Best East Coast city to live and raise family? (best suburbs, renting)

[MacMaine]

We are about to relocate from Maine and we need to have about 4 top east coast cities to put in for a request.

The only New England state available for this job is Hartford, Connecticut but after looking into it... it is far too violent. So anything below New England.

We have to live within 20 minutes to the city. If possible we would like to live within walking distance to restaurants and shops and/or on a lake or ocean. We have small children so it has to be reasonably safe and have good schools. We are looking for something in the $400,000 to lower $500,000 range. Big city or smaller city would work as long as it has lots of stuff to do... not too conservative... an artsy and alternative vibe with some culture would be great.

Richmond has been mentioned but I've heard that it is ultra conservative with undercurrents of being racist.

We are white and are not part of any organized religion... but are spiritual. So diversity is good as long as there is a good energy between the diverse people. I know every place has pockets of crime but some are much worse than others.

Pittsburgh was also mentioned but I heard that the weather was dreary to the extreme and it's very far from the coast. If we could live on a nice lake I am OK to live a little further from the coast but I don't think Pittsburgh will be a good fit.

Tampa was also mentioned... it's intriguing when I look at how much house you can buy... waterfront with a screened in pool too. But we need a few more options!

We're picky but in this case... we can be to a point! So please help us out!!! Thanks!!

[BPerone201]

Tenafly, NJ
It has some of the best public schools in the state, it's 9 miles from Manhattan (via the George Washington Bridge), it has a quaint downtown, and it has a nice nature center within the town.

http://www.tenaflynj.org/

[killakoolaide]

DC ( inside the beltway). Has arguably the best suburbs on th east coast.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by BPerone201

Tenafly, NJ
It has some of the best public schools in the state, it's 9 miles from Manhattan (via the George Washington Bridge), it has a quaint downtown, and it has a nice nature center within the town.

Borough of Tenafly, New Jersey - Home

Its also one of the most anti-Progressive towns in the Entire state.
Try Maplewood , Montclair , or Downtown Jersey City.

[VA7cities]

Virginia Beach, VA
Hampton, VA
Chesapeake, VA
Richmond, VA
Northern Virginia

[Buckeye in SC]

Raleigh/research triangle NC
Charleston, SC

And while maybe a bit bias, having moved to Columbia 2 1/2 years ago, we've enjoyed the area very much.

[BPerone201]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Its also one of the most anti-Progressive towns in the Entire state.
Try Maplewood , Montclair , or Downtown Jersey City.

Well it seems to be doing extremely well. I find it weird that Tenafly, an upper middle class suburb can be such an anti-progressive place.
Could you elaborate, because I seem to be missing something.

I prefer Maplewood/Montclair over Tenafly, but the OP wanted to be 20 minutes away from "the City" (NYC) unless being 20 minutes from Newark and or Jersey City is an option.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by BPerone201

Well it seems to be doing extremely well. I find it weird that Tenafly, an upper middle class suburb can be such an anti-progressive place.
Could you elaborate, because I seem to be missing something.

I prefer Maplewood/Montclair over Tenafly, but the OP wanted to be 20 minutes away from "the City" (NYC) unless being 20 minutes from Newark and or Jersey City is an option.

They oppose the new Light Rail Extension to there town form North Bergen saying that it would bring crime and other stuff , and its hurting the people further up the line who could really use something like this. Most of the people along the line community to Jersey City or NYC. And its no secret that they are snobby , i have alot friends in that town.



Try New Brunswick,NJ, a nice college city and diverse culture city aswell as being 45mins south of NYC by train.

[uptown_urbanist]

I think it's a big mistake to write off an entire region just because one city has high crime. Even within commuting distance to Hartford there are many very safe, nice cities and neighborhoods. And, for that matter, every other region of the country is also going to have its high crime areas. Hartford actually doesn't sound like it would be such a bad fit; I'm not that familiar with it, but just have friends who bought a place after years of renting. They used to live in West Hartford (totally separate from the city of Hartford), which was very nice. and was, I believe, very safe. Don't know about schools, but you can definitely find some excellent schools and safe communities within commuting distance of Hartford.

[nate14ri]

Hartfords suburbs are some of the nicest in the country. West Hartford, Simsbury, Avon, Farmington... all pretty towns with premier public schools