I'd say it depends on where you're driving (very specifically).

You're less likely to need studded tires if you're staying in major brand hotels and visiting just businesses in business parks or downtowns or major tourist sites that also handle tour buses.

But if you're staying with a friend or family member who lives in a hilly district in Northern Virginia with narrow steep streets, where the freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw cycle is very common, and their subdivision gets plowed days after the main streets, studded tires may be very necessary, because you may not be able to avoid stopping on uphill grades of more than a few degrees (because on those streets, two cars can't pass each other without stopping if people are parked!).

And that's why I said "chain hotels" above. Because chain hotels don't usually locate themselves on hard to navigate "last to be plowed" streets. But indie B&Bs sometimes do. So in New England, I would think it might depend on whether you're going to stay in B&Bs on the outskirts of a hilly town, or only in the chain hotel near the intersection of two major highways.

(I also don't know how much studded tires help in deep snow without freezing, like BUffalo gets with their "lake effect" snow. I grew up in the Northern Virginia area so I'm used to freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw snow, or none at all!)

I too have driven in snow with regular tires taking it very slow and trying to not stop on slopes. And I found it not as horrid as driving in summer mud, actually! But some locations like many Northern Virigina suburbs of DC have zilions of streets with steep grades with thaw/freeze and with plowing not quick to come to every last residential street, and I bet that's not the only place in North America where that happens (but I don't know how rare it is, if you need to visit such residential streets on your trip).