[curiousLEE]

I have a job opportunity in New Haven, I have lived in the midwest my entire life and I am dunb to the area and really need HELP! Does anyone have any suggestions on great places to live inthat area or close by? I am ok with a commute 30-45 minutes. We are a family of 3. 1 child. She is in high school so schools are very important as well as safety? Any ides of areas to research and or high schools! THANKS.

[Silli]

You really can't go wrong in the New Haven area. We would need more specifics as to your budget and expectations to give you recommendations.

[andthentherewere3]

Since you have children, I'd avoid New Haven itself itself as it's a city and the schools are under-performing, and there are more than a few unsafe neighborhoods. Some of the surrounding suburbs would be a better fit for you. What is your budget?

[curiousLEE]

Well right now are just looking to rent, perhaps in the 1200 a month range. We have a house in MO and FL that we are in the process of selling. With the market as it is it may be awhile I recently lost my job 01/09 and this is the reason we are considering the move. The potential job is in New Haven. It would be a big move for us and a huge change. We have never been to CT and are truley clueless in what to expect. It is nice that there are forums such as this to exchange information. Thanks! P.S. MY husband and I are 37 YOA and my daughter is 15 if that helps! Thanks again.
**We are looking for a nice neighborhood with good schools, fun stuff to do for adults as well as families....am I asking to much Looking forward to your input.

[JayCT]

$1200 will get you a modest rental in the New Haven suburbs. Check craigslist.com for listings. I would suggest looking at towns like Wallingford, North Haven or Branford for the better schools at reasonable prices. Jay

[curiousLEE]

Also.....What areas near New Haven but not in New Haven have a good reputation for their public high schools? Thanks!

[JayCT]

The best would be Woodbridge/Orange which is a regional school. Also Madison and Guilford. These are upscale suburbs so home prices will be higher. Branford is also very good as is North Haven. Jay

[curiousLEE]

Thanks JayCT, that gives me a good place to start researching. I will know more next week as far as the job. I am both excited and scared. Such a big change so much to think about! All the information you guy's have provided has been ever so valuable

[nico7]

CuriousLEE,
You can search the Connecticut forum for previous discussions about the towns you're interested in. There is a wealth of knowledge already available for many of the questions you may have.

[NewHaventranist]

CuriousLEE...Wow your in for a change. I have lived and grew up in Hamden the massive town north of New Haven. New Haven has its charms, and old time ways, but it is a growing city. I agree full heartily with the other posters, You need to look at the sub-burbs. There are not many good neighbor hoods in New Haven proper, most are run-down low income housing, which unfortunantly reflects bad on the nicer downtown district around YALE.
Downtown, New haven is nice. I wouldn't really go beyond the yale part(church,chapel,temple,howe,etc) with your family(specially at night), like i said it gets very dangerous. As far as things to do, there are bars, nightclubs, great places to eat( some hidden gems) some really good museums, and some shopping. Yale it self is nice to walk around during the warm summer days/nights.

In the sorrounding towns, you will find malls and plazas with shopping, that I'am sure your daughter will love! Some in immediate area are The Hamden Plaza, Ct Post Mall, North Haven crossings/universal drive, wallingford rt 5, north haven washington Ave, Meridan Mall..Some that require more driving, Clinton crossings(outdoor tanger outlet) Westbrook outlets, south norwalk, and tons of other malls

For sports we only have local universitys that play in new Haven, They are Yale Ivy Leauge(New Haven), Univeristy of New Haven D2 (new Haven), Southern Ct State U(New haven) and Qunnipiac univeristy(hamden). The state dose have the best univeristy sports team though UCONN, little bit of a drive but worth catching a football, or basketball game Division 1 sports at its best. Also we do have semi-pro sports in the area baseball in the closet Bridgeport bluefish (located harbor yard ballpark Bridgeport), and semi-pro hockey Bridgeport soundtigers( located adjacent to harbor yard ballpark in the arena at harbor yard.)

New Haven has been trying forever to get its once great city back, back in the 50's they tried to "remodel new haven" and again in the 70's and 80's. they added the I95-91 interchange and cut off neighborhoods, they added alot more low income housing, and tore down old buildings that one today would have considered historic and a great city building. The city is still a nice looking city(better than Hartford in my opinion) and a fun and growing city to live in.

As far as venues for bigger entertainment, they took down the once famous icon(to some eyesore) the New haven the coliseum, It was home to hockey teams that left, Big name concerts, and show. So if you want to take your family to a show of this size, you have to travel to Bridgeport (25 minutes reg, up to an hour or more during traffic, and a 6 buck round trip 15 min train ride on metro north) or Hartford( 40 min reg, more than an hour in traffic, and amtrak goes to hartford, but is unreliable/service stops way before the show will end/far from civic center) there are other venues that will require you to travel for a show. New Haven maybe the only city of this size without a arena.

As far as other logistics, for transportation, you have Union Station which houses, a very Grand Central station looking train station. Amtrak regional (Boston to Newport News), Amtrak springfeild shuttel(NHV-Springfeild), Metro north(NHV-NYC, where you can connect to a ton of places), Shoreline east(NHV-old saybrook-new london) and bus service Greyhound and peterpan, and some casino busses.
Public transportation includes metro taxi, and CT transit city buses. Tweed New Haven Airport, is more of a glorified barnstorming airport, with Us-air connections to Philly(maby4 aday 2 outgoing 2 ingoing).

If I were you, i would deffinatly research the area, But I think you would be more sutible in Hamden, North haven, Amity, Milford, Orange, North Haven, East haven, North Branford, and Branford. I wouldnt go past these because we dont have mass transit system, like most cities. Unfortuanlty the buses are not always safe cause of where they run, and taxis get expensive, so your car is your best friend.

As far as High schools,

Iam sure there are a ton of questions you may have so please post them and i can help you the best I can growing up in the area.