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Ok, so I know this may not be attainable, but my wife and I are looking for a town that fits these criteria...
1. Safe
2. Good schools
3. Walkable downtown area with cafes, coffee shops, and other local shopping
4. Decent cost of living
5. Bike friendly
6. Within 30 minutes of a larger city which could provide jobs and cultural amenities.
Size of the city would depend on how close it is to a city. The further away the more people it should have. We are looking at the northeast, mid-atlantic, and Midwest. We are particulary interested in the Philadelphia area, the Boston area, and the Hartford area. Also interested in the Chicago area, as well as northern ohio and the Indianapolis area, but a little less so. I realize that no city will have it all,more than likely. So any input you guys could provide would be great.
Just from an Upstate NY perspective, I'd say Skaneateles, Pittsford, Brighton, Williamsville, Lancaster, Delmar, Scotia, Ballston Spa, Fayetteville, Liverpool, Fairport, Kenmore, East Aurora, Batavia, Canandaigua and perhaps Lewiston, among others. What kind of jobs would you be looking for? Personally, out of the places mentioned, I like Liverpool due to its proximity to the city center, has a big park, is in a good school district, has a walkable village, has restaurants, a library, grocery store and so on. Village of Liverpool - New York
Indianapolis has the lowest cost of living of any major US city and luckily for you its a large safe city that is the fastest growing city/metro in the midwest.
and 2nd Downtown Indianapolis is very compact and has over 200 unique places to eat most locally owned and tons of places to shop.
From Wikipedia: Both Forbes and Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowedrank Indianapolis as one of the best downtowns in the United States citing "more than 200 retail shops, more than 35 hotels, nearly 300 restaurants and food options, movie theaters, sports venues, museums, art galleries and parks" as attractions
Indy is also very bike friendly and is getting national attention for the amazing growth in bike lanes and bike trails. the Indianapolis Cultural Trail is an example of this.
Plus Indy has the nations most affordable housing market. its cheaper to buy a house in Indy than rent in most cases. Plus this is a buyers home market right now with the record low interest rates.
Good Schools in Indianapolis would be any of the suburbs or in Marion County any of the schools outside of IPS are decent.
IPS can be ok if you know how to play your cards and get into a charter school that is branched off from IPS.
Also your last criteria doesnt need to be met cause Indianapolis has plenty of culture and amendities for being the nations 12th largest city.
Waltham, Massachusetts would be a great fit as it has a very high "walk score" of 62 out of a 100, offers good public schools, is a college town with both Brandeis University and Bentley University (highly ranked liberal arts colleges), a vibrant downtown close proximity to Boston (10 miles northwest) yet feels distinctly like a small town much further away and offers affordability in terms of housing.
If you're seriously interested in Boston, you must be aware that it has a considerably higher CoL than most of the other areas you're considering. Of course, depending on your line of work, you might be able to obtain a salary that compensates for that (the Boston metro has the third highest average salary in the US, after San Francisco and DC). If cost of living is one of your top concerns, you would do well to ensure that you have a job lined up before you make the move.
As far as Boston goes, the first city that came to mind was Waltham. Good schools, vibrant and walkable downtown area with local shops and restaurants, bike paths along the Charles River, and an ideal commuting location to get to anywhere in the Boston metro area. Real estate isn't cheap by any means, but compared to other towns within 30 minutes of downtown Boston, it's on the more affordable side. There are cheaper cities within the Hub that also have great, walkable downtown areas (Salem, Quincy), but the schools are less desirable.
The crime rate in Waltham is higher than in the outrageously priced suburbs nearby, but it's not a crime-ridden ghetto by any means. It's simply a necessary trade-off for more affordable housing within the Hub.
Evanston and Libertyville, IL are Chicago suburbs with charming little downtowns.
I agree, Evanston was going to be my other recommendation. It's the home of Northwestern University and as a result provides far more amenities for a town that size.
After doing some research, I think you would really like Kenmore due to being close to Niagara Falls, you can catch some NFL action and it is a very dense and walkable suburb with solid schools in close proximity to cultural amenities. Welcome to the Village of Kenmore
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