[Ocala Mom]

Best:
Madison
Guilford
East Haven-less expensive, mostly close Italian neighborhoods
also all next to Long Island Sound.

Worst:
New Haven
New Britian
Hartford
Bridgeport

[puffle]

Not knowing Ct. could you tell me why on this best and worst list, Fairfield County is omitted? Where else could a family live near the coast, commute by train in under an hour to NY, great high school, safe neighborhood with a reasonable amount of retail and restaurants and homes to buy under $600k in Ct. or would Ma. be a better choice?

[njohnson]

Fairfield county is probably omitted because it is a given already that that is where the best places in the state are. If they are omitted then perhaps some hidden gems will be found in the state on people's lists other than the typical responses like Fairfield, Greenwich, yadda yadd. Also the cost of living in these towns prices a LOT of people out of the market. There are a lot of people who lived there before the real estate boom and are now sitting on gold mines.

[Rich Lee]

Originally Posted by njohnson

Fairfield county is probably omitted because it is a given already that that is where the best places in the state are. If they are omitted then perhaps some hidden gems will be found in the state on people's lists other than the typical responses like Fairfield, Greenwich, yadda yadd. Also the cost of living in these towns prices a LOT of people out of the market. There are a lot of people who lived there before the real estate boom and are now sitting on gold mines.

Bridgeport is in Fairfield County...

[skitzoskitz]

The Mystic/Stonington area should be added as one of the best 5. Right near the westerly, ri beaches and it's a great place to live.

[GoldenCrow]

Best:

New Milford: Beautiful downtown, decent restaurants, good schools, nice older homes.

Others on my best list: on the coast --Madison & Guilford, also Kent (rural, beautiful, really quite in the winter).

Worst: Anywhere with horrid traffic (that would be most of Fairfield County).

Good luck!

[fitznog]

Worst
Waterbury
Norwalk I know it is supposed to be excluded but I dislike it that much
New Britain
Meriden
New London

Best
Wallingford
Southington
Cheshire
Cromwell
Durham

[chionactis]

i grew up in western MA and left in 1998 to live in Tucson, AZ. Since then I've lived in Pearland, TX (outside Houston) - Bennington, VT and now Gilbert, AZ. Guess what? We are moving again, to CT - Glastonbury area. The grass is always greener on the other side! Gilbert is one of the fastest growing places on the map - and with all the growth come problems. Traffic, crime, HOT summers that last 6 months (and will only get hotter w/ all the asphalt), Dust storms, lousy monsoons (too hot to rain) year-round allergies....I know that New England is not going to have the greatest weather, but we will be closer to family again (most important) not to mention green trees and grass, lakes and the ocean! you find your niche. no place is truly paradise. i think it becomes that way when you're happy there for whatever the reason. for us it will be having family within an hours drive. out here, we've been alone.

[SailQA17]

I grew up in Mystic CT, and can honestly say it is the best place to live. After graduating moving away from home, I travled all over the world and moved to South Africa near Cape Town, that is where my fiancee is from. Travleing was great, and I learned more and more how much I loved CT, and how much I loved the history steeped into it. I had three generations that worked at the Mystic Seaport, my Grandmother, Mother, Uncles, Father, and myself, teaching sailing. Most of my family is in SE CT, now we are moving back to CT, Colchester, to buy a house with 10 acres of land, for a resonable price mind you.
I always said when I was a child that when I grow up, I would move back to SE Ct, because I could never picture or imagine living anywhere else in the world. And as a sailing enthusiast, there is not better place to be!

Best:
-Stonington (includes Mystic)
-Old Saybrook
-Ivoryton
-Chester
-Essex

Worst:
-Hartford
-Willimantic
-New Haven
-Norwich
-Greenwhich (way too expensive, property taxes alone cost more than a year's mortgage!)

The designer Kate Spade even made a handbag and named it after Mystic CT, I have that handbag now.

[asbestos]

worst in order:
-Hartford
-Waterbury
-New Haven
-Bridgeport
-New Britain