[vicky8]

My friend and I may be moving to Wilton. We have been a bit confused about the community. Everything you read and hear says that it is a very expensive place to live. However, there are many more modest homes that are middle to lower price range when you consider Wilton against other New York metropolitan area suburbs. Is it all just hype? Does Wilton also have a down to earth feel? Also, do you have to have children to enjoy living there fully? Thank you.

[Whalehead]

Wilton is a nice town, mostly upper middle class. This past basketball season I was an ass't coach there and found the parents to be very nice.
The high school is run well, and the kids are focused on college entrance.
Northern Wilton (near Ridgefield, where I live) is more expensive than the southern part, closer to Norwalk. There are many different styles of homes and costs, depending mainly on lacation and age. It doesn't have a "true" town center like Ridgefield and Bethel which are nearby, but has all the amenities. Rte. 7 which runs through part of the town contribute to an early morning/late afternoon traffic problem.
Any other questions, you can reply to me privately.

[vicky8]

Thank you for the response.
I am also curious about the age range of people and is there a large NYC contingency residing in Wilton?

[Polly Esther]

Hi. I lived in Wilton for 12 years now(grew up in Ridgefield) and have to somewhat disagree with the other post. North Wilton is considered less desirable and housing values are somewhat less than South Wilton. Anything North of the High School is liable to take longer to sell and comands less money (but only slightly). Wilton is a strange town with no real center.
You will find mostly families with kids, most adults are in their 40's. Many are displaced New Yorker's - not as New Englandy as it used to be 20 yrs ago. I would have to say that the taxes are very high relative to the public amenities offered (no town center, golf, swimming, ice rink, beach, skate park for the kids, and library is not as good as surrounding towns). Traffic is mismanaged and congested on main routes. Be careful if you live on a secondary road as the traffic situation creates a fair bit of "cut through" traffic. Most of the tax money goes to the schools - Mill rate is due to go up to $24.32 next year and average single family house price is $1.1 million (making average property tax bill over $17,000/yr - ouch!). Overall it's a safe community where your housing dollar is well preserved, but doesn't go very far. And yes, you have to have kids to be connected. We didn't socalize in town or really get to know anyone before we had kids. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[kristiv]

If you are looking at Wilton you might also want to consider Ridgefield or Redding where prices are a bit lower. Ridgefield has Main Street with shops, restaurants and the like while Redding is more rural in feel. The Georgetown wire mill development project in Redding, not far from the Wilton line, is creating a lot of excitement for the town - condos, retail, performing arts and more all coming to a contained community. If you want more information, let me know.