Weighing Job Options (Wilmington, Newark, Milford: home, private school tuition, quality of life)

[RitterFam]

My husband is currently fielding job offers from a few companies, some in/around Philadelphia and some in Wilmington. I'm originally from a small town in CT and he's from Delaware County PA. I'm wondering if there are any good towns around the Wilmington area with the following:
Low Taxes
Good Schools
Updated Parks
Good Walkability with Coffee shops

We have a 10 yr old son, a 15month old daughter, and expecting another in 2019.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Icarus7]

Originally Posted by RitterFam

My husband is currently fielding job offers from a few companies, some in/around Philadelphia and some in Wilmington. I'm originally from a small town in CT and he's from Delaware County PA. I'm wondering if there are any good towns around the Wilmington area with the following:
Low Taxes
Good Schools
Updated Parks
Good Walkability with Coffee shops

We have a 10 yr old son, a 15month old daughter, and expecting another in 2019.

Any help would be appreciated.

So, I'm new to this area, but no responses yet so I'll put mine in.

Basically, Delaware has generally very low taxes, but what I would consider to be pretty dismal walkability (I'm not sure the low level of taxation is long term sustainable, which I mention not as a political stance on any side but as a mention that I don't know if things would change long term on that.) Since some of the wealthiest and highest educated districts in the country are right across the PA border or otherwise west of Philly, and because the upper grades in Delaware are a much more diverse array of folks (lots of private school use), the traditional idea is that Delaware schools aren't as highly performing, except for in selected highly competitive magnets/charters.

PA has some areas that meet three of your four criteria, but tend to have higher taxes. So I see a choice to be made there.

[Mimidae]

Ah, the "good walkability with coffee shops" factor. That's one thing that we don't have much of in Delaware. Sure, isolated spots may have this (downtown Lewes, Rehoboth, Milton in the south, Trolley Square or Newark in the north). But in general, we're a state of mostly sprawling suburbs and not quaint towns like in PA.

But North Wilmington has the first 3.

[Pine to Vine]

Originally Posted by Icarus7

So, I'm new to this area, but no responses yet so I'll put mine in.

Basically, Delaware has generally very low taxes, but what I would consider to be pretty dismal walkability (I'm not sure the low level of taxation is long term sustainable, which I mention not as a political stance on any side but as a mention that I don't know if things would change long term on that.) Since some of the wealthiest and highest educated districts in the country are right across the PA border or otherwise west of Philly, and because the upper grades in Delaware are a much more diverse array of folks (lots of private school use), the traditional idea is that Delaware schools aren't as highly performing, except for in selected highly competitive magnets/charters.

PA has some areas that meet three of your four criteria, but tend to have higher taxes. So I see a choice to be made there.

Delaware is basically a strip center experience. When it comes to taxes, I generally conclude that you get what you pay for, so the OP will need to find their own balance of taxes v quality of life. PA is generally recognized as having better schools, which may save private school tuition.

Given the OP’s husband is from DelCo, he already knows much about the PA suburbs. I hope this website proves useful: https://www.classictowns.org

[toobusytoday]

When we moved to our third county in Pennsylvania, I really wanted to find a town very similar to the one I grew up with in Delaware - Milford. This was a town that I knew well by walking and biking it's streets. Milford is an old town, and like a lot of places, the best stores re-located out of town in the 70's and 80's and for many years the main street had boarded up store windows was pretty sad. In the last decade, the downtown has made an impressive comeback, with restaurants, an art gallery and a neat downtown river front park. https://www.visitdelaware.com/cities...d/attractions/ I love my little town in PA, but there are surely nice ones in Delaware also. If you want to talk about PA towns, please take the conversations to one of the forums there.

[lyndyb]

I won't pretend to know a lot about Delaware, as I've been a tourist over my lifetime and am building a home in Sussex County … but Milton is a nice little town and there are a few newer developments where you could walk or are just a very short drive away. It has a little park, but I can't advise as to how good the schools are.

[rdlr]

Originally Posted by RitterFam

My husband is currently fielding job offers from a few companies, some in/around Philadelphia and some in Wilmington. I'm originally from a small town in CT and he's from Delaware County PA. I'm wondering if there are any good towns around the Wilmington area with the following:
Low Taxes
Good Schools
Updated Parks
Good Walkability with Coffee shops

We have a 10 yr old son, a 15month old daughter, and expecting another in 2019.

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi RitterFam! For sure, you need to visit Wilmington and the surrounding area, not for just a day. I work in Wilmington most days and have seen the good and the bad. If your husband takes a Wilmington job, I'd suggest that you look in to Middletown, about a 30 minute drive from Wilmington. Middletown is a family area. Here's a link.
Town of Middletown, Delaware

This town may not suit you, but since family type things are important.......
Good Schools
Updated Parks
Good Walkability with Coffee shops
(the whole State of Delaware has lower taxes than most states)

you can't beat Middletown, DE. I'm luke-warm about Wilmington, DE. You'll have to go to the Philadelphia, PA section of this forum to receive comments on that state and various communities, as per the Moderator's comments above.