Aspinwall/Oakmont/Sewickley (Pittsburgh, Plum: credit, houses, neighborhood)

[MLN2603]

Hopes.... could you please tell me where you get your stats? I would love to see the stats for other areas around Pittburgh.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by CaptainObvious

That's very debatable, but they are both such good districts, I wouldn't let that influence my decision. You're choosing between really really good, and really good.

I already conceded that Quaker Valley ranked higher than Fox Chapel.

But both outrank Riverview.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by MLN2603

Hopes.... could you please tell me where you get your stats? I would love to see the stats for other areas around Pittburgh.

Goodness, there are stats everywhere. It's just a matter of pulling them all together for what you want. Those specific stats I gathered from wiki for convenience. If you search a school district in wiki, it will bring up a page that shows all the towns included in the school district. Then, click on each individual town and the income and population statistics are on each town's wiki page.

Fox Chapel Area School District - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quaker Valley High School - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Riverview School District doesn't have a wiki page so I went to the school district's website which stated the students come from Verona and Oakmont merged districts. Then I went to wiki for the stats on Verona and Oakmont. Since there might be an outlying area included in the school district area, I checked the stats on Plum and Penn Hills---there's no wealth there so it won't make much of a difference to the Riverview stats.

Interestingly, I checked Mt. Lebanon for the heck of it. Mt. Lebanon doesn't have much wealth by comparison to Fox Chapel. And the towns that are included in the Mt. Lebanon school district are buried in the text----Dormont, Castle Shannon, and parts of Greentree, (I think it's great a family that might not be able to afford property in Mt. Lebanon can get into it's district by buying a house in one of those other towns.) Surprisingly, Upper St. Clair has much more wealth than Mt. Lebanon.

If someone has a problem with wiki stats, I can easily go compile data from another source. I'm confident that the results will reflect the same conclusion.

[barneyg]

I'd definitely choose Aspinwall over Oakmont if the commute to downtown Pgh is a criteria. From Oakmont, the shortest commute to downtown is through Aspinwall (route 28).

These are really three similar areas, although I don't think Aspinwall itself has the same upscale reputation as the other two.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by PghREA

Of the 3, Oakmont would be my choice. (I don't have kids in school though.)

I like Oakmont for shopping; however, to actually LIVE in the neighborhood, I prefer Aspinwall. I love the tree lined streets and the houses in Aspinwall. The feel of it is much more 'together' and 'organized' than Oakmont. For instance, Oakmont's little neighborhoods are divided by the two big main streets and the rail road tracks. All of Aspinwall's neighborhoods are located together---you don't have to cross main streets or rail road tracks to get to other houses. This would be important for people with children because children in Aspinwall can walk to their friends' houses, but children in Oakmont would need a ride to friends' houses that are on the other side of town.

The other thing that's more convenient about Aspinwall is the ease for accessing route 28 (or getting out of the neighborhood period.) In Aspinwall, you can bypass all of the traffic on the main road, and hop onto route 28 via a ramp in the back of the neighborhood. I'm not even sure very many people know about that access ramp. In Oakmont, you're very limited in how to avoid the main street traffic when leaving the area, and you have to go across a bridge to get to route 28 and then drive quite a distance to reach route 28. Of course, there are other options, but none are as easy as Aspinwall. Aspinwall is simply blessed by having a great location.

Originally Posted by PghREA

For the school district, I would chose Aspinwall.

Definitely.

[Nelson73]

Hopefully this will be a useful question to the oringal poster as well....We are also considering a move to Pittsburgh.

Other than school districts, how does Aspinwall compare to Mt. Lebanon/Beverly Rd. Shopping area? The distance to the city seems to be about the same (@7 miles) but are each of the commute times that similar? Plus, which is best for raising a family? The last post compared Aspinwall vs. Oakmont in this respect but how does Aspinall stack up to Mt. Lebanon?

Thanks,
Mike

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Nelson73

Other than school districts, how does Aspinwall compare to Mt. Lebanon/Beverly Rd. Shopping area?

Mt. Lebanon's shopping area wins, hands down (if you can stand the TRAFFIC).

Here's a list of my personal ranking of the shopping areas:

Mt. Lebanon
Oakmont/Sewickley
Aspinwall

The advantage that Aspinwall has mall type shopping stores that are literally right down the street from the Waterworks. The other ares are a bit of a drive to get to any type of chain store strip mall.

Originally Posted by Nelson73

The distance to the city seems to be about the same (@7 miles) but are each of the commute times that similar?

The commute from Mt. Lebanon will take longer because the south hills is more congested than the north.

Originally Posted by Nelson73

Plus, which is best for raising a family?

Aspinwall has more postage stamp sized properties. Mt. Lebanon has areas where you can actually have more of a suburban yard. In my income research, I was shocked to discover that there's really not much wealth in Mt. Lebanon. Mt. Lebanon does have a a great repuation and a good school district---just like Fox Chapel.

Originally Posted by Nelson73

The last post compared Aspinwall vs. Oakmont in this respect but how does Aspinall stack up to Mt. Lebanon?

If you want a better commute time and prefer to live in an area where traffic congestion isn't constant for every little trip you make around the area, go with Aspinwall.

If you don't mind traffic congestion as a constant part of your day, go with Mt. Lebanon.

[bboy36win]

Originally Posted by Hopes

The other thing that's more convenient about Aspinwall is the ease for accessing route 28 (or getting out of the neighborhood period.) In Aspinwall, you can bypass all of the traffic on the main road, and hop onto route 28 via a ramp in the back of the neighborhood. I'm not even sure very many people know about that access ramp.

With Aspinwall being so close to 28 (from the map it appears that nearly everyone is within .2 miles of it - and those that aren't are very close to Freeport Road), I'm wondering if there's a lot of traffic noise??

I live within 1 mile of an interstate, and if the wind blows the right direction, I hear it quite clearly outside - and that's a mile away.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by bboy36win

With Aspinwall being so close to 28 (from the map it appears that nearly everyone is within .2 miles of it - and those that aren't are very close to Freeport Road), I'm wondering if there's a lot of traffic noise??

I live within 1 mile of an interstate, and if the wind blows the right direction, I hear it quite clearly outside - and that's a mile away.

Aspinwall is an amazingly quiet neighborhood. The traffic on route 28 is way up above the town, and the area between the highway and the town is wooded. The speed limit on Freeport Road is 25 tops. Furthermore, the way the streets are designed in Aspinwall, nobody can cut through it to avoid the main roads. The streets alternate one way in a manner that makes it almost impossible to take a short cut through the area.

[hinsey86]

I have family that lives really near the entrance ramp to 28 in Aspinwall. We can sit in their backyard without any real problems. You can hear the highway noise if you are really paying attention but it does not interfere with conversation. There are some houses that are right below 28 that may have much more noise though. But most of the area is not going to be affected.