Towns around Columbus (Springfield, Newark, Lancaster: income, rental, work)

[cal2oh]

Our small family will be moving back to the Columbus area soon, but we haven't decided where to live yet. We've lived in Columbus before, but it would be nice to have the latest neighborhood crime data on a map--is that available anywhere? We might live in Columbus itself, but we're actually leaning toward a town near Columbus.

We would like something not too expensive (we can't afford it), within an hour at most of Columbus, low-crime, college town a plus. We know a bit about the area already and have done our research on this forum. So we're thinking like Marysville, Delaware, Marion (maybe a bit far), Mt. Vernon, Newark, Granville (but that's too expensive, no?), Lancaster, maybe Yellow Springs (also a bit far).

Of these we wonder if maybe Lancaster and Delaware are maybe a little rough around the edges.

Another thing would be nice is if somebody could describe modern small-town life. We just want some help deciding whether to move to town our up to an hour outside of town. Nice thing is that we work at home, so no commute.

[paintballer1708]

Check out Worthington, Westerville, Dublin, Hilliard, and Delaware. All great suburbs of Columbus.

[sunflower53072]

I would check out the towns that have more transplanted people in them like Dublin, Westerville, Powell. Marrion and Marysville are not too friendly to outsiders.

[cal2oh]

Thanks folks. Great BBS.

We're sort of avoiding the suburbs because we'd like a taste of small town life, also we'd rather not pay so much. We checked out city-data.com's data like here http://www.city-data.com/city/Lancaster-Ohio.html which is very handy, but there are things you can't learn from data. Like not being friendly to outsiders, thanks.

Actually went to a play in Marysville once. It was very nice actually.

A friend is trying to get me to move to Lancaster. Any pointers there?

[cal2oh]

Results of my own research with various town data websites.

Considered 26 towns near Columbus.

Taken off the list because above-average crime statistics: Zanesville, Circleville, Bellefontaine, Chillicothe, Springfield, Marion

Insufficient crime data: Baltimore, Mt. Vernon

Off the list because local income tax (RITA): Worthington, Grandview Heights, Yellow Springs, Plain City, Cedarville

Off the list because too expensive generally: Gahanna, Hilliard

What's left: London, Lancaster, Washington C.H., Heath, Pataskala, Mount Sterling, Newark, Granville, Marysville, Delaware (Actually, Mount Sterling has RITA but is great in other respects, see below)

Best in affordability (low rent, low property tax): London, Newark, Washington C.H., Mount Sterling; then (a little more expensive) Heath and Lancaster; the rest are quite a bit more expensive

The towns range from extremely low-crime to nearly the national average, with Granville, Pataskala, and Mt. Sterling very safe, Marysville a bit less so, Washington C.H., Delaware, and London being in the mid-range for this group, followed by Heath, Lancaster, and Newark. US Mean is 327, Heath, Lancaster, and Newark are 287, 302, and 313. Granville is 93!

I made a convenience index, based 50% on distance to Columbus (closer the better), 30% population (the higher the better), and 20% proximity to a big mall. There's not a huge range in convenience, but Lancaster and Heath came out on top, then Newark and Granville, then Delaware and Pataskala, then London, Marysville, and Mount Sterling, with Washington C.H. bringing up the rear. Washington C.H. = population 13,500, 51 minutes to Columbus, average time to a big mall. Lancaster = population 35,000, 38 minutes to Columbus, big mall right in town.

I also made a "nice folks" index. 50% based on how many children under 5 there are, 30% higher education levels, and 20% high levels of marriage and low levels of divorce. This was very interesting: Pataskala 9.2 (out of 10), Marysville and Delaware 8.7, Granville 8.0, Lancaster and Newark 7.4, Mount Sterling 7.0, Washington C.H. 6.3, Heath 5.9. Heath was low because of so few kids. Washington C.H. was low because of relatively low levels of education (only 77.2% have a high school diploma).

If you weight affordability, safety, convenience, and "nice folks" equally, then it comes out like this:

7.40 (out of 10) Lancaster
7.34 Pataskala
7.30 London
7.20 Heath
7.13 Washington C.H.
7.03 Newark
6.99 Granville
6.97 Mount Sterling
6.75 Marysville
6.22 Delaware

Note, Mount Sterling was deducted one full point because they use RITA. Otherwise, they'd be on top with 7.97.

But maybe these aren't all equal in importance.

If you weight them 30% Affordability, 25% Safety, 25% Nice folks, and 20% Convenience, you get this:

7.48 London
7.42 Lancaster
7.37 Washington C.H.
7.27 Heath
7.21 Pataskala
7.14 Newark
6.73 Granville
6.67 Marysville
6.18 Mount Sterling (-1 for RITA)
6.01 Delaware

And if you weight them "for the long term," with "nice folks" being 35%, safety 30%, convenience 25%, and affordability 10%, we get:

7.91 Granville
7.81 Pataskala
7.09 Marysville
7.08 Lancaster
6.82 Heath
6.79 Delaware
6.73 London
6.51 Mount Sterling (-1 for RITA)
6.50 Washington C.H.
6.45 Newark

Now, say you don't know how to weight these different factors, and you want to pick the one that comes out on average high on any weighting. Then we can rate the towns on average rank with respect to each other, and we get:

2.3 Lancaster
3.0 Pataskala
3.7 London
4.3 Heath
4.7 Granville
5.7 Washington C.H.
6.7 Marysville
7.3 Newark
8.3 Mount Sterling (would be 3.3, ranked third, without RITA)
8.7 Delaware

Lancaster comes out on top because, despite relatively high crime for this group (but still below the national average), it scored extremely well on affordability and convenience, and average on "nice folks." Pataskala came in second because it's very safe and has very nice folks (by my metric, who knows how folks really are there!), even though it's of average convenience and not so affordable. London is a surprise to me, but it's because it excelled very well on one metric, affordability, and was average on the others. What brought the others down in comparison is that they had some metric that they were below-average on, while (like Lancaster and Pataskala) they didn't excel on two different metrics. Delaware came out on bottom. Lots of people have said Delaware is a nice town, but it excels only on the "nice folks" metric; it's mediocre in convenience and safety, and one of the worst in affordability.

Obviously, you have different priorities and your rankings will be different. If you didn't care about affordability at all, and cared most about safety and "nice folks," then Granville, Pataskala, and Mount Sterling would come out on top.

[cal2oh]

Revised rankings, including Mount Vernon:

If you weight affordability, safety, convenience, and "nice folks" equally, then it comes out like this:

7.40 (out of 10) Lancaster
7.34 Pataskala
7.30 London
7.29 Mount Vernon
7.20 Heath
7.13 Washington C.H.
7.03 Newark
6.99 Granville
6.97 Mount Sterling
6.75 Marysville
6.22 Delaware

Note, Mount Sterling was deducted one full point because they use RITA. Otherwise, they'd be on top with 7.97.

But maybe these aren't all equal in importance.

If you weight them 30% Affordability, 25% Safety, 25% Nice folks, and 20% Convenience, you get this:

7.62 Mount Vernon
7.48 London
7.42 Lancaster
7.37 Washington C.H.
7.27 Heath
7.21 Pataskala
7.14 Newark
6.73 Granville
6.67 Marysville
6.18 Mount Sterling (-1 for RITA)
6.01 Delaware

And if you weight them "for the long term," with "nice folks" being 35%, safety 30%, convenience 25%, and affordability 10%, we get:

7.91 Granville
7.81 Pataskala
7.09 Marysville
7.08 Lancaster
6.82 Heath
6.79 Delaware
6.73 London
6.58 Mount Vernon
6.51 Mount Sterling (-1 for RITA)
6.50 Washington C.H.
6.45 Newark

Now, say you don't know how to weight these different factors, and you want to pick the one that comes out on average high on any weighting. Then we can rate the towns on average rank with respect to each other, and we get:

2.7 Lancaster
3.3 Pataskala
4.0 London
4.3 Mount Vernon
5.0 Heath
5.7 Granville
6.7 Washington C.H.
7.3 Marysville
8.3 Newark
9.3 Mount Sterling
9.3 Delaware

[paintballer1708]

Lancaster City Website:
http://www.ci.lancaster.oh.us/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster%2C_Ohio


Newark, Ohio information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark%2C_Ohio

[cal2oh]

Turns out that the ONLY town on my list that doesn't have an income tax is Pataskala--which is #2 by average rank, and thus would immediately shoot up to the #1 position.

[paintballer1708]

^ So have you made your final choice on that area?

[cal2oh]

Well, we'll see what's actually available in terms of rentals when we arrive. Right now, there isn't a whole lot available there, and there is a wide range of places available in Lancaster.

I'm told by a friend that the west side of Lancaster is known as the rougher side.