[lynod12]

Hey ya'll,

I got a job in Norwalk. I'm a 26 yr old gay man.
I'm not able to make a decision between Stamford or White Plains.
I want to be able to be able to reach NYC by atmost 45 mins.
I will be going after work to attend meetups and hang out at gay bars over weekends.
I don't mind driving upto 40 min to Norwalk.

Both Stamford and White Plains seem like great choices.
Tax wise, they are same because I will be paying tax to CT anyways.
But, distance wise, White Plains and Stamford differ by only 15 minutes in train, which is not much.
Also, Stamford has better apartments at reasonable prices.

Please suggest me a good place close enough to NYC by train.
By train, what is the distance & frequency between NYC and White Plains & NYC and Stamford?
Thanks

[Stylo]

You save about 12-15 minutes on train from White Plains vs. Stamford.

Not really worth it to have that much longer of a commute.

Definitely go Stamford.

[BPt111]

Stamford is bigger verison of White Plains and New Rochelle but I would go with Stamford

[FValleyer]

Ditto. Stamford has a booming downtown and is rapidly lapping the other 100k+ pop. cities in the state in terms of population, urban development, popularity with younger adults, etc. If you're looking to buy, it'd be a sound investment with the property appreciation to be seen there. Can't comment on gay-specific stuff, but it seems like a tolerant city and is decently diverse. Overall, Stamford is also more aesthetically appealing than WP, being right on the coast and having "cleaner" looking buildings downtown. WP has a somewhat "hood" reputation that Stamford does not (even though it still has its own less than perfect areas itself). Stamford is also the safest large "city" in CT. Don't know too much about New Rochelle or lower Westchester in general so can't comment there either. Good luck in your search.

[mlassoff]

I would agree-- Stamford is a better choice. While no gay mecca you will likely find it very tolerant. If you are looking for "scene" you might have to go in to NYC on weekends as the CT gay scene is a subdued.

For every-day evening activities, Stamford offers an array of restaurants, bars and shopping that will keep you busy on weeknights you don't want to sit at home.

[NewJeffCT]

It also depends on if you're renting or buying and the associated property taxes. I'm guessing that for the same price, Westchester might have higher property taxes, though it can vary in both states on a town-by-town and city-by-city basis.

I'd agree that Stamford is probably better as a place to live. The Stamford train station is a "hub" as well, though WP has very frequent service as well.

[7 Wishes]

While I know you're focused on the NYC scene, the train time isn't that different between the two and Stamford has a better "singles" scene, be it gay or straight, though as others said still nothing like NYC. When I was single (straight) and in my 20s, even though I lived around New Rochelle I was in Stamford more than I was in White Plains (though in the 80s New Rochelle had a pretty decent 'scene' itself with a couple of clubs, not so much anymore)). My job in Danbury now involves supervising several college-age volunteers and they talk a lot about hanging out in Stamford (one of them even moved there for this reason even though she goes to Westconn, as did another who goes to Sacred Heart), rarely White Plains (and one of them is a native whose parents live in WP....of course they talk about NYC too!)

Also if you buy instead of rent (even a condo), your property taxes will be lower in Stamford.

I'm very familiar with both cities in a lot of ways, so I pretty much concur with what everyone else says here and would go with Stamford, especially since your job is in Norwalk (BTW, SoNo in Norwalk has a pretty good 'scene' too, not saying to live there since you would have a longer train ride to NYC, but don't discount hanging out there either).

Good luck and welcome dude!

[jax12479]

Stamford and White Plains are very similar. They're both small cities less than an hour from NYC. White Plains is 15 min closer to the city; but Stamford is much closer to Norwalk, during rush hour that makes a big differnece. They both have lots of nice, high end apartment buildings and walkable downtowns with many bars and restaurants. They both have lots of movie theatres and if you care about shopping, Stamford has the Town Center, a big mall with lots of chain restaurants and stores; White Plains has two - the Galleria (ghetto) and The Westchester (luxury shopping).

The only major differences are:
-- everything shuts down in Stamford by 2am; White Plains doesn't shut down until 4am
-- Stamford is on the water, White Plains is landlocked

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by FValleyer

Ditto. Stamford has a booming downtown and is rapidly lapping the other 100k+ pop. cities in the state in terms of population, urban development, popularity with younger adults, etc.

It's not lapping New Haven, which is slated to have similar levels of development. Not arguing Stamford isn't growing rapidly and the most prosperous city in the state, but New Haven has been the fastest growing population wise.

[Wilton2ParkAve]

Originally Posted by Stylo

It's not lapping New Haven, which is slated to have similar levels of development. Not arguing Stamford isn't growing rapidly and the most prosperous city in the state, but New Haven has been the fastest growing population wise.

Per this site (and multiple other sources) Stamford grew 6.9% from 2000-2012 while New Haven's population expanded 5.8%. Stamford is the fastest growing city in the state full stop.