Stamford for a young single guy

[nico7]

The New Haven singles scene is concentrated in the 20-30 age range, mostly students at Yale, Quinnipiac, U. of New Haven, Southern CT State, & Albertus Magnus. Yale has 5,000+ students in its graduate, law, med, business, architecture, art, drama, music, divinity, public health, nursing, forestry, etc. schools. That's a 22-30 crowd you might really enjoy. And I can vouch for the downtown scene, having graduated in '03, and living just outside New Haven now. You won't be bored... there is huge variety. The restaurants are a good value, too.

I don't know Stamford well. It looks nice, it's definitely more expensive than New Haven, and the only young people I know who live there are lawyers and other professionals (my imagination runs wild with conversations centering around how much you make and how many hours you work). The singles crowd in Stamford is probably in the 25-35 age range, but I am just guessing at that.

[fedorovmatt55]

If I have a job in Stamford and decided to live in New Haven how is the commute? Is this driveable? Traffic? Train?

Thanks,
Matthew

[JayCT]

Driving from New Haven to Stamford is not recommended. Traffic on I-95 or the parkways during rush hour are really difficult. It is about 40 miles and takes 45 minutes wihtout traffic. With traffic it would take well over an hour, maybe even two.

There is regular commuter train service on Metro-North between New Haven and Stamford. This takes less than an hour. Not sure where in Stamford you would be working but there is plenty of buses or shuttles to/from the station. Jay

[nico7]

In my opinion, you really don't want to drive anywhere on the highway, near or far, during morning/evening rush hours in Stamford. The whole world is driving into and out of New York on that stretch of I-95. The train is far better, and there are shuttles that go all over Stamford if you're not close to the station. You should ask your employer if there are people taking the train. There are taxis if you're coming/going at an off-peak time.

The train is great because you can read, sleep, do work, etc., so it's not lost time. There are 17 trains from New Haven to Stamford on a weekday morning (Metro-North Railroad New Haven line). Travel time ranges from 45-61 minutes:

NEW HAVEN STAMFORD Time (Min)s Transfer(s) Peak Fares Apply?
4:42AM 5:41AM 59 THROUGH TRAIN N
5:12AM 6:05AM 53 THROUGH TRAIN N
5:40AM 6:31AM 51 THROUGH TRAIN N
5:58AM 6:54AM 56 THROUGH TRAIN N
6:17AM 7:02AM 45 THROUGH TRAIN N
6:23AM 7:14AM 51 THROUGH TRAIN N
6:40AM 7:30AM 50 THROUGH TRAIN N
6:47AM 7:48AM 61 THROUGH TRAIN N
7:06AM 7:53AM 47 THROUGH TRAIN N
7:22AM 8:18AM 56 THROUGH TRAIN N
7:29AM 8:16AM 47 THROUGH TRAIN N
7:44AM 8:31AM 47 THROUGH TRAIN N
7:51AM 8:39AM 48 THROUGH TRAIN N
7:59AM 8:50AM 51 THROUGH TRAIN N
8:14AM 9:10AM 56 THROUGH TRAIN N
8:50AM 9:39AM 49 THROUGH TRAIN N
9:29AM 10:24AM 55 THROUGH TRAIN N

[nico7]

And FYI, it is definitely possible to drive between New Haven and Stamford outside of rush hour periods. I've actually driven from Guilford (east of New Haven) to Stamford in 45 minutes, at about 11am. I may have stretched the speed limit a little, but there was very little traffic.

[hoppybunn]

I agree, Stamford is a great place to live, it is full of young professionals and it has a pretty good night life. During the summer there is an ongoing event with music and bars and a ton of younger people that go out to enjoy themselves in Downtown Stamford.