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Wow….. lots of quick responses! I didn’t know there is a map I could check where Asian people live in the U.S.…. Even I never expected to receive a map created for me (thank you so much, Gnutella!) Thank you so much for all your info!!
From all your comments, I found that I should have mentioned that I am a bit nervous about living in a city. Since I came to the U.S., I have only lived in a small college town in the Midwest though I have lived in several cities. On the other hand, I grew up in one of big cities in my country (not India, by the way) where people often commute to work place or to school taking 1h or so by train and bus. My husband has a similar background, too. So I think we can try it to live in a city if necessary, but we may still prefer to live in a suburb thinking that our daughter has never lived in a city.
While I mentioned in my first post that we are concerned with the ratio of Asian students in a school our daughter will go to, I may have emphasized it too much. In fact, we may not be so eager to find a school that has many Asian students but rather diversity. We currently live in an area where not many Asian people live. Because our school district is not so good with no diversity (most are Caucasian), we send our daughter to a private school that can have her exposed to cultural diversity. Since we live in a small college town, there are a few schools around a college, whether public or private, have good reputations and tend to be international or has diversity of cultures, because most parents of kids who go to such a school are university faculty or graduate students including international students who really care about education for their kids, as we do. So we would like to keep doing it for her in Pittsburgh where our daughter can be exposed to diversity as much as possible. While it would be still preferred to have many Asian students in our daughter’s school, diversity rather than the ratio of Asian students may be more important for us. We may just want to avoid a school where most students are a specific race, I guess. Since I found that Pittsburgh has really good school districts and many cultures, I am very excited that even public schools can give our daughter good education.
By reading all your replies, I learned that we may not find a house that fills all our needs and we may have to sacrifice some of them. To receive your advices to do so, maybe, I should mention more details how North Hills is the first area we think of.
As I mentioned, we may not be good at maintaining an old house, so we would prefer a newer house. This point kind of make us exclude some areas, such as Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Mt. Lebanon, and Aspinwall where I noticed that many Asians live but houses tend to be old. Upper St. Clair looks fine, but I wonder how smoothly it is to commute to Oakland, and it is also applied to Hampton and Richland Townships, since I read another post that it would take a long time to commute to Oakland. Fox Chapel seems too expensive to us. Blawnox looks fine to buy a condo, but I wonder if we could find a 3-bedroom house in future within our budget in Fox Chapel schools district.
I learned from another post that West Jefferson Hills schools district may be good by living Pleasant Hills or Jefferson Hills to commute to Oakland via Glenwood Bridge. But I also found that this school district may have less diversity than other districts.
For all thoughts above, we started thinking of North Hills, which is a good school district with some Asian students and diversity and close to Oakland. Would you let me know what you think? These thoughts make sense to you? Would you please let me know if we miss something or if you have different thoughts from ours?
North Allegheny School District also looks fine, but I wonder how long time it would take to commute to Oakland. From your information, however, it sounds like that it may depend on how close to 279 we live. I mean, in other words, if we live far away from 279 within Ross Township, it can take a longer time to commute to Oakland than if we live close to 279 in McCandless Township?
I felt a bit nervous about living alone in a big city even only for a while. But now I am learning that people who live in Pittsburgh are soooo kind and in fact it helps me to be less nervous! I really appreciate your help!!
- A diverse school district
- A new house
- A reasonable commute
The best balance of those three, I believe, would be Franklin Park and McCandless. Both are located in the North Allegheny School District. About 10% of the student body in the entire school district is Asian, although it's mostly white otherwise. As I said before, it's arguably the best school district in the Pittsburgh area, and one of the best in Pennsylvania.
Franklin Park is convenient to I-79 and I-279, being located at the junction of both, and McCandless is convenient to I-279 via U.S. 19. The commute from either suburb would generally take between 20 and 30 minutes. To get into the city, and more specifically the Oakland neighborhood, you'd take I-279 south to I-579 south to the Boulevard of the Allies to Forbes Avenue, which takes you straight into Oakland by the University of Pittsburgh. (You'd also get a hell of a view every day from the Veterans Bridge and the Boulevard of the Allies.)
In terms of development, Franklin Park is less developed than McCandless, and more residential as well. McCandless is more commercial, being located on U.S. 19, which is the main commercial corridor in Pittsburgh's northern suburbs. Both suburbs have mostly new housing stock, with Franklin Park being the newer of the two if you desire to split hairs.
As for Ross Township, the North Hills School District is solid, but not award-winning like North Allegheny is. As for diversity, North Hills is similar to North Allegheny, except with a smaller Asian proportion and a larger black proportion. The student body is only 3% Asian, which is significantly lower than North Allegheny. Also, the housing stock in Ross Township is a bit older, with most homes being built during the 1970's and 1980's. One advantage, though, is that it's only a 15- to 20-minute commute into the city, and you'd get the same views from the Veterans Bridge and the Boulevard of the Allies. Another advantage is Ross Park Mall, which is the best mall in the Pittsburgh area.
If you're happy with Ross Township, then you probably can't go wrong there, but based on the three criteria that you seemed to emphasize, I think Franklin Park and McCandless would be better bets. The school district is better even if it's only biracial; the housing stock is newer, and it'd only take an extra five to 10 minutes to commute to work. Of course, my recommendations could all go out the window depending on your price range, and your definition of "new." McCandless and Franklin Park are both more expensive than Ross Township. Franklin Park is more expensive than McCandless.
Ross Township/North Hills is a mature community that was built up in the 50's/60's/70's. If you want a newer home, you probably will have to go further out to North Allegheny, Pine-Richland or Ohio Township/Avonsworth SD. Those are all fine areas, somewhat more expensive than North Hills, but the homes tend to be bigger and newer.
Those are all fine school districts, the newer areas are also more diverse as a lot of people don't move here in Pittsburgh. In Ross Township, depending on the neighborhood, you'll have some folks that have lived in the same house for 50 years or more.
Jefferson Hills is fine, but any commutes from the south are worse than from the north to Oakland, and that area is older. Moving out to Murraysville is fine, good schools, but the I-376 Squirrel Hill Tunnel commute is a real character builder. with no traffic, its theoretically a breeze, but it backs up every morning and every evening.
As for Ross Township, the North Hills School District is solid, but not award-winning like North Allegheny is. As for diversity, North Hills is similar to North Allegheny, except with a smaller Asian proportion and a larger black proportion. The student body is only 3% Asian, which is significantly lower than North Allegheny. Also, the housing stock in Ross Township is a bit older, with most homes being built during the 1970's and 1980's. One advantage, though, is that it's only a 15- to 20-minute commute into the city, and you'd get the same views from the Veterans Bridge and the Boulevard of the Allies. Another advantage is Ross Park Mall, which is the best mall in the Pittsburgh area.
Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Like_Spam
Ross Township/North Hills is a mature community that was built up in the 50's/60's/70's. If you want a newer home, you probably will have to go further out to North Allegheny, Pine-Richland or Ohio Township/Avonsworth SD. Those are all fine areas, somewhat more expensive than North Hills, but the homes tend to be bigger and newer.
I could be wrong, but I suspect she meant that she didn't want to maintain a house that was built in the EARLY 1900s.
From the sound of it, you're not a city person, and that's fine.
Still, you seem to be under the impression that Pittsburgh isn't a safe place to live, and I want to assure you for the most part it is. Suburbanites concern with living here almost entirely revolves around the question of school quality (something which, as a parent, I think is overblown, but has more merit behind it than concerns about safety). Pittsburgh has a very low crime rate compared to other medium-sized to large cities, and most of the serious crime is restricted to a few neighborhoods easy to avoid, where it's largely gang-affiliated folks feuding. You shouldn't feel any sense of unease about working in Pittsburgh, even if the school system isn't for you.
As a result, I think Ross would be perfect for her.
Before moving too the region, we did not know about Ross Township, so it was not one of the places we looked at for a home. We settled in Cranberry and like it; however I wished we had looked at Ross Twp. There are some really beautiful neighborhoods with a lot of character and reasonably priced homes, and it's such a quick mostly painless drive to the city.
Before moving too the region, we did not know about Ross Township, so it was not one of the places we looked at for a home. We settled in Cranberry and like it; however I wished we had looked at Ross Twp. There are some really beautiful neighborhoods with a lot of character and reasonably priced homes, and it's such a quick mostly painless drive to the city.
I'm sorry to hear that. Even on this site, people tend to recommend the most elite townships or trendy neighborhoods. Great school districts like North Hills rarely get mentioned because it's not full of McMansions. I get sick of hearing the same recommendations/arguments, so much so I took a break from this forum for a year.
I second the Franklin Park idea. Many of my middle class Asian friends with families settled there. Quite a few of them commute to Oakland daily to work at Pitt/CMU. The school district is one of the best, the commute is great, housing stock is fairly new, although not the cheapest in the area, great parks and recreations.
Suburbanites concern with living here almost entirely revolves around the question of school quality (something which, as a parent, I think is overblown, but has more merit behind it than concerns about safety).
This is not true either and you know it. People choose to live in the suburbs because that's the lifestyle that appeals to them. Safety, school quality and other benefits is simply the result of hard work and dedication of those who choose to live there.
This is not true either and you know it. People choose to live in the suburbs because that's the lifestyle that appeals to them. Safety, school quality and other benefits is simply the result of hard work and dedication of those who choose to live there.
Maybe I should have said schools are usually the deciding factor for those who move out of the city, or those who were tempted to live in the city and decide against.
I totally realize that, for some reason, people like suburbs. It's alien to me why (and I say this having grown up in an upper-middle class suburb), but I realize for those sort of people, even Pittsburgh turning into a more affordable San Francisco wouldn't make a difference.
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