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Hi everybody! I'm new here and for the past year, my family has been debating back and forth where to move to within the US. At this point, I am thoroughly confused as to where we can find a good, decent place to raise children and start a permanent home base until they go off to college or until we retire. Perhaps you can help us narrow down our choices! Any advice is greatly appreciated. Please no debates on the validity of Atheism and all that. We just need help finding a good place to live. Thanks for anything you can offer!
_________________________________________
Here's some basic information about us:
1. interracial couple with biracial children: He's white (with English and Canadian/French Ancestry), I'm an Asian mix (Vietnamese/Chinese with French Ancestry). Our children are of course a bit of all of the above. They do look obviously half white and half asian - I'm including this description because some mixed children look more like one or the other race of the two parents; ours look like both.
2. young family in our late twenties and early thirties.
3. politics: Libertarian (neither liberal or conservative). For some reason we have gotten along better with conservatives.. well, until they realize that we are pro-abortion, pro-legalization of gay marriages, pro-legalization of prostitution, pro-open immigration, and anti-government intervention. BTW We are also pro-legalization of drugs but we don't drink, smoke, never tried drugs or plan to or want our children to and never been drunk or plan to. They however are less hostile than the liberals who can't stand that we are pro-capitalism, pro-business, anti-drug usage, pro-fur coats and leather shoes, and pro-bacon. PS. Global warming is not caused by humans.
4. religious beliefs: none - we are happy Atheists who love people no matter what their beliefs; as long as they do not infringe upon our right to having our beliefs. P.S. We are not Satanists as we don't believe that Satan exists. And from what we understand, you have to believe that something exists prior to worshipping it.
5. philosophy: we are Objectivists. And please, no preaching on how Ayn Rand is the devil or that she had an extramarital affair or anything like that. The philosophy she founded is on the whole pretty much what we believe in despite what color underwear she wore or how many sugars she preferred with her tea.
6. real estate: we plan to purchase where we move to (down pymnt will be around $50-60k). So we need real estate to be 300-500K max for a 4 bd SFR with at least .15 acre hopefully. We like newer homes (we rather spend time with our kids than fix things in an old house) in newer communities with HOA's and amenities like pools/water parks/tot lots. We don't mind HOA restrictions; heck, one of our favorite cities is Irvine, Ca. We are law-abiding, and very square people.
7. target move date: within the next 2-3 yrs. We can't stay in So. Cal and we would prefer to move out of CA altogether for personal reasons.
____________________________________
Here are what we are looking for:
1. JOBS - VT and MT are great but you can't eat the views. We need a place with a solid or well grown job market. I'm a SAHM and he's an IT manager. IT is pretty volatile in my opinion with little stability so we are looking for a city that can provide plenty of job leads in case of future lay-offs. We're looking for a city where he will be able to find another job within 1-2 months of losing one.
2. LOW CRIME - we're trying to raise our two kids (4 and 1 yr old) in a really, really safe place with the city-data website crime index under 150 and neighboring big cities under 200.
3. NON-RELIGIOUS - we are Atheist and are raising our children this way (they can choose to be whatever they want when they are older). We need a place where they won't be required to pray in the morning, before meal times, before sports events, or have to pray at all. We're happy with them reciting the Pledge of Allegience minus the "under God" part. Even in LA at a good non-sectarian private school, we have been told that our child is REQUIRED to pray in the morning and before lunch and recite the entire pledge of allegience. The director refused to tell us what the morning prayer consists of. She only told us the meal time prayer after much insistence and probing; "God is Great, God is Good, Let us thank him for our food. Amen." We asked if he could just be silent during the prayer or at least just say "Thank you for the food." She got so flustered and she refused to say yes and said she will have to check with the Regional Director but never said that she would call us back with the answer! This is at a VERY expensive $700/month non-sectarian private school and yet they refuse to agree to letting him refrain from praying! We only asked that he not be required to say the prayers. That's it. We told her we understand if he does it anyways due to peer pressure or just copying the other kids (he's only 4) but we only ask that he not be pressured into saying it if he doesn't want to. She insinuated that we were bad parents for raising our children to do whatever they feel like and not requiring them to do anything they don't feel like doing! Which is not true. As you can tell, we're not sending him to this school. Obviously the bible belt states are probably not going to want us there so.. any suggestions as to cities that won't pressure us into attending church with schools that won't force our kids into prayer or teach scripture and communities where we won't be outcasts just for being different? I mean I like bonfires as much as the next person but not when it's a burning cross on my front lawn. -giggle-
4. NON-RACIST - Obviously we're looking desperately for a place where race is not even an issue. Our eldest doesn't even know that any distinctions exist when it comes to races. We've only taught him that there are good and bad people. We will continue teaching our children that people are people. Race is as important as hair color. And most blondes get their colored locks from a Loreal bottle anyways. -laugh-
5. GOOD PUBLIC SCHOOLS - We absolutely love HI but from what we've heard their public school system is so lacking that most people put would rather rent an apt for the rest of their lives to afford private school or if they can't then they home-school. It would be a plus to find a nice community that is well-educated and values education.
6. SHORT COMMUTE - In LA, my hubby commutes 1.5-2 hours ONE way. That's up to 4 hours a day just driving. Gas and car maintenance is a killer as well as the simple fact that our kids miss spending time with their daddy. I'm also petrified that he will be killed in a car accident eventually with all the freeway driving that he has to do let alone the car shootings due to lovely LA gang warfare or road rage
7. TEMPERATE WEATHER - We're not camping/woodsy people but we love being outdoors and doing outdoor activities. We can stand a handful of days of over 100 degree weather and humidity but not 3+ months of it. We can't stand 3+ months or more of below freezing winters either - can you tell we're silly spoiled CA people? -hehe- I've never even been anywhere with snow except once in my life for 5 minutes (scared to death of daily shoveling of snow, extra car maintenance due to snow, and being caught in the snow and dying a frozen death).
__________________________________
Are we asking for too much? We know there are no perfect cities. We are flexible and can learn to live anywhere but really we just need a good place to raise our kids without worrying about their physical well-being due to crime or discrimination, a place where we won't end up homeless if hubby loses his job, and where we won't spend our lives working just to pay the mortgage and never see each other.
Here are the cities we have come up with:
1. San Jose, CA (in one of the nicer suburbs near by)
Pros - non-religious or at least open to people of different beliefs, good enough schools, Great job opportunities, non-racist or at least open to people of different races, shorter commute, incredible weather
Cons - located in CA, a nice suburb will have lower crime but San Jose has high crime, high COL and high RE costs
2. Greenwich, CT
Pros - Great schools, great job opportunites (in NY), awesome low crime
Cons - horrible commute (via trains, subways, taxis), don't know whether they are religious or racist, super duper high COL, super duper high RE costs, extreme weather = high utilities costs, and I think they have lots of snow.
3. Cary, NC
Pros - beautiful state, safe suburb, 300k-500k can buy a nice newer home in a good neighborhood, job market is okay, decent temperate weather, okay commute
Cons - Religious (from what we've heard we must be church-going to enjoy living there and christian to be promoted at work), not sure if racial discrimination will be a factor, scary public school system where the schools may be great but they arbitrarily reassign your kids so often that the well-being of the individual child is not an important factor.. dude, children need stability!, Raleigh has really high crime rate index!, job market isn't great, non-natives will always be outsiders no matter how many years you live there (the whole anti-yankee thing is worrysome and can ex-Californians actually be considered Yankees anyways??).
4. Oahu, HI
Pros - beautiful place!, people are sooo nice and laid back, great culture and it doesn't hurt that my kids will blend in very well, open to other people with different beliefs, okay commute, safe, oh my goodness they have absolutely perfect weather
Cons - public schools are bad, high COL, high RE costs, no jobs except in hotel/resort industry (afraid we will end up homeless in honolulu if hubby loses his job)
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Okay, so there you go. Give yourself a pat on the back for finishing reading the whole post as I know it is a long one. Although I am sorry for the length, I only wanted to include all the neccessary information. I actually don't expect any replies so if you do choose to reply I whole-heartedly thank you for being such a generous and giving person!
Last edited by SugarHazard; 04-13-2008 at 03:39 PM..
You'll run into some racism and religious folks in NC. Being in the south, that's just a part of being in the south. I don't think you'd like it there.
The high cost of living is in all of these locations, so, when you're weighing the pros and cons, this one equals out enough to disregard it for the most part. Then, from there you can choose the more important features to you.
I would think you'd be happiest in Oahu or San Jose, based on what you've written. Start looking at jobs in both places and see what you can find. Considering that your husband might lose his job sometime in the future is good to consider, but I'm not sure I would base my decision on something that hasn't, or may not, happen.
San Jose, if you can find a nice, suburban home and a decent job would seem to be the best fit, since you're concerned about being stranded in Hawaii. Then again, if you really want to get out of California, Hawaii would be the best choice on your list.
Just my opinions. I know it's not easy to decide because I'm moving somewhere, too. I'm looking at Montana, which I highly doubt you would like when you got there. Yes, it's beautiful, but it's very religious (which I like) and jobs are harder to come by. There's a bit of racism there, too, but, then again, you're going to find that everywhere you go because most people have their prejudices whether they want them or not.
My suggestion is that, wherever you go, don't go in like a bull in a china shop and try to change the way they live and you'll be fine. I can't believe the number of people who move somewhere and then try to change things to be just like the place they left. That's rude and arrogant. When you decide to move somewhere, you have to be willing to accept the way of life of that town/city. After all, you don't go to someone's house and tell them how to live. (Not saying that you're doing that! I do see it a lot though. Even on these forums!)
You'll run into some racism and religious folks in NC. Being in the south, that's just a part of being in the south. I don't think you'd like it there.
The high cost of living is in all of these locations, so, when you're weighing the pros and cons, this one equals out enough to disregard it for the most part. Then, from there you can choose the more important features to you.
I would think you'd be happiest in Oahu or San Jose, based on what you've written. Start looking at jobs in both places and see what you can find. Considering that your husband might lose his job sometime in the future is good to consider, but I'm not sure I would base my decision on something that hasn't, or may not, happen.
San Jose, if you can find a nice, suburban home and a decent job would seem to be the best fit, since you're concerned about being stranded in Hawaii. Then again, if you really want to get out of California, Hawaii would be the best choice on your list.
Just my opinions. I know it's not easy to decide because I'm moving somewhere, too. I'm looking at Montana, which I highly doubt you would like when you got there. Yes, it's beautiful, but it's very religious (which I like) and jobs are harder to come by. There's a bit of racism there, too, but, then again, you're going to find that everywhere you go because most people have their prejudices whether they want them or not.
My suggestion is that, wherever you go, don't go in like a bull in a china shop and try to change the way they live and you'll be fine. I can't believe the number of people who move somewhere and then try to change things to be just like the place they left. That's rude and arrogant. When you decide to move somewhere, you have to be willing to accept the way of life of that town/city. After all, you don't go to someone's house and tell them how to live. (Not saying that you're doing that! I do see it a lot though. Even on these forums!)
Best wishes to you.
First off, thank you so much for responding!
For the longest time, we planned to move to NC. We hear how friendly the folks are and with the decent job market, nice weather, good schools, and affordable (comparatively) housing we were really excited. Then upon researching it further, we found out that the Wake County school system reassigns students to different schools every year (bussing them up to 45 mins away). That seems very scary to me. And like you pointed out, the probability of being discriminated against is even scarier. We don't really need a place to be non-religious.. just tolerant that we are non-religious. All of our friends and families are religious and most of them are Christian. We love them not because of what/who they worship but who they are. Good people are good people no matter who they pray to.
You're right about not basing the decision on something bad that may or may not hapen but you know what they say, "Hope for the best and prepare for the worst." A family member of ours had to decide between San Francisco and Austin, TX 5 years ago when he got job offers in both cities at the same time. He decided to move to Austin because he could buy a bigger house there even though the pay was less. 3 kids later, he lost his job, couldn't find another one, maxed out their credit cards, borrowed heavily from family members, couldn't sell his house and ended up defaulting on the mortgages and moving to NY - the only place where he could find a job. They now live in a rented apt in upstate ny with a 2 hr one way commute into the city for work. We are worried that that might happen to us if we move to HI. A friend of ours owns her own jewelry business and is married to a doctor who works for the military. Although they spend $35,000 a yr on private school and live in a small 1 bedroom apt, they love HI. Now that his appointment in the military is up, he can't find another job and will have to move back to CA even though they are fighting tooth and nail not to.
I agree with you that San Jose seems great but due to our personal reasons, it would be safer for our children to get out of Ca. Plus we will -always- be working just to afford the mortgage on a 1200 sq ft house that costs us $900,000.
I know that racism is everywhere. I grew up in an ethnic city in Orange County and experienced many incidents of racism despite the fact that in the 1990's there was 30-40% Asian population. One time, at 9 yrs old while crossing the street to get to my house which is on the corner of the street I was crossing, I passed by a teenage white boy who stopped in the middle of the street, turned and spat in my face and muttered something racist because I was crossing the street at the same time he was. Now that was scary. Something I will do my darnest to protect my children from.
Thank you for being so understanding about how hard it is for us to move someplace other than the only place we've ever known all our lives. Our children come first and we want to make sure we pick correctly for their sake and futures. Compassion is becoming a rarer and rarer thing now-a-days so I commend you for yours. I love this country so much but I know we will probably not be welcomed in alot of parts of it.
Good point about conforming to the local way of life wherever we go. I know what you mean about seeing it on these forums. I disagree with it as well. Although we look forward to contributing in a meaningful way to the community we move to, we know not to try to change it. What I foresee is us being changed by the place we move to. Because we will be raising our children there at such a young age, the place/city/state will become an integral part of who they are and we welcome that.
After your response, I think maybe the best thing is trying to find a home and job in San Jose and if that fails, throw caution to the wind and move to HI. Sometimes, ya just gotta try something to see if it works. My fantasy is to step off the plane somewhere, in some city/state and feel like home. That would be absolutely amazing.
Thanks again and good luck with Montana. They'll be lucky to have you.
Have you considered New Hampshire at all? Libertarianism is very strong here (you may have heard of the Free State Project). It is also overall the safest state in the country at the moment. Nobody here will force their religious beliefs on you, and I have never heard of any racism issues. The state is largely white, but Asians make up the largest minority group. We also have a great education system (varies from town to town, of course).
If you're looking for a real city, then the major candidates in NH would be Manchester, Nashua, Concord, and Portsmouth (as well as the surrounding suburbs). These cities meet all of your criteria, except for perhaps weather.
However, I wouldn't let weather alone deter you from looking into them. These cities are located in the southeastern part of the state, whose climate is tempered somewhat by the ocean, so the weathers aren't quite as severe or long as they are in inland New England. Another thing you should know is that the roads are very well-maintained in the winter. And frankly, nothing beats the beautiful four seasons we have here, in my humble opinion.
As for work - even if you can't find anything in the immediate area, the Boston area is a short commute (although the downside of working in MA is that you'd have to pay MA income taxes - NH doesn't have an income tax).
The only other thing that doesn't quite match your requirements is the relative lack of suburb developments with pools and that sort of stuff. But that certainly doesn't mean you can't find a new house.
Denver! The Libertarian Party was founded in Colorado.
Good suburban schools, some (most?) schools in DPS good as well. Race, relgion not an issue, housing would meet your budget. Lots of IT jobs, summer short but hot, winter not as bad as you have heard.
Hi everybody! I'm new here and for the past year, my family has been debating back and forth where to move to within the US. At this point, I am thoroughly confused as to where we can find a good, decent place to raise children and start a permanent home base until they go off to college or until we retire. Perhaps you can help us narrow down our choices! Any advice is greatly appreciated. Please no debates on the validity of Atheism and all that. We just need help finding a good place to live. Thanks for anything you can offer!
_________________________________________
Here's some basic information about us:
1. interracial couple with biracial children: He's white (with English and Canadian/French Ancestry), I'm an Asian mix (Vietnamese/Chinese with French Ancestry). Our children are of course a bit of all of the above. They do look obviously half white and half asian - I'm including this description because some mixed children look more like one or the other race of the two parents; ours look like both.
2. young family in our late twenties and early thirties.
3. politics: Libertarian (neither liberal or conservative). For some reason we have gotten along better with conservatives.. well, until they realize that we are pro-abortion, pro-legalization of gay marriages, pro-legalization of prostitution, pro-open immigration, and anti-government intervention. BTW We are also pro-legalization of drugs but we don't drink, smoke, never tried drugs or plan to or want our children to and never been drunk or plan to. They however are less hostile than the liberals who can't stand that we are pro-capitalism, pro-business, anti-drug usage, pro-fur coats and leather shoes, and pro-bacon. PS. Global warming is not caused by humans.
4. religious beliefs: none - we are happy Atheists who love people no matter what their beliefs; as long as they do not infringe upon our right to having our beliefs. P.S. We are not Satanists as we don't believe that Satan exists. And from what we understand, you have to believe that something exists prior to worshipping it.
5. philosophy: we are Objectivists. And please, no preaching on how Ayn Rand is the devil or that she had an extramarital affair or anything like that. The philosophy she founded is on the whole pretty much what we believe in despite what color underwear she wore or how many sugars she preferred with her tea.
6. real estate: we plan to purchase where we move to (down pymnt will be around $50-60k). So we need real estate to be 300-500K max for a 4 bd SFR with at least .15 acre hopefully. We like newer homes (we rather spend time with our kids than fix things in an old house) in newer communities with HOA's and amenities like pools/water parks/tot lots. We don't mind HOA restrictions; heck, one of our favorite cities is Irvine, Ca. We are law-abiding, and very square people.
7. target move date: within the next 2-3 yrs. We can't stay in So. Cal and we would prefer to move out of CA altogether for personal reasons.
____________________________________
Here are what we are looking for:
1. JOBS - VT and MT are great but you can't eat the views. We need a place with a solid or well grown job market. I'm a SAHM and he's an IT manager. IT is pretty volatile in my opinion with little stability so we are looking for a city that can provide plenty of job leads in case of future lay-offs. We're looking for a city where he will be able to find another job within 1-2 months of losing one.
2. LOW CRIME - we're trying to raise our two kids (4 and 1 yr old) in a really, really safe place with the city-data website crime index under 150 and neighboring big cities under 200.
3. NON-RELIGIOUS - we are Atheist and are raising our children this way (they can choose to be whatever they want when they are older). We need a place where they won't be required to pray in the morning, before meal times, before sports events, or have to pray at all. We're happy with them reciting the Pledge of Allegience minus the "under God" part. Even in LA at a good non-sectarian private school, we have been told that our child is REQUIRED to pray in the morning and before lunch and recite the entire pledge of allegience. The director refused to tell us what the morning prayer consists of. She only told us the meal time prayer after much insistence and probing; "God is Great, God is Good, Let us thank him for our food. Amen." We asked if he could just be silent during the prayer or at least just say "Thank you for the food." She got so flustered and she refused to say yes and said she will have to check with the Regional Director but never said that she would call us back with the answer! This is at a VERY expensive $700/month non-sectarian private school and yet they refuse to agree to letting him refrain from praying! We only asked that he not be required to say the prayers. That's it. We told her we understand if he does it anyways due to peer pressure or just copying the other kids (he's only 4) but we only ask that he not be pressured into saying it if he doesn't want to. She insinuated that we were bad parents for raising our children to do whatever they feel like and not requiring them to do anything they don't feel like doing! Which is not true. As you can tell, we're not sending him to this school. Obviously the bible belt states are probably not going to want us there so.. any suggestions as to cities that won't pressure us into attending church with schools that won't force our kids into prayer or teach scripture and communities where we won't be outcasts just for being different? I mean I like bonfires as much as the next person but not when it's a burning cross on my front lawn. -giggle-
4. NON-RACIST - Obviously we're looking desperately for a place where race is not even an issue. Our eldest doesn't even know that any distinctions exist when it comes to races. We've only taught him that there are good and bad people. We will continue teaching our children that people are people. Race is as important as hair color. And most blondes get their colored locks from a Loreal bottle anyways. -laugh-
5. GOOD PUBLIC SCHOOLS - We absolutely love HI but from what we've heard their public school system is so lacking that most people put would rather rent an apt for the rest of their lives to afford private school or if they can't then they home-school. It would be a plus to find a nice community that is well-educated and values education.
6. SHORT COMMUTE - In LA, my hubby commutes 1.5-2 hours ONE way. That's up to 4 hours a day just driving. Gas and car maintenance is a killer as well as the simple fact that our kids miss spending time with their daddy. I'm also petrified that he will be killed in a car accident eventually with all the freeway driving that he has to do let alone the car shootings due to lovely LA gang warfare or road rage
7. TEMPERATE WEATHER - We're not camping/woodsy people but we love being outdoors and doing outdoor activities. We can stand a handful of days of over 100 degree weather and humidity but not 3+ months of it. We can't stand 3+ months or more of below freezing winters either - can you tell we're silly spoiled CA people? -hehe- I've never even been anywhere with snow except once in my life for 5 minutes (scared to death of daily shoveling of snow, extra car maintenance due to snow, and being caught in the snow and dying a frozen death).
__________________________________
Are we asking for too much? We know there are no perfect cities. We are flexible and can learn to live anywhere but really we just need a good place to raise our kids without worrying about their physical well-being due to crime or discrimination, a place where we won't end up homeless if hubby loses his job, and where we won't spend our lives working just to pay the mortgage and never see each other.
Here are the cities we have come up with:
1. San Jose, CA (in one of the nicer suburbs near by)
Pros - non-religious or at least open to people of different beliefs, good enough schools, Great job opportunities, non-racist or at least open to people of different races, shorter commute, incredible weather
Cons - located in CA, a nice suburb will have lower crime but San Jose has high crime, high COL and high RE costs
2. Greenwich, CT
Pros - Great schools, great job opportunites (in NY), awesome low crime
Cons - horrible commute (via trains, subways, taxis), don't know whether they are religious or racist, super duper high COL, super duper high RE costs, extreme weather = high utilities costs, and I think they have lots of snow.
3. Cary, NC
Pros - beautiful state, safe suburb, 300k-500k can buy a nice newer home in a good neighborhood, job market is okay, decent temperate weather, okay commute
Cons - Religious (from what we've heard we must be church-going to enjoy living there and christian to be promoted at work), not sure if racial discrimination will be a factor, scary public school system where the schools may be great but they arbitrarily reassign your kids so often that the well-being of the individual child is not an important factor.. dude, children need stability!, Raleigh has really high crime rate index!, job market isn't great, non-natives will always be outsiders no matter how many years you live there (the whole anti-yankee thing is worrysome and can ex-Californians actually be considered Yankees anyways??).
4. Oahu, HI
Pros - beautiful place!, people are sooo nice and laid back, great culture and it doesn't hurt that my kids will blend in very well, open to other people with different beliefs, okay commute, safe, oh my goodness they have absolutely perfect weather
Cons - public schools are bad, high COL, high RE costs, no jobs except in hotel/resort industry (afraid we will end up homeless in honolulu if hubby loses his job)
__________________________
Okay, so there you go. Give yourself a pat on the back for finishing reading the whole post as I know it is a long one. Although I am sorry for the length, I only wanted to include all the neccessary information. I actually don't expect any replies so if you do choose to reply I whole-heartedly thank you for being such a generous and giving person!
Darn, I'm sorry you're moving out of California. By the time I got to #3 I wanted you to come live next door to me. By the time I got to #5 (Objectivist) I wanted you to MOVE IN with me! How did 2 objectivist meet each other?
Are you sure you don't want to live in the Westlake-Thousand Oaks area? Please...Pretty Please...?
I'm in Burlington VT. I've a number of Libertarian friends here. And Athiests here are pretty much unremarkable. Schools are great, Chittenden County is welcoming to all sorts of people, the climate strikes me as utterly sensible. But I believe you've ruled us out...
I'd echo the suggestion of Verseau above that you look at New Hampshire. It's not VT, but hey...
Denver! The Libertarian Party was founded in Colorado.
Good suburban schools, some (most?) schools in DPS good as well. Race, relgion not an issue, housing would meet your budget. Lots of IT jobs, summer short but hot, winter not as bad as you have heard.
where do you come up with race, and religion not an issue?
While I was reading your post, I kept thinking that CT would be the perfect place for your family. This was before I noticed you listed Greenwich on your list. Here's why I think you'll enjoy living in CT.
CT is a very secular state. It's not that folks here aren't religious, but nobody discusses it. Politically, CT leans left but people here are more moderate than anything (which is what you seem to be). Of course you'll have your bleeding heart liberals and right-wing conservatives but they aren't as plentiful and vocal as in San Francisco or Texas. People here are a bit more reserved with their thoughts and actions.
Regarding the COL, Greenwich is one of the most expensive towns in the USA. A modest ranch or cape on very little acreage will set you back $1m plus. If you're looking for a similar Greenwich but a bit cheaper, consider Fairfield. You're within commuting distance to NYC (60 mins by train), New Haven, Norwalk and Stamford - all of these have plenty of IT jobs and many fortune 500 companies are located in the region. Both Fairfield and Greenwich are great, safe towns with excellent schools (AND secular). Both towns have a Whole Foods market, plenty of shopping and things do to. You will also be on LI Sound so that's another plus. Ridgefield is also another perfect town (visit, and you'll see what I mean). Excellent schools, pristine scenery and beautiful colonial homes make Ridgefield one of the most desirable towns on the east coast. It will also be a bit cheaper in Ridgefield than Greenwich - the only downside is that since the town is a bit more rural, the commute time to lower Fairfield County and NYC will be a bit longer. If you find that Fairfield County (Fairfield, Greenwich & surrounding towns) are way out of your price range (which I believe they are), I highly suggest you check out West Hartford, CT. This is like a smaller Greenwich, without the ridiculous wealth. WH has a beautiful worldly town center and there are plenty of jobs in neighboring Hartford (the insurance capital of the world.) Also, in addition to excellent schools and a low crime rate, you will find that the real estate in WH is about 1/4 of that in Greenwich, and the quality of life is the same, if not better. One great thing about Fairfield County and much of CT is that for the most part, it is not dominated by chain stores and restaurants the way other parts of the country are. Instead, you're more likely to find affordable local alternatives with healthier and better tasting menus.
Regarding the snow, CT is much more mild than most parts of the Northeast thanks to the warmer winds blowing inland from LI Sound. Sure, we get our cold days, but they cannot compare to many parts of the upper midwest and west, upstate NY and Northern NE. You might be pleasantly surprised at just how mild some winters can be in southern CT. Summers in CT are hot and somewhat humid - you will need AC for a few weeks out of the summer.
You cannot go wrong with any suburbs in Connecticut. They seem to be exactly what you're looking for. If you need anymore help, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Last edited by kidyankee784; 04-13-2008 at 10:33 PM..
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