridge, which straddles the other side of the Charles River. The metropolitan area, which includes all the towns that are not part of Boston, out to the north and west around 95/128, is much more substantial. Much of the character we associate with Boston is in the immediately surrounding towns like Cambridge, Brookline, and Somerville. However, the largest area of Boston, mostly to the south, with towns like Roxbury, Dorchester. and “Southie”, has somewhat less cache, shall we say.