Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I recently posted asking for some advice on walkable areas to consider in our potential move to Columbus. We got some responses saying worthington and Westerville were good areas. Can anyone familiar with both areas give me any more info on one or both? Similarities/differences etc. We have elementary aged kids, and we would like a walkable community with a lot of child friendly events, good schools, and close proximity to dining/shopping. What is the housing stock like? Where we are now we have the walkability and schools, but the homes are built in the 20s. We are looking for something a little newer. We are also open to other areas anyone thinks would be a good fit as well.
Most walkable areas in Columbus, even Westerville's Uptown District near Otterbein University or Old Worthington's Historic District, are going to be older homes from the early to at latest, middle 20th century. You may be able to find a renovation job or tear down but keep in mind that is only going to add to the price of the home in two hot parts of the market. I'll have to see if your other post had a budget.
It looks like Uptown Westerville is served by Whittier Elementary, which appears to be reasonable walking distance on side street sidewalks from Uptown's center. There are two other elementary schools listed that someone more familiar with Westerville Schools can chime in on. Hanby Building Elementary and Emerson Elementary are both near Uptown but don't have zones, so they may be magnet or special needs schools?
Of Old Worthington, the elementary school that is likely most walkable and has the best great schools scores that reflect decent testing performance, is Evening Street Elementary. But it only serves areas west of North High Street (US Route 23). On the east side, schools are either Colonial Hills or Wilson Hill elementary schools. Both are good, but they are further out from the historic district. The flip side to Worhtington's Old Worthington neighborhood is the middle and high school are easily walkable and convenient to the center of town. Kilbourne Middle is right in the center of town and Thomas Worthington High School is next door to Evening Street Elementary.
This area is where Worthington is slightly different from Westerville. Middle and High Schools in Westerville are still close but may be a little further out than you want. That is a personal decision on your part. Also, Westerville South High School scores are slightly lower than Thomas Worthington High School. In additon, Worthington is more accessible to the major COTA artery that runs the bus line up and down High Street, past Clintonville, OSU, Short North and into downtown. Overall, expect to pay a little more for Worthington than Westerville.
Now for a side note on schools and rating perceptions.
Personally, I don't place as much stock any longer in Great Schools because they factor year over year "improvement" of lower income (usually determined through free/reduced lunch program participants) and race/ethnic demographic performance. While enhancing performance in those demos are great and certainly something worth achieving, it tends to drag districts that have a more diverse student body (racially, ethnically, economically - or all three) down as the measures of increasing performance are pretty narrowly defined by the state. And that is beyond just the typical social structure where minorities tend to have less access to educational resources due to many factors. But I digress.
The point of that side rant is schools can be seen as "high achieving" or just OK, but in the end if you drive your children to achieve academically and through extra curricular activities (sports, band, speech/debate, academic clubs, arts, theater), they can excel at either district's schools despite the different in Great School score. Sometimes those high performing districts are very rich and/or white, which benefits them in the rankings.
So, to keep a long post from gaining length, I'll end it with this last piece of location hunting advice. Even if you are dead set against an early to mid 20th century home, it might still be worth considering for the reason of walkability and good schools, the city of Bexley. It probably resembles more of what you are used too. Also, it has a small Giant Eagle Express downtown, so some essentials may be easier to walk too. If you go with either Worthington or Westerville, you will still absolutely need at least one car.
Both Worthington and Westerville have what I like to call "Disney Style" walkability, meaning you can drive your car to the walkable area and as long as you spend your time in the 4 to 5 block walkable area, you can pretend you are in a walkable town, just like being in Disney World. Otherwise, if you really NEED to walk somewhere, you are often walking on gravel berms with cars speeding by you and people looking at you like you have two heads or are crazy for walking on a street like the one you are walking on.
Both Worthington and Westerville have what I like to call "Disney Style" walkability, meaning you can drive your car to the walkable area and as long as you spend your time in the 4 to 5 block walkable area, you can pretend you are in a walkable town, just like being in Disney World. Otherwise, if you really NEED to walk somewhere, you are often walking on gravel berms with cars speeding by you and people looking at you like you have two heads or are crazy for walking on a street like the one you are walking on.
Where in Westerville or Worthington are you "walking on gravel berms with cars speeding by you and people looking at you like you have two heads or are crazy for walking on a street like the one you are walking on?"
Most walkable areas in Columbus, even Westerville's Uptown District near Otterbein University or Old Worthington's Historic District, are going to be older homes from the early to at latest, middle 20th century. You may be able to find a renovation job or tear down but keep in mind that is only going to add to the price of the home in two hot parts of the market. I'll have to see if your other post had a budget.
It looks like Uptown Westerville is served by Whittier Elementary, which appears to be reasonable walking distance on side street sidewalks from Uptown's center. There are two other elementary schools listed that someone more familiar with Westerville Schools can chime in on. Hanby Building Elementary and Emerson Elementary are both near Uptown but don't have zones, so they may be magnet or special needs schools?
Of Old Worthington, the elementary school that is likely most walkable and has the best great schools scores that reflect decent testing performance, is Evening Street Elementary. But it only serves areas west of North High Street (US Route 23). On the east side, schools are either Colonial Hills or Wilson Hill elementary schools. Both are good, but they are further out from the historic district. The flip side to Worhtington's Old Worthington neighborhood is the middle and high school are easily walkable and convenient to the center of town. Kilbourne Middle is right in the center of town and Thomas Worthington High School is next door to Evening Street Elementary.
This area is where Worthington is slightly different from Westerville. Middle and High Schools in Westerville are still close but may be a little further out than you want. That is a personal decision on your part. Also, Westerville South High School scores are slightly lower than Thomas Worthington High School. In additon, Worthington is more accessible to the major COTA artery that runs the bus line up and down High Street, past Clintonville, OSU, Short North and into downtown. Overall, expect to pay a little more for Worthington than Westerville.
Now for a side note on schools and rating perceptions.
Personally, I don't place as much stock any longer in Great Schools because they factor year over year "improvement" of lower income (usually determined through free/reduced lunch program participants) and race/ethnic demographic performance. While enhancing performance in those demos are great and certainly something worth achieving, it tends to drag districts that have a more diverse student body (racially, ethnically, economically - or all three) down as the measures of increasing performance are pretty narrowly defined by the state. And that is beyond just the typical social structure where minorities tend to have less access to educational resources due to many factors. But I digress.
The point of that side rant is schools can be seen as "high achieving" or just OK, but in the end if you drive your children to achieve academically and through extra curricular activities (sports, band, speech/debate, academic clubs, arts, theater), they can excel at either district's schools despite the different in Great School score. Sometimes those high performing districts are very rich and/or white, which benefits them in the rankings.
So, to keep a long post from gaining length, I'll end it with this last piece of location hunting advice. Even if you are dead set against an early to mid 20th century home, it might still be worth considering for the reason of walkability and good schools, the city of Bexley. It probably resembles more of what you are used too. Also, it has a small Giant Eagle Express downtown, so some essentials may be easier to walk too. If you go with either Worthington or Westerville, you will still absolutely need at least one car.
Those two elementary schools used to be magnet schools, but I could have sworn Westerville cancelled that program. There's also Longfellow in the Uptown area. That's been closed, but I think is on the slate to reopen. Really, all of Westerville is well served by walkable schools. That's something they strive for. They're on the ballot this November so they can build a new elementary and middle school for the kids in the Minerva Park area to be able to walk to. I think that is fantastic, and not normal among outer suburbs.
You're spot on about school ratings. The Westerville schools might be rated lower, but they have all the same opportunities for kids as the higher rated schools. They're just more ethnically and economically diverse than the Dublins and Worthingtons. This tends to lead to lower scores.
OP, you'll get more for your money in Westerville. It's also more convenient to Easton, the airport, and Polaris, but less convenient to downtown Columbus. Westerville is also almost 4x more populated than Worthington and therefore has way more services, activities, parks, etc.
Most walkable areas in Columbus, even Westerville's Uptown District near Otterbein University or Old Worthington's Historic District, are going to be older homes from the early to at latest, middle 20th century. You may be able to find a renovation job or tear down but keep in mind that is only going to add to the price of the home in two hot parts of the market. I'll have to see if your other post had a budget.
It looks like Uptown Westerville is served by Whittier Elementary, which appears to be reasonable walking distance on side street sidewalks from Uptown's center. There are two other elementary schools listed that someone more familiar with Westerville Schools can chime in on. Hanby Building Elementary and Emerson Elementary are both near Uptown but don't have zones, so they may be magnet or special needs schools?
Of Old Worthington, the elementary school that is likely most walkable and has the best great schools scores that reflect decent testing performance, is Evening Street Elementary. But it only serves areas west of North High Street (US Route 23). On the east side, schools are either Colonial Hills or Wilson Hill elementary schools. Both are good, but they are further out from the historic district. The flip side to Worhtington's Old Worthington neighborhood is the middle and high school are easily walkable and convenient to the center of town. Kilbourne Middle is right in the center of town and Thomas Worthington High School is next door to Evening Street Elementary.
This area is where Worthington is slightly different from Westerville. Middle and High Schools in Westerville are still close but may be a little further out than you want. That is a personal decision on your part. Also, Westerville South High School scores are slightly lower than Thomas Worthington High School. In additon, Worthington is more accessible to the major COTA artery that runs the bus line up and down High Street, past Clintonville, OSU, Short North and into downtown. Overall, expect to pay a little more for Worthington than Westerville.
Now for a side note on schools and rating perceptions.
Personally, I don't place as much stock any longer in Great Schools because they factor year over year "improvement" of lower income (usually determined through free/reduced lunch program participants) and race/ethnic demographic performance. While enhancing performance in those demos are great and certainly something worth achieving, it tends to drag districts that have a more diverse student body (racially, ethnically, economically - or all three) down as the measures of increasing performance are pretty narrowly defined by the state. And that is beyond just the typical social structure where minorities tend to have less access to educational resources due to many factors. But I digress.
The point of that side rant is schools can be seen as "high achieving" or just OK, but in the end if you drive your children to achieve academically and through extra curricular activities (sports, band, speech/debate, academic clubs, arts, theater), they can excel at either district's schools despite the different in Great School score. Sometimes those high performing districts are very rich and/or white, which benefits them in the rankings.
So, to keep a long post from gaining length, I'll end it with this last piece of location hunting advice. Even if you are dead set against an early to mid 20th century home, it might still be worth considering for the reason of walkability and good schools, the city of Bexley. It probably resembles more of what you are used too. Also, it has a small Giant Eagle Express downtown, so some essentials may be easier to walk too. If you go with either Worthington or Westerville, you will still absolutely need at least one car.
If one is of Jewish decent and doesn't mind being boarded by bad neighborhoods on all 4 sides, then Bexley may not be a bad option. It's a very nice city, it's just that new comers have to be aware of a few things.
Just MHO, but I would look at just about any other suburb except Westerville. We moved there from another part of the state and have thankfully moved on from that town, but it was the worst place we've ever lived. Arrogant, rude people. Terrible distracted drivers. Highly overrated schools. The place looks great on the outside, but was awful to live in. My advice would be to stay away from that town.
Just MHO, but I would look at just about any other suburb except Westerville. We moved there from another part of the state and have thankfully moved on from that town, but it was the worst place we've ever lived. Arrogant, rude people. Terrible distracted drivers. Highly overrated schools. The place looks great on the outside, but was awful to live in. My advice would be to stay away from that town.
We lived in Westerville for several years and loved it Many of our friends are still there. Sorry you had a bad experience, but if we ever moved back to Ohio, we'd go back to Westerville.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
