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I am looking for some suggestions about a great small east coast city to settle down with a family. I currently live in a DC metro suburb, and the weather (90 degrees before June 1!) and cost of living are making us want to leave. We have a decent household income (about $160K) and still will not be able to afford to stay in this area with a second child on the way.
I know there are many threads on this subject, but I was hoping this post would help me uncover some new places we don't know about yet. Here are our desires:
-Small to medium sized city, or big town. Big enough to have all of the amenities we might need and a thriving sense of community.
-Walkable downtown where people actually walk.
-Easy access to nature within 1-2 hours
-Moderate climate (not too cold or too hot)
-Good schools
-More affordable than DC/Boston/NY metro areas (can buy a SF house with a small yard for less than $500K)
-Although not necessary, within 5 hours of NYC would be ideal.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions you might have!
Perhaps the Harrisburg, Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton and Scranton-Wilkes Barre areas of PA. Upstate NY outside of the winter weather, would work with areas like Syracuse, Albany-Schenectady-Troy, Utica-Rome, Ithaca and perhaps Binghamton. Rochester is a maybe in terms of distance from NYC and can't forget Glens Falls. Here's a list of Upstate NY school rankings: 2011 Upstate school district rankings - Buffalo - Business First
Another thing to consider with Upstate NY is its proximity not only to the Bos-Wash corridor, but to Canadian cities like Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Same thing in terms of outdoor offerings and many cases, you don't have to leave the county in that regard.
I am looking for some suggestions about a great small east coast city to settle down with a family. I currently live in a DC metro suburb, and the weather (90 degrees before June 1!) and cost of living are making us want to leave. We have a decent household income (about $160K) and still will not be able to afford to stay in this area with a second child on the way.
I know there are many threads on this subject, but I was hoping this post would help me uncover some new places we don't know about yet. Here are our desires:
-Small to medium sized city, or big town. Big enough to have all of the amenities we might need and a thriving sense of community. -Walkable downtown where people actually walk. -Easy access to nature within 1-2 hours -Moderate climate (not too cold or too hot) -Good schools -More affordable than DC/Boston/NY metro areas (can buy a SF house with a small yard for less than $500K) -Although not necessary, within 5 hours of NYC would be ideal.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions you might have!
Philly would meet all and then some, just not much different climate wise than DC, a little cooler (not much in the summer) and a little cooler in the winter (not much)
ckh... good point about the upstate NY towns being close to canadian cities as well. i really do love Ithaca and some of the other places you mentioned, but they seem so far from both the ocean, and the DC/NY/Philly corridor. I guess having grown up near NYC, that will continue to be my point of reference.
Lone Star.. I have seen the suggestion of Charlottesville come up a lot. I think we will have to go there to check it out. We may also not need to quit our jobs if we moved there if we could telecommute a few days a week.
Kid Philly.. I hesitate to look into big cities because of the sprawl-factor that make me depressed. I'm sure there are neighborhoods of Philly that are really nice, but how does the sprawl compare to the DC area? I feel a bit claustrophobic here because we live in a great community surrounded by strip malls and new suburban housing developments.
Carlisle, PA could be worth looking into, better than average schools, walkable to services, older areas are typified by attached homes (some of which are very nice and inexpensive) but there are older singles too within the walkable borough (town limits) area.
It does have an ugly strip of road, US 11 connecting I-81 and I-76 aka the "Miracle Mile" of Middlesex Township that seems to turn people off, but as soon as you leave that road (locals avoid it too) the countryside brings you back two centuries. There are also monster warehouses attracted by the proximity to the big metros without being in them, but again those can be avoided. The hyper-localism of PA compared to VA and MD does have some virtues, the smaller municipalities mean that zoning occurs on a smaller less logical but also less overwhelming scale.
Expansive state forest areas (some along the Appalachian Trail), and famous trout streams are within 2 minutes to an hour.
ckh... good point about the upstate NY towns being close to canadian cities as well. i really do love Ithaca and some of the other places you mentioned, but they seem so far from both the ocean, and the DC/NY/Philly corridor. I guess having grown up near NYC, that will continue to be my point of reference.
Lone Star.. I have seen the suggestion of Charlottesville come up a lot. I think we will have to go there to check it out. We may also not need to quit our jobs if we moved there if we could telecommute a few days a week.
Kid Philly.. I hesitate to look into big cities because of the sprawl-factor that make me depressed. I'm sure there are neighborhoods of Philly that are really nice, but how does the sprawl compare to the DC area? I feel a bit claustrophobic here because we live in a great community surrounded by strip malls and new suburban housing developments.
Which area of DC do you reside; there are similarities and differences; on the whole the metros are about the same size though there may be more rustic areas in closer as well as older less cookie cutter parts.
Do you plan to reside in the city, burbs, exurbs etc?
Keep in mind that a city like Syracuse, for example, is within a 4 hour drive of NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, with DC being about 5 hours by car. All of the examples above are within 2 hours at the most.
Also, if you're willing to venture a bit further south, check out Greenville, SC. It has an excellent downtown area (lots of other mid-size cities are using Greenville as a model for how downtown renewal should be done), summers are about what you're used to (definitely not as bad as most of the rest of the south), it's right at the foothills of the Southern Appalachian/Great Smoky Mountains with lots of hiking/biking/kayaking/etc., schools are good, and COL is very affordable. You're a good 12-hour drive from NYC, however Greenville is located 2 hours from either Atlanta or Charlotte if the mood strikes you for a big-city weekend getaway.
Just another good option to consider that you may not have thought of...
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