Moving To Columbus,INFO please!!! (Westerville, Gahanna: rentals, low crime, homes)

[robby0024]

Hello everyone.
Well, i am certainly doing some research over Columbus.I have plans to move there this Summer.I'm also pretty familiar with the OSU campus area (i have visited a few times) and also have been through grove city,around polaris mall,and have read many forums,opinions and seen pictures of many of the suburbs.
I want a place that is very safe,low crime,but also diverse. And I want like a Middle-sized downtown area. I prefer a suburb thats easy access to Downtown (since i love the nightlife in the city).As far as homes...i would like them to be affordable.. middle class I'd say.
So basically,a suburb thats safe,near downtown,middle class neighborhood with a downtown area too it. What about Canal Winchester,Westerville,White Hall,worthington...which would you say is the nicest of them all (homes) but most afforable? if you could give me some advice that would be great!
And feel free to throw any other neighborhoods in there...i'm open to anything as long as it fits what i'm looking for....
Thanks

[ChrissyR]

I haven't lived in Columbus for 10 yrs but am relocating soon. I do know that Whitehall is bad. There schools have very low scores and the crime rate is high. I checked in on line as I lived there many years ago. Hopefull someone else will give you info on the other areas. The board has been pretty quiet lately. Good luck. I can't wait to come home.

[robby0024]

thanks...that helped me out some.it took out whitehall! thanks

[agghopp]

Then you probably want Gahanna. Still some rednecks out there (w/ apologies) but it is a safe, very suburban town. It has absolutely no edginess to it whatsoever. Soccer Moms and minivans all the way.

[HuberHeights]

Worthington is very nice

[streetcreed]

NO NO NO, for what you are looking for Worthington is very family oriented and not really that close to downtown.

Grandview Heights is closer to downtown, has many young singles, and is near nightlife.


Honestly, for what your looking for there is no reason to move out to a far-out suburb, there are many safe, quiet, middle class neighborhoods in columbus city limits that have their own central business district, and your closer to downtown, and the nightlife and could use a taxi or mass transit if you wanted.

I would look into these columbus neighborhoods
Clintonville (nice neighborhoods,middle/upper class, rentals, owernship, better columbus city schools, very safe, located on Columbus' main street High Street with a retail drag and literally 6 minutes from downtown, and 5 or less from OSU) There is also beautiful ravines, and your located along the river with bike/walking trails. A great location!

Merion Village (middle class, with some working class here and there, located just south of the rich German Village area of Columbus, it is a columbus neighborhood just south of downtown, but has a quiet charm to it and has many nearby stores and restaurants in german village, s. high st., and around merion village.)

and as I mentioned Grandview Heights, and the surrounding areas of Columbus around Grandivew has many young couples, older people, young professionals, quiet safe neighborhoods, walkable streets, and is the closest suburb to downtown. Anything further out gets less hip, older population, and more "sprawly"

[LancasterNative]

Hi Robby, and welcome to Columbus!

OK, you're looking for an area that's "very safe, low crime, but also diverse" and with "easy access" to Downtown/nightlife...?

The first place that comes to my mind is Grandview! It's very walkable, popular with 20-30somethings, and has a nice downtown area and even some nightlife of its own. You'd probably love it, if I'm reading you right

Another area you might be very appealing is Clintonville. Sometimes called the "suburb that's in the City," Clintonville isn't incorporated at all. It's a neighborhood of Columbus, but it's quiet and has a pleasant, suburban feel. Access to Downtown is easy via High St. (multiple COTA lines go straight down High). Housing is generally older (pre-1950) with character.

Grandview and Clintonville are also probably the most affordable of the places popular among young professionals in Columbus. They each have some pricey addresses too, but still a lot of bargains.

Really "hot" places like German Village/Brewery District and the Short North/Victorian Village, while considered über-cool among urbanites, are also pretty expensive nowadays and probably wouldn't fit the "middle class" budget.

Canal Winchester might be a little out-of-the-way for your tastes. It still retains much of its rural/small-town atmosphere.

As others have already addressed, Whitehall has gotten really ghetto lately and is dangerous—best avoided.

Worthington has a lovely historic downtown of its own, and there are quite a few things to do there. But at night, you might find this area a little too low-key. Not many young singles there at all; they're mostly hangin' out in Grandview or Clintonville

Westerville is quite a hike from Downtown. It's also the epitome of bland, sprawling, soulless suburbia. Yeckk...

I hope this helps, and all the best of luck to you!

–Lanc