Moving from CA to LA (New Orleans) (Baton Rouge, Metairie: rental, house)

[allienutter]

My family and I are relocating to the New Orleans area from California We're hoping to stay within a 30 minute commute to New Orleans,
With 2 children (1st and 4th grade), I need information on where we should live that is safe, has great schools, and is family friendly. We havent dediced if we'll rent or buy a house yet, but any info on where we could find a rental would also be helpful.

Pros and cons for city/town would be great.

Thanks for your help and any information.

Allison

[aab7855]

Metairie is a centrally located suburb which is within, say, 20 minutes from downtown New Orleans. The schools are generally good there. I say you should land there and then once you become familiar with the area decide if you want to stay or if you want to live in the city proper. Metairie is a bit sterile but that's a good thing when you're moving to a place as unique as here and you don't know a lot about the neighborhoods.

[DatMiranda]

Originally Posted by aab7855

Metairie is a centrally located suburb which is within, say, 20 minutes from downtown New Orleans. The schools are generally good there. I say you should land there and then once you become familiar with the area decide if you want to stay or if you want to live in the city proper. Metairie is a bit sterile but that's a good thing when you're moving to a place as unique as here and you don't know a lot about the neighborhoods.

agreed.

[rburnett]

Definitely rent first. It takes some time to get the lay of the land here. you might decide you want to live in the city, or you may decide that you want to be even further out.

A 20 minute commute from Metairie? Maybe if you're in Old Metairie close to the parish line. Its a large area and the far reaches of it are 45min away from downtown at rush hour.

The public schools in Metairie are only marginally better than the ones in New Orleans. While there are some good ones, competition is fierce and getting admitted is certainly no guarantee. If you want good public schools that you can actually get into, you need to look across the lake, or up towards Baton Rouge.

Worst case, you should plan on spending at least $400/month per child for parochial school, and even more if you want a non-denominational private school. IMO, if you're going to pay for school anyway, you might as well live in New Orleans proper and have a 15min commute.