Solon vs Twinsburg (Columbus, Cleveland, Akron: real estate, credit, houses)

[relocate2ohio]

Hi Everyone,

I know this topic must have been many times in past and I did go through some threads but couldn't find answers that I was looking. So, here we go.

We are moving from San Francisco to Cleveland. My husband's job moving to Solon. We are definitely looking to buy a house and are in great confusion if we should buy in Solon or Twinsburg? Based on our research both of these communities are next to each other but differs a lot when it comes to School and Homes.

Our preference is good school (daughter going to 2nd grade) but at the same time I am not too happy with houses in Solon (looking under 450k). Only few of them are up to date and pretty much all of them have old floor plan which doesn't appeal. Whereas Twinsburg seems to score high on modern looking houses but lacks on school.

I know school ratings are perceived differently by different people. But I wanted to get some real opinion from you guys about Twinsburg schools. Are they really that bad? Can someone share their personal experience about Twinsburg schools?

All of these schools are 7 out 10.

Elementary School - https://www.greatschools.org/ohio/tw...chool/#Reviews
Middle School - https://www.greatschools.org/ohio/tw...Middle-School/
High School - https://www.greatschools.org/ohio/tw...g-High-School/

Cheers,
Sasha

[216facts]

Hi Sasha. I recommend you continue your search for a nice house in Solon, you should be able to find it for <$450k. I think you will be happier with their school system. Not to disrespect Twinsburg, it is a nice community and I have a lot of respect for their school system. But Solon's school system is better and since your acceptable house price is fairly high for this area, you should be able to find something nice in Solon.

Of course, the success of your child's academics greatly depends upon you, and one could argue, rightly so, that you don't necessarily need the best school system.

[WRnative]

The state ranked Twinsburg 97 out of 608 Ohio school districts. Solon is ranked number one. Persons pay a premium to live in the Solon school district. Twinsburg is ranked higher than what are considered good school districts such as Mayfield, Mentor, Medina and Kent.

Every Ohio school district ranked; led by Solon and Rocky River | cleveland.com

Glenwillow Village, which I know nothing about, apparently also is in the Solon School District.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solon_...chool_District

Is it worth paying a premium to live in Solon over Twinsburg? That's a personal decision. Consider your child and research the difference between the various academic programs, such as AP classes, and extracurricular activities. Also consider that Solon is a larger high school which may limit the ability of students to participate in desired extracurricular activities.

School districts that are ranked higher than Twinsburg and that both may offer cheaper housing than Solon and a reasonable commute (less than 30 minutes) include Beachwood (I'm not certain that housing prices are cheaper, but real estate taxes may be lower), Brecksville-Broadview Hts (a 28-minute commute; most of the other mentioned school districts are under 20 minutes), Aurora, Cuyahoga Hts., Independence, Woodmere in the Orange School District, West Geauga and Kenston. You can use a maps program to calculate the exact commuting time between a prospective home and a place of employment, but I would want to confirm those commuting times during the actual time of the commute.

Wikipedia articles for school districts or the district high school tells you what communities are served, but certainly confirm that carefully before purchasing any home. Using route 422, Auburn Township in the Kenston School District should offer some easy commutes to Solon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenston_High_School

I'm not certain about the ease of commute from Russell Township to Solon on route 87.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Geauga_High_School

Check municipal income tax laws in the city of residence. You may have to pay a resident city income tax in addition to the employment income taxes collected in Solon, largely depending upon the existence and size of any residential income tax credit. Townships in Ohio don't have income taxes. Check property tax rates.

Also consider municipal services (such as pools, ice rinks, swimming pools, local parks, community centers, etc.), proximity to parks (Greater Cleveland has very good county park systems as well as Cuyahoga Valley National Park), and any other desired amenities. Consider that many communities allow non-residents to use community facilities for a nominal fee, but check that to be certain.

County park districts near Solon include Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) Metroparks, Summit Metroparks, Geauga Park District, and the Portage Park District. The county park systems typically offer golf courses, horse riding, winter sports, etc., especially the Cleveland Metroparks, often considered one of the best park systems in the country.

Twinsburg is in Summit County, not Cuyahoga County as is Solon. The Kenston and West Geauga school districts are largely in Geauga County, so perhaps check what county any community of interest is located.

Did you read through this thread, especially post 3?

http://www.city-data.com/forum/cleve...cleveland.html

[gouldnm]

While this may or may not be important to you, I get the impression that Solon is a lot more diversified than Twinsburg. I think something like a third of the population of Solon is either first or second generation immigrant--lots of Asians and Russian Jews (high achievers--probably why the school system is so outstanding).

My husband has a sister who lives in Twinsburg. I get the impression that it's a nice community but a lot more homogenous.

[Ohio_44087]

Sorry. I Disagree with Gouldnm. I live in Twinsburg and work in Solon, So your husband's sister's analysis of the school and community and area and diversity is second or third (or even more)e hand at best. Truth is as follows:

-Crime/safety is very similar (Both are safe)


-450k can buy you alot in both areas:
-450k will buy you 90-95% of any house you want in twinsburg
-450k will buy you around 70-80% of any house you want in solon

- Diversity: Both are very diverse. Solon has a healthy Asian pop. for sure, but so does twinsburg. Both have healthy black populations. The Homogeneous comment is absolutely false. You can see that from City-data race statistics.

-Income Twinsburg is more middle to Middle-upper class. Solon is more Middle to Upper class. Schools are better in solon, but i think that is because of the tax money and teacher ratio per student, which if I am not mistaken twinsburg just passed a pretty big levy. If either of these displease you, I personally like Chagrin Falls, Aurora, Brecksville and Hudson as backups for schools/areas to live. I dont know about solon but twinsburg has an FT police officer in the highschool (maybe more than one IDK), and the H.S is right across from Police station, next to library, close to parks. Either way you decide All these areas have great schools.

I still believe twinsburg is a great place to raise a family and you will get what you want in property value. Guess I am a little biased though.

Best of luck. Reply if you need more info..been around this entire east side and columbus alot ...so I know Ohio.

Take Care

[ATLForr]

A lot of people say Solon and Twinsburg is diverse but it really isn’t compared to a big city suburb such as Irvine Ca, Cupertino CA, Johns Creek GA, Sugar Land TX, Plano Tx and Rockville MD. Heck even Cary NC is more diverse than Solon. You get my point. I lived in Solon for eight years and after leaving Solon and moving to Atlanta GA I realized how homogenous Solon is and how homogenous the Cleveland Metro Area is. Solon and Twinsburg is still pretty white and not really that diverse but in the Cleveland Metro Area Solon can be considered very diverse.

[gouldnm]

Originally Posted by Ohio_44087

- Diversity: Both are very diverse. Solon has a healthy Asian pop. for sure, but so does twinsburg. Both have healthy black populations. The Homogeneous comment is absolutely false. You can see that from City-data race statistics.


Take Care

Thanks for the clarification. I looked up the demographics on wikipedia, and it does seem like they are comparable. Solon has slightly more Asians, but Twinsburg does have Asians as well. Twinsburg has slightly more African Americans, but there are still plenty in Solon.

The wikipedia mentions that Solon has a lot of first and second generation immigrants. The wikipedia for Twinsburg doesn't mention anything about immigrants. Maybe that's where I got the impression that Solon is more diversified. But if you go by racial percentages, they are roughly comparable.

[Ohio_44087]

Originally Posted by ATLForr

A lot of people say Solon and Twinsburg is diverse but it really isn’t compared to a big city suburb such as Irvine Ca, Cupertino CA, Johns Creek GA, Sugar Land TX, Plano Tx and Rockville MD. Heck even Cary NC is more diverse than Solon. You get my point. I lived in Solon for eight years and after leaving Solon and moving to Atlanta GA I realized how homogenous Solon is and how homogenous the Cleveland Metro Area is. Solon and Twinsburg is still pretty white and not really that diverse but in the Cleveland Metro Area Solon can be considered very diverse.

You can find a lot more diverse communities in Cle Metro. The point of the initial post was in reference to two specific communities: Solon and Twinsburg. Not the states of: Ca, GA, and TX. Both communities are in line with national diversity averages (not specifically by race but in general). And both communities are wonderful places to raise a family. So what point are you trying to make here?

[Ohio_44087]

No Probs, that makes sense .

Never go to the west side of cleveland/suburbs because no need for me, so I can mostly only speak from Akron all the way north to Mayfield. And Columbus...i know alot about that city as well.

[ATLForr]

Originally Posted by Ohio_44087

You can find a lot more diverse communities in Cle Metro. The point of the initial post was in reference to two specific communities: Solon and Twinsburg. Not the states of: Ca, GA, and TX. Both communities are in line with national diversity averages (not specifically by race but in general). And both communities are wonderful places to raise a family. So what point are you trying to make here?

I’m just saying since the OP came from San Francisco he/her might be more used to a more diverse environment than Solon. The term diverse is very subjective, a person coming from a San Francisco suburb such as Daly City or Millbrae may find Solon a little too homogeneous. But if a person came from somewhere really rural and 90+% Caucasian then they might find Solon very diverse.

Again the OP came from San Francisco so I am just warning him/her that when people say diverse on this thread it is going to be way less diverse than a San Francisco suburb or a suburb of a bigger city.

San Francisco is way above the national diversity average and so are the suburbs I mentioned. Solon is only “in line” with the national diversity average.