Anyone familiar with Cold Spring, Fort Thomas, KY? (Alexandria: real estate, property taxes)

[beibei2929]

We plan to move to North KY from New York in summer and now looking for house over there. Wondering if anyone had any information and/or opinions about Cold Spring and Fort Thomas in Campell County. I know Fort Thomas' public school system has been ranked No.1 in KY for years. How about Cold Spring? Good schools are important to us, as well as a community with various activities for our kids, i.e., sports, libraries, parks, etc.

Any info would be appreciated!

[censusdata]

Ft Thomas demographics:

The median income for a household in the city was $49,575, and the median income for a family was $63,006. Males had a median income of $43,733 versus $30,209 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,657. About 2.8% of families and 4.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.7% of those under age 18 and 3.2% of those age 65 or over.

Cold Spring is a little further out and more suburban. There is some good shopping areas out towards I-275 along US 27

[tomocox]

Well, the news about the schools is different, but acceptable. Effectively, the three northern Kentucky counties, Boone, Kenton & Campbell are actually Cincinnati-South. You should be fine but be selective within each of the counties as each will have small zones I wouldn't want to call home.

[RuralGuy]

Originally Posted by beibei2929

We plan to move to North KY from New York in summer and now looking for house over there. Wondering if anyone had any information and/or opinions about Cold Spring and Fort Thomas in Campell County. I know Fort Thomas' public school system has been ranked No.1 in KY for years. How about Cold Spring? Good schools are important to us, as well as a community with various activities for our kids, i.e., sports, libraries, parks, etc.

Originally Posted by beibei2929

Any info would be appreciated!

I live about 25 miles south of Cold Spring (which is south of Ft. Thomas) and drive through both communities almost daily. Ft. Thomas is a beautiful town, but housing might be a little pricey. As you noted, Highlands High School is top notch. Cold Spring is also nice, but not quite as upscale. I would imagine they also have lower property taxes than Ft. Thomas.

I believe students from Cold Spring attend Campbell County High School (broken link). Campbell County doesn't rank nearly as high as Highlands, but I think it's still a decent school. Campbell's lower ranking is likely due to the fact that the school is huge (its student body of more than 1500 is almost twice as large as Highland's), and the school serves not only urban kids, but also a lot of kids from depressed rural areas of the county where education isn't valued as highly.

Because of Ft. Thomas's reputation as an upscale community, kids that attend Highlands are typically referred to as "cake eaters" by kids from other schools in Northern Kentucky. That doesn't seem to bother them, though, because they not only trounce the other schools academically, but also in most sports (they were Kentucky division 5A state football champs in 2007).

As for recreational sports, there are all kinds of leagues and parks. Both towns also are in close proximity to (within 10 min. of) Town & Country sports complex, which has about a half dozen soccer fields, including two indoor fields, plus basketball leagues and a bunch of other activities. Great if you or your kids like to play soccer or other sports year round.

There are plenty of libraries, shopping centers, and other amenities throughout the area.

Hope this info. helps.

[beibei2929]

Thank you very much, RuralGuy. Your information is very useful!!!

[Grantslicker]

You're in luck I just found this website!
I grew up in Cold Spring and lived there for 25 yrs, although I grew up on a residential street, when I was a kid, Cold Spring was pretty much rural, I grew up playing in the woods and really loved living there. I even know where the spring was that gave the city it's name. (it has since dried up) I'm in my mid forties now and have many fond memories that I bore my kids with. One of the places we used to fish now has a Kroger's store exactly on the spot. Needles to say since they built NKU (No. Ky University) the area has exploded in urban sprawl. To me, the traffic on 27 in rush hours is annoying and will do nothing but get worse due to the building of countless homes in Cold Spring and south in Alexandria. All residents south of C.S.; in Alexandria have to drive north thru C.S, on 1 of 2 routes; 27 and the AA hwy. But for someone from New York it is nothing! Lol
When I got married we bought a fixer upper in south Fort Thomas. (I never thought I'd be a "cake Eater"!) Fort Thomas is a very nice town with an excellent school system, (my wife still teaches there) and it's a very tight knit community with many community activities.
We lived there for 9 yrs, sold our house for a really nice price and moved south for a couple acres and more elbow room.
Fort Thomas has older houses and they are expensive for the area, for what you are used to in New York it wouldn't seem that way. If you like neighbors that are close to you, (there aren't many large lots) and you can afford it, and you don't mind maintaining an older, un-insulated house, I think you will love Fort Thomas. (Fort Thomas has pretty much run out of real estate so they don't build many homes)
On the other hand if you go south alittle bit, maybe 20 miles; you can get alot more house and property for your money.
As far as N.Ky goes; I recommend Campbell County for 1 good reason; very little air traffic! (CVG is in Boone County and is still annoying in parts of Kenton County)
Let me know if you have anymore questions

Grantslicker
(Grants Lick, Ky)

[beibei2929]

Originally Posted by Grantslicker

You're in luck I just found this website!
I grew up in Cold Spring and lived there for 25 yrs, although I grew up on a residential street, when I was a kid, Cold Spring was pretty much rural, I grew up playing in the woods and really loved living there. I even know where the spring was that gave the city it's name. (it has since dried up) I'm in my mid forties now and have many fond memories that I bore my kids with. One of the places we used to fish now has a Kroger's store exactly on the spot. Needles to say since they built NKU (No. Ky University) the area has exploded in urban sprawl. To me, the traffic on 27 in rush hours is annoying and will do nothing but get worse due to the building of countless homes in Cold Spring and south in Alexandria. All residents south of C.S.; in Alexandria have to drive north thru C.S, on 1 of 2 routes; 27 and the AA hwy. But for someone from New York it is nothing! Lol
When I got married we bought a fixer upper in south Fort Thomas. (I never thought I'd be a "cake Eater"!) Fort Thomas is a very nice town with an excellent school system, (my wife still teaches there) and it's a very tight knit community with many community activities.
We lived there for 9 yrs, sold our house for a really nice price and moved south for a couple acres and more elbow room.
Fort Thomas has older houses and they are expensive for the area, for what you are used to in New York it wouldn't seem that way. If you like neighbors that are close to you, (there aren't many large lots) and you can afford it, and you don't mind maintaining an older, un-insulated house, I think you will love Fort Thomas. (Fort Thomas has pretty much run out of real estate so they don't build many homes)
On the other hand if you go south alittle bit, maybe 20 miles; you can get alot more house and property for your money.
As far as N.Ky goes; I recommend Campbell County for 1 good reason; very little air traffic! (CVG is in Boone County and is still annoying in parts of Kenton County)
Let me know if you have anymore questions

Grantslicker
(Grants Lick, Ky)

Thank you, Grantslicker!!! It seems to me that both of them are good. As you said, Cold Spring has more houses available. The population is increasing rapidly. +45% in 2006, comparing to 2000 census.