Need help deciding where to move near Pepper Pike? (Cleveland: apartment complexes, for rent)

[Soliloquy1111]

I'm 19 and I have lived on the westside of Cleveland my whole like (first North Olmsted and now Rocky River). In about a year my boyfriend is graduating from CSU and I'm planning on transferring to Ursuline University in Pepper Pike, we're planning on getting an apartment/town home of some sort and moving in together.


I'm kind of deathly afraid of the east side of cleveland, thanks to my my Grandpa who was a sargent in Cleveland and my mother always warning me with all these stories. Basically where I live now, I can go into any neighboring/bordering subburb and be completely safe so to speak, there really are no bad area over here, just some crappy aprtment complexes you know some section eight housing in some scattered apartments.
So my question is, what's a nice safe area that's similarly placed out this way? Anything I should know?

[Peregrine]

The east-west divide is alive and well, I see.
There is nothing wrong with the East side of our county. In fact, most of the coolest stuff is over there.
You can't go wrong with any suburb over there.
Beachwood, Orange, Hunting Valley, Moreland Hills, Gates Mills, Mayfield Heights... really isn't a bad suburb anywhere near there....

[Cleveland_Collector]

Alive and well indeed! Jeez! I guess the west side just has no crime whatsoever!

The East Side suburbs are far more interesting and diverse than the mall-o-matic West Side. I live on the South Side. 9/10 times, I'm going north or east to do what I want to do. This isn't to say that the West Side is bad, it's just not as great as the average west-sider thinks it is.

[kerensa]

I'm like you - I like to live in a nice area, surrounded by nice, safe areas. I definitely don't want to live in the border!

The NE is not good - obviously East Cleveland is bad. To a lesser extent, so is Wickliffe, Euclid and the surrounding areas.

I'd also stay away from Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Bedford, Oakwood, Cleveland Heights, South Euclid. Parts of Shaker are nicer, but if you are looking for that super safe feeling, you won't find it.

I currently live in Mayfield and I like it here - maybe the neighborhood has declined a bit in recent years (I see more cops patrolling these days), but there are several big apartment complexes (Gates Mills/Coppertree/ Hamilton House) that are pretty safe. You might be able to rent a small house for the same price as an apt. Stay away from Marsol, it's a little sketchier than the rest. It feels fairly safe and if I have to go out to my car at 3am, I don't worry about it.

Pepper Pike, Gates Mills, Moreland Hills, Orange are all very safe, very upscale areas but they don't have many apartments for rent.

Solon & Twinsburg are very safe, near lots of shopping. Solon has a little petty theft but not too much other crime as far as I can tell. I feel safe in Solon.

Beachwood is great, very safe, but the apartments tend to be more expensive.

University Heights has some nice apartments. You might be able to rent an apt in a house as do lots of JCU students. Feels fairly safe to me, some crime but more so petty stuff like retail theft. Lots of young professionals and students at Case, JCU, etc.

So basically, stay away from the more inner ring suburbs (Shaker, Cleveland Hts, S Euclid, Maple Hts, Garfield Hts) and you should be fine.

[Clevelander17]

Lots of students (CWRU and JCU) live in the inner-ring suburbs of Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights. Most areas are safe, don't be deterred by what you read on hear, check out these neighborhoods for yourself.