Moving to Delaware (Wilmington, Newark, Claymont: job market, school districts, place to live)

[cynnnabun]

I'm a young mom and my boyfriend and I are looking into saving up money for about another year and then moving. I'm from South Jersey (Cinnaminson/Moorestown/Cherry Hill) area and ideally I would like to stay here, but I really doubt it will be in our price range.

I've heard that Delaware is cheaper but I'm curious where a good place to look is? I'd like to stay as close to NJ as possible (b/c of family and what not) and I also need the school to be decent because my daughter will just be starting Kindergarten.

I have an Associate's in Business Management and I'm hoping I'll be able to get a somewhat decent job.

Does anyone know a decent town to start looking in?

Is Claymont anything worth looking at? (It looked close to the Philly/NJ area)

And does anyone know about how long a drive would be to Cherry Hill from Delaware?


Thanks!

[doctorjef]

Did you trying reading the last couple pages of threads at least before posting your question? Claymont BTW hardly qualifies as a separate town; it's just a part of the "North Wilmington" suburbs of Wilmington. Exploring DE on your own by car might enable you to ask more focussed questions. As you hardly have a specialist degree it is likely that the work experience on your CV would be more of a determinant as to your job marketability.

[toobusytoday]

It is kind of hard to narrow down suggestions, when you don't seem to have a clear idea of what you want. What we did the last time we moved was to take out a map and draw a circle around where my husband was working and figured out what a thirty minute commute was like. We then researched the towns and school districts inside that circle. Anywhere in Northern Delaware is going to be a reasonable distance to Cherry Hill. I would suggest that you and your boyfriend start looking for work in Northern Delaware and then worry about housing.

[armx]

As you find out if you read enough threads from people moving from NJ to DE that unlike PA and NJ, Delaware does not have many towns per se (except of course, cities like Wilmington, Newark, Middletown) ...it is just one continuum from one end to the other with some towns dotting sporadically.

Your choice of Claymont is logical - closest to Philly -

[doctorjef]

But not necessarily the "nicest" place to live in North Wilmington.

[phlydude]

Newark from Cherry Hill / Pennsauken / Cinnaminson will be about 45 minutes on a good day
Claymont will be about 30 minutes

(I moved from right across the bridge in Philly (about a mile north of the Betsy and 2 miles south of the Tac/Pal) and found these to be driving at normal philly area interstate speeds of 70-75 mph