[mich09]

What would be a better choice between Plymouth and Ann Arbor? I'm a single mother (recently divorced) of a 3 year old, so schools are very important. I also want to live in a community that has a lot of fun family activities, friendly neighborhoods, natural beauty, lots of 30-somethings. I will be working in A2 but it's an open-ended contract job, and the commute from Plymouth wouldn't be too bad, would it? Oh, and for housing - not sure if I'm renting our buying yet, depends on pre-approval, but I probably wouldn't spend more than 200K if buying, and 1700/month rental.

I'd love to hear the pro's and con's from you all! Thank you!

[Coldjensens]

Tough call. It depends a lot on personal choices. Ann Arbor is a city, Plymouth a small town. If you can find a place withing walking distance of the town square, I think that you would probably like Plymouth better, especially as you get older.

[Brie85]

Both are nice areas but they are quite different.

Plymouth ~ I grew up here. The schools are good and there is practically no crime. People tend to be conservative. It has a really nice library and residents can also visit the Canton library which is also very nice. There's a nice downtown area that hosts family-oriented events such as "Music in the Park," "Fall Festival," "Ice Sculpture Spectacular" and "Art in the Park." There is not a lot of racial, cultural or economic diversity. The commute to Ann Arbor is completely doable. My dad worked in Ann Arbor and commuted from Plymouth for 20 years. I recommend looking at Plymouth Township rather than the city proper because taxes are much cheaper and Plymouth proper has to pay per-bag for their trash.

Ann Arbor ~ It's a college town so the university is a big part of Ann Arbor culture. It's also very liberal and culturally diverse. It has a lot of specialty stores, including a lot catering to "crunchy granola" types. The population is much larger than Plymouth so there is some crime, but I believe there are areas of Ann Arbor that are very safe. The arts are very big in Ann Arbor and there are a lot of opportunities to enjoy performing and visual arts. Just walking down the street you will see murals and painted firehydrants. Ann Arbor has a public bus service and there is an Amtrak Rail Station as well. The University of Michigan hospital is great, my family would drive from Plymouth to go there.

[cjbailey]

Both places are nice, I think of Plymouth as being more family oriented, safe place to raise a family. They have a nice walkable downtown with seasonal activities. the schools have been improving over the years to where they are quite highly regarded. Northville and Novi have the highest rated schools in this area. You can contact me and I could get you a relocation package. There is a wide range of housing stock available (to buy or rent). airport nearby and plenty of shopping.

[delayed]

If it was me I'd do the West side of Ann Arbor. We just looked at 3 houses in Plymouth and to be honest the town seems to be in a state of decline, while Ann Arbor is as strong as ever. West A2 is a lot more quiet than towards UofM and EMU and I prefer that. I'd also prefer A2 schools over plymouth, as well as the general availability of things to do. A2 is loaded with 30 somethings and tons more places to run into them.

[Coldjensens]

My brother lives right in downtown plymouth and his wife works at U-M in Ann Arbor. They also lived in Ann Arbor for many years. I lived in Ann Arbor during school. We grew up a few miles away (near South Lyon) and Ann Arbor/Plymouth was the place that we usually went for shopping or entertainment. I love both places, they are wonderful commnunities.

I would live in either place in an instant (and almost did).

In looking at Ann Arbor, you have to consider different areas. It is a sizable city and it is very different in different parts. For the most part the Ann Arbor schools are execellent. Crime is moderate in most areas. Someone gave you a very good description of the general demeanor of the college area and most of downtown. However other parts of Ann Arbor are very different. There are some magnificient homes along the Huron River, especially boardering the Arboretium. This would be my choice, especially in close to the City, but we were looking at pretty high end houses. Still you may fins a condo or a small house along the river somewhere that is not too pricy.

Downtown Ann Arbor is very walkable/bikeable. It is not that pleasant to drive in however. (Loads of one way streets, confusing traffic flow issues and students mindlessly stepping out in fron of cars on a regular basis). THere are areas of Ann Arbor that are mostly modern subdivision type living. There are some classic neighborhoods both right in town and on the outskirts. There are some lower income areas (although I cannot think of any trailer parks). Lower crime and better schools tend to be in the areas that cost more. You pay more to be in or near downtown. Although it is an ideal place for me, I would not chose the downtown area to live with small children. It is certainly doable, but not ideal.

When you get out a way from owntown, but still within the older part of the city, there are some truely wonderful old fashoined neighborhoods. Many of them have great community cohesion. You cna be a short drive, very long walk or moderate bike ride out of downtown, without paying the premium price and dealing with all the craziness and noise. Prices are all over the place, depending on where you are.

The outer subdivision areas tend to be pretty much that same as other suburban sprawl areas like Canton, Novi, etc. If you are going to go for the suburban sprawl lifestyle, you will find better deals in the surrounding areas. Ann Arbor is expensive.

There is a lot going on in downtown Ann Arbor, but it is crazy busy. It is not a place that you could ever let your kids wander around, at least not before late high school age. It does not have a small town community oriented atmosphere. It is a city. It is a fun nice and genearlly safe and clean city, but still a city. It is crawling with college students who are often wandering around thingking about anything except what they are doing. Natrually many of them are often drunk and/or rowdy. The Business area of the City is less college oriented, but still often populated with prowling college students. This area is more like a typical small city business district. There are lots of places to go and things to see, do and eat. There is a great hands on museum for kids. A very well established farmers market. And just lots of everything that you might want to do.

There are some nice parks in and around Ann Arbor and places where you can rent canoes, ride a bike, visit a cider mill (including a Cider mill along the route from the Canoe rental place). Hell is not too far away and it is fun to go to just to say that you went there. (not much there really, just a funny gift shop and an "Ice Scream" parlor, you can canoe there as well). Nearby Pinkney and Whitmore lake offer lots of recreational activities as well.

Plymouth is a small town that got big. I would not have any interest in Plymouth unless I lived within walking distance of the town. Otherwise, you are just paying more for the same type of living that you can get in many surrounding townships. The outlying areas, like Ann Arbor's outlying areas are the same mass produced homes and strip malls that you can find anywhere, usually at lower prices and with lower taxes. If you go for the suburban prawl outlying area lifestyle, choose any town or township, but make sure that you are in a good school district. Otherwise, one modern subdivision is pretty much like any other.

Downtown Plymouth has mostly smaller housing in the downtown area. There are not a lot of big homes. Most of the homes are in old fashioned neighborhoods. Housing ages are primarily victorian through about the 1950s or 1960s. There are some newer places, but not a lot. There are a lot of small apartments available as well. The nature and tenor of downtwon was described above. The schools are generally execellent.

When we looked at Plymouth as a place to live, it seemed ideal to us, except that it has no lake or river (we wanted water) and it was more urban than we were looking for. Having lived in a City, we wanted something a little more quiet and secluded for a change. However the town and community events were so appealing that we gave a lot of serious thought to living there. We even made offers on some neat old victorian houses.

If you are focussed on the Ann Arbor area, there are some other wonderful small towns that you might want to consider. I would first look at Chelsea. It is wonderful, beautiful and has execellent schools. Chelsea is hard to beat, for us the issue was that it is too far away from DTW and downtown Detroit. Otherwise we would probably live there.

Dexter is another wonderful small town with great schools.

Tecumseh is not quite as nice as Chelsea or Dexter, but still a really awesome place and much cheaper. It is a bit of a drive to AnnArbor (or oto anywhere) from Tecumseh.

Saline is pretty nice. It has lost some of it's quauint small town atmosphere to strip malls and big mass produced subdivisions.

Dixborough is just outside Ann Arbor and is not really even a town. It is more a cluster of houses and a couple of businesses along Plymouth Road. I have always liked Dixbourough however. It is really cute.


I would check out all of these areas if I were you and as much of Ann Arbor as possible.

Good luck. You have nothing but good options to consider. You are lucky.