Best Schools/Towns within 45 minutes of Dayton (Cincinnati, Beavercreek: low crime, big house)

[BF66389]

What towns are generally regarded as having the best schools/lowest crime, etc- within about 45 minutes of Dayton? Thank you much in advance, just starting to do some searching!

[kjbrill]

Not sure where the 45 minutes comes from. Beavercreek, Centerville, Springboro are all less than 45 minutes and all have great schools and safe neighborhoods. But if you want to stretch it to 45 minutes then you bring into play the morthern suburbs of Cincinnati such as West Chester, Liberty Township, and Mason.

[wrightflyer]

Are we looking at working in downtown Dayton? Or is it the north or south suburbs? It is probably 45 minutes from West Chester and Mason to Springboro, Dayton Mall area, and Centerville. It would not be 45 minutes anywhere north of downtown. The airforce base would be stretching the 45 minute limit from the northern Cincy suburbs.

On top of work place, more information, like type of community or suburb you are interested in (exurb, McMansion suburban, or inner-ring suburb, etc) would help. A price range would help too.

There are plenty of closer suburbs, as kjbrill mentioned, such as Beavercreek, Centerville, and Springboro, that have excellent schools and easier commutes. If you wanted schools on par with Mason (I think they are currently ranked 6th in the state), try Oakwood (8th). Springboro is a top 50 school and Beavercreek and Centerville are top 75. There are 688 districts in Ohio.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by wrightflyer

Are we looking at working in downtown Dayton? Or is it the north or south suburbs? It is probably 45 minutes from West Chester and Mason to Springboro, Dayton Mall area, and Centerville. It would not be 45 minutes anywhere north of downtown. The airforce base would be stretching the 45 minute limit from the northern Cincy suburbs.

On top of work place, more information, like type of community or suburb you are interested in (exurb, McMansion suburban, or inner-ring suburb, etc) would help. A price range would help too.

There are plenty of closer suburbs, as kjbrill mentioned, such as Beavercreek, Centerville, and Springboro, that have excellent schools and easier commutes. If you wanted schools on par with Mason (I think they are currently ranked 6th in the state), try Oakwood (8th). Springboro is a top 50 school and Beavercreek and Centerville are top 75. There are 688 districts in Ohio.

Yes, sometimes you wonder what the question is. Several Dayton suburbs have absolutely great schools. I live in Mason and there is no way I would want a daily commute to Dayton. You might do it in 45 minutes on the average, but the question is Why?

[ram2]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

Yes, sometimes you wonder what the question is. Several Dayton suburbs have absolutely great schools. I live in Mason and there is no way I would want a daily commute to Dayton. You might do it in 45 minutes on the average, but the question is Why?

I used to know someone who commuted from Anderson Township to Delphi in the southern part of Dayton.

I knew someone else who spent 9 years commuting from West Chester to Troy, Ohio.

[wrightflyer]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

Yes, sometimes you wonder what the question is. Several Dayton suburbs have absolutely great schools. I live in Mason and there is no way I would want a daily commute to Dayton. You might do it in 45 minutes on the average, but the question is Why?

It makes most sense when you have a husband or wife who is working in one city while you work in the other. Perhaps people just want to be close to more amenities? Still, most things in Cincy's suburbs can be found up in Dayton.

Personally, I know of a few people who commute from Mason and Lebanon to UD. Do they like it? Not really. Is it doable? Most of the time. I still think there are more people who commute to the Cincinnati area from Dayton than the other way around.

I do really think it depends on where to OP will be working in Dayton. Getting through downtown on the only major thoroughfare, I-75, is a pain at rush hour and a nightmare if there is an accident. Especially going into downtown Dayton, the commute can be awful. I cannot wait until it starts snowing. My advice, just be prepared to sit in traffic at times, especially on I-75 with its revolving door of construction.

[wrightflyer]

Opps, I just noticed in my first post (#3), I stated there are 688 school districts in the state. That number should be 611.

[CFoulke]

You should check out Valley View School District located in Germantown, Montgomery County Ohio. THey have an excellent school system and a very quaint little town (I loved living there - felt safe and it was very affordable). Germantown is just south of Dayton and when I moved from there about five years ago, it is a growing community.

[BF66389]

Sorry for the delayed response to people's questions. This would be for a position in northeastern Dayton near the AF base. Here are our top concerns:

1) Safe/low crime
2) Good schools (usually indicative of a nicer area)
3) Property (we have 5 acres now...I'd like the same or more)
4) Don't need a big house...just a nice house- if that makes sense
5) Under $350 would be nice, under $300 would be amazing.

[wrightflyer]

Originally Posted by BF66389

Sorry for the delayed response to people's questions. This would be for a position in northeastern Dayton near the AF base. Here are our top concerns:

1) Safe/low crime
2) Good schools (usually indicative of a nicer area)
3) Property (we have 5 acres now...I'd like the same or more)
4) Don't need a big house...just a nice house- if that makes sense
5) Under $350 would be nice, under $300 would be amazing.

As far as 45 minute commutes go with areas that fit you criteria, I would focus on the northern end of Dayton, especially areas in Miami County. Some places that come to my mind would be Bethel Township (the Miami County one, not the Clark County equivalent), Tipp City and Monroe Township, and areas around Troy and to its east (Elizabeth Twp, Lostcreek Twp, Casstown).

These are exurban to rural stretches. It can be somewhat flat, but it is rather scenic and pretty in and around Elizabeth Township. It depends on your taste of topography.

The schools districts in these areas are Bethel Local, Tipp City Exempted Village, Troy, and Miami East. Tipp City would probably be the best, though it is somewhat suburban/exurban so finding 5+acres could become hard/expensive.

The other three are good too, probably ranking from Miami East, Troy, and then Bethel. The spacing between rankings is pretty small, thus they are essentially equal.

Finding land should not be a problem, though there are not as many houses (again, its mostly rural) to look at compared to the surrounding suburbs.

Finally, areas that are also near Wright-Patt (east and south vs. north) that I would also look include Yellow Springs/Miami Township, Ceaderville/Ceadarville Township, Bellbrook/Sugarcreek Township and parts of Beavercreek Township.

All are small school districts and pretty decent, minus Beavercreek which is good but large. Again, Beavercreek is the largest populated of all the districts mentioned, and is having financial growing pains. Bellbrook and Beavercreek would be most expensive. Yellow Springs may also be rather expensive for land. Ceaderville would probably be cheapest of these Greene County areas. As a note, northern areas of the Miami Valley tend to be cheaper than southern and eastern areas.

Hope that helps. I am sure there are other areas (I didn't really cover areas to the west of Dayton like Brookville). Perhaps someone else can chime in for that.