Best Areas on LI for young family? (East Northport, Greenlawn: apartments, renter)

[S.I.B.]

Originally Posted by PizzaPedro

I would look at Greenlawn or East Northport in either the Harborfields or Elwood SD's. Great towns, you can find something in your price range, easy train access, and they are two of the top 5 school districts in Suffolk statistically.

communting from Greenlawn and/or Northport is no picnic. Not many trains, and too much switching at Jamaica.

[PizzaPedro]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

communting from Greenlawn and/or Northport is no picnic. Not many trains, and too much switching at Jamaica.

WHen I lived in Greenlawn, everyone took the train from Huntington. Most of the trains take an hour from Huntington to Penn and you don't have to change anywhere.

[TheBS19]

Hows Huntington/Huntington Village then? I've definitely heard people talk about those towns (more because of nightlife for the college-age group though).

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by TheBS19

Appreciate the suggestion, but we'd be trying to be closer to the city than where we grew up, not further away.

I would most likely going to be working in Manhattan (current company has a NYC presence or even if I change jobs when we move) - spending 4 hrs/day commuting would not be ideal for me.

Any ideas on places further west?

Also, that 100K salary is in Boston dollars - not sure what kind of "cost of living" adjustment there'd be, but I know when I was interviewing out of school, there was definitely a bump in offers from companies whether you were going to work out of the NYC office, or the Boston office, or Chicago, etc. So I don't know how to convert that to "real dollars" in NYC terms, but I assume itd be a bit more...regardless, budget is DEFINITELY our biggest concern. I should have some upward mobility in salary as I progress through my career, but obviously counting on such things is what gets people over their heads in debt, which is why I gave current numbers as a "benchmark" of sorts.

Again, thanks to all for any insights!!

Even at 120k you'll be middle class.

Farmingdale may be a good bet.

Best

Crooks

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

it may be helpful to check our the LIRR timetables and work backwards from there.

MTA LIRR - Schedules & Fares

Agreed.

Thats how I settled on Babylon Village back when I commuted.

It was the furthest East I could get with the best commute.

It will cost you though.

Crooks

[Burb]

I'd look down the Lindenhurst-W Babylon-Babylon Village-W Islip stretch of the S Shore. You'll find what you're looking for.

[Crookhaven]

Originally Posted by Burb

I'd look down the Lindenhurst-W Babylon-Babylon Village-W Islip stretch of the S Shore. You'll find what you're looking for.

Agreed

Crooks

[PizzaPedro]

Originally Posted by TheBS19

Hows Huntington/Huntington Village then? I've definitely heard people talk about those towns (more because of nightlife for the college-age group though).

IMO, Huntington is the best town on Long Island for someone interested in "things to do." It's definitely not about the college-aged group, there are tons of great restaurants, bars, festivals, fairs, culture, whatever you are looking for in any age group. The knock might be that Huntington schools aren't super. Statistically they are better than their reputation, but compared to the surrounding areas (Cold Spring Harbor, Harborfields, etc) they are definitely a big notch down. But Huntington schools aren't worse than many of the other areas that people have thrown out as suggestions. Or you could pick one of the towns that would have easy access to the Village.

[TheBS19]

Crook - I'd love to be middle class. I currently feel like, although me and my wife both have good jobs (thank god), impressive degrees (wife has 2!) and aren't saddled with any sort of abnormal debt, we're in the lower class! As in, we're not sure if we can afford to buy a house in an area that isn't totally isolated or incredibly unsafe.

I dunno, its just a weird feeling. And thats not a knock on anyone who is "low income" - I just don't know what we've could've done differently to be in a better position than we are now, but yet we feel our position, well, stinks.

[jpg71]

Already some good info provided in this thread, but I wanted to point out that Boston salaries converting to New York salaries might not be all that you're hoping it to be.

Check with your current employer (who has a presence in NYC) to see how much of a COLA differential they'd give you to relocate to their NYC branch. If you're switching employers, good luck - employers almost never care that you're coming from an area that has a lower cost of living and will still low-ball you based on your current salary.