Best Place to live between Hartford, CT and Amherst, MA (Springfield: best town, apartments)
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What's your budget so you we can prefer the best town in that price range AND do you have kids or plan to have any kids? If good schools are a priority for you then we can help narrow down the list.
As it stands right now...
With an average median household income and good schools, I would choose between Suffield CT, or Longmeadow MA. They're both very close to the highway and are dead center between Amherst and Hartford.
Budget (rental <$1500/mo), considering both of us will have travel expenses as well. But we can be flexible.
children: Not for another 2-3 years
I am impressed with the reviews Longmeadow MA has in this forum, but the rentals are ~$2000 /mo. We might eventually move there, because of the schools, but right now we want a safer and good neighbourhood.
Solely based distance to either side, I had shortlisted 1)Enfield 2)Longmeadow 3)East Longmeadow 4)Chicopee 5) Holyoke.
I would take out Chicopee and Holyoke and add West Springfield. West Springfield has a ton of rentals , 91 is right in town , and it's equal distance to both places.
Since you'd like to live between Hartford and Amherst, I would choose between the towns bordering the MA and CT border.
To give more detail about the towns you just listed...
Enfield, CT is a blue collar town that has relativity lower taxes and cheaper housing than most towns within the area but it's cheap for a reason. The schools aren't that great and most the of houses built in town were built in the 50's and 60's.
Holyoke, MA is a decent town but crime is almost as high as Springfield. The only thing about Holyoke is that your spouse will be taking a pretty long commute to Hartford since it's much farther up north. Just a heads up but, it would be a 45 min to an hour drive during rush hour since the traffic starts at the I-291 merge on I-91 south just north of Hartford.
Longmeadow and East Longmeadow, MA are great towns too. Very quiet with great schools. I heard it can be expensive in some places.
Chicopee, MA is decent too but I don't know a lot about it other than the fact that you're close to a lot of shopping centers.
Suffield, CT will have some decent rentals on websites such as Zillow but the cheaper ones are older farming houses and smaller apartments. western mass mentioned West Springfield as an option and I know that towns has a lot of different varieties. $1500 is the norm in West Springfield and Enfield. However with Enfield, I would consider living in that town short term as Schools are not well performing. West Springfield schools are a little better.
We have lived in Amherst last year. We need to move closer to Hartford, CT. My spouse now works in Hartford, and I will continue to work in Amherst.
We would prefer a good neighbourhood halfway across both places. Any suggestions?
That's kind of hard. Longmeadow is on rte 91 but it's expensive to buy into and there really aren't any rentals. It's a high end residential town (and I always found it kind of stuffy and competitive.) Suffield CT is nice though--it's more countrified than suburban and maybe you could find something. It's not right on rte 91 though. The person going to Hartford would have it easier than the person going to Amherst. If you can stand the long commute to Amherst, then Suffield might be the answer. It's beautiful there and also upscale countrified.
Enfield would have been a good location but if the schools aren't good, then no. If you lived in Suffield, Enfield would probably be your place for shopping--it has a lot of that.
As it stands right now...
With an average median household income and good schools, I would choose between Suffield CT, or Longmeadow MA. They're both very close to the highway and are dead center between Amherst and Hartford.
Make sure you understand things like Mass Excise Tax versus Connecticut automobile property tax. Massachusetts is ugly the first couple of years. Connecticut is typically worse. The rate is usually much higher and it's the blue book value of the car. I'd also get car insurance quotes. I have no sense for that.
Suffield, CT seem to be a good option. I like Longmeadow, so will give both the town some thoughts/visits. Also, will compare options in West-springfield.
GeoffD, thanks for pointing out the noise level and taxation. We will have those in consideration.
Suffield and Longmeadow will be brutal getting to Amherst in the winter, as well as Enfield. I would try to be as close to the highway as possible and live in Mass. From West Springfield I can get into Hartford in about 20-25 minutes without traffic. It takes me an easy 40 minutes to Amherst without traffic. Remember that Amherst is quite a ways away from the highway. And rt 9 can get pretty backed up on good days , never mind rain or snow.
I would even suggest downtown Springfield if kids aren't in the picture. They are some really nice apartments downtown and Union station will be opening soon with commuter rail service into Hartford 12 trips up and back daily. That might be something to think about moving forward.
Last edited by western mass and love it; 04-03-2017 at 01:31 PM..
Reason: Missed a word
Suffield and Longmeadow will be brutal getting to Amherst in the winter, as well as Enfield. I would try to be as close to the highway as possible and live in Mass. From West Springfield I can get into Hartford in about 20-25 minutes without traffic. It takes me an easy 40 minutes to Amherst without traffic. Remember that Amherst is quite a ways away from the highway. And rt 9 can get pretty backed up on good days , never mind rain or snow.
I would even suggest downtown Springfield if kids aren't in the picture. They are some really nice apartments downtown and Union station will be opening soon with commuter rail service into Hartford 12 trips up and back daily. That might be something to think about moving forward.
Yeh, you're right--and they don't have kids yet. For the time being they might be able to live in Springfield or W. Springfield. But once they have school aged kids, things would have to change. It's a long distance between Hartford and Amherst, that's for sure.
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