[Waleran]

Hello, my family and I are thinking about relocating to the new haven area. We are primarily looking for very friendly communities with good public schools. Housing budget 700k to 1 mil. Orange and North Haven seem nice and I just wanted people's opinion. I looked at some of the water towns (Madison etc) and although beautiful the houses seemed far from stores, restaurants, shopping areas etc. I would greatly welcome any and all advice. Thank you.

[kidyankee764]

What do you expect to get for $1m in these towns? I ask because that's pretty much top tier in both towns. Both are great communities with good schools. North Haven has their own high school, while Orange students travel to Amity High, a shared High school located in neighboring Woodbridge. Orange is a bit more affluent, but both towns have their share of all classes.

Where is work?

[kidyankee764]

Also want to add, you may want to look into Branford, Cheshire and Wallingford.

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by Waleran

Hello, my family and I are thinking about relocating to the new haven area. We are primarily looking for very friendly communities with good public schools. Housing budget 700k to 1 mil. Orange and North Haven seem nice and I just wanted people's opinion. I looked at some of the water towns (Madison etc) and although beautiful the houses seemed far from stores, restaurants, shopping areas etc. I would greatly welcome any and all advice. Thank you.

in terms of test scores, Orange definitely performs much better than North Haven. That said, as kidyankee said, both towns will offer a larger variety of courses and programs.

You might want to look into Woodbridge as well, as Woodbridge and Orange share a middle school and high school.

[Stylo]

Orange has more shopping nearby if that's important. Although North Haven has Wallingford which isn't too far. The sheer amount of shopping and restaurants is greater in the Orange vicinity though, as you have Milford nearby. Plus you have better access to Fairfield County and NYC.

$1M is at the extreme high end for Orange, and beyond the high end for North Haven. As others mentioned, Woodbridge is worth checking out too. It might be a better fit for your budget, although it's further from conveniences.

You didn't mention where work is.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Orange has more shopping nearby if that's important. Although North Haven has Wallingford which isn't too far. The sheer amount of shopping and restaurants is greater in the Orange vicinity though, as you have Milford nearby. Plus you have better access to Fairfield County and NYC.

$1M is at the extreme high end for Orange, and beyond the high end for North Haven. As others mentioned, Woodbridge is worth checking out too. It might be a better fit for your budget, although it's further from conveniences.

You didn't mention where work is.

Don't forget that North Haven has Universal Drive, with everything anyone could want.

[Csiko]

It's really about personal preference. Traffic would be much less of an annoyance in North Haven to deal with on a daily basis, and your price range is the high end for both towns (though NH has some houses in the Ridge Rd/Kings Highway part of town that are in that range and quite nice).

One downside is that North Haven has a quickly aging population, very few younger people are moving in or staying if they grew up there. Taxes are also very high.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Waleran

Hello, my family and I are thinking about relocating to the new haven area. We are primarily looking for very friendly communities with good public schools. Housing budget 700k to 1 mil. Orange and North Haven seem nice and I just wanted people's opinion. I looked at some of the water towns (Madison etc) and although beautiful the houses seemed far from stores, restaurants, shopping areas etc. I would greatly welcome any and all advice. Thank you.

If I had that kind of budget in the New Haven area, I am not sure I would select either of these towns. I would consider Orange but would be more interested in adjacent Woodbridge instead. Instead of North Haven, I would be looking more at Cheshire.

As far as the "water towns" go, most of your daily shopping, restaurant and entertainment needs are there. Really the only thing you are missing is being near a major shopping mall and a lot of big box stores. I am not really sure how important that is to you but if it is, then you may be right to consider other options. Jay

[RunD1987]

Orange, Woodbridge, or Milford

[Mike 75]

The downside to Woodbridge is that you will have to drive a bit to access shopping and restaurants, moreso than in Orange or North Haven. The southern part of town, say south of Center Road., will still put you a reasonable distance from shopping on Rt. 34, Rt. 1 in Orange and Milford, Rt. 63 in Amity/Westville and downtown New Haven.