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Check the stairs. Wood stairs are noisier than cement stairs --- if your apartment is next to the stairs and you are on the second or first floor. People run up and down them and you'll hear it in your apartment, in the early hours of the morning.
Best advice ever! I had a friend whose bedroom window was beneath these old wooden stairs and she ended up sleeping on her couch every night because the noise was unbearable. If you were sitting on her bed and chatting you could barely hear yourselves if people were clomping up or down them!
I live in the middle (2nd floor). I can't hear any noises from the bathroom, fortunately, other than a faint water-running sound. Even then it's impossible to tell which water is actually running. I could only guess from the duration of the sound.
Well the op has probably already decided, but I wanted to add one more benefit of having a top floor apartment- MOLD. I'm in Florida (damp, humid conditions) and after the hurricane, mold seemed to be one of the biggest issues. I noticed that ground floor apartments had it worst. At least on the upper floors, you're less likely to deal with moldy conditions.
When I was in my late teens, I lived on the sixth floor of a walk-up building in New York. I had three cats living with me, so not only had to carry groceries up, but also very heavy bags of cat litter.
Still, it was wonderful having a decent view out the windows -- and not having anyone above me. Having said that -- I don't think my now-middled-aged knees could take that many stairs anymore.
We used to live on the third floor in a medium-sized apartment building, and we rarely had to turn our heat on even during the winter! And we live in Montreal!
I absolutely cannot tolerate people walking over my head, and neither can DH.
I rented on a third floor apt, I loved it.. Actually it was a condo and it offered 12 ft cathedrial ceilings all the rest were your standard flat ceilings.. After a while i didn't mind the stairs(and I have heart and blood pressure problems) we were lucky and got the model apt below us so we had no one above and no one below.. I'd take the top, I wish I was still living there!
Well the op has probably already decided, but I wanted to add one more benefit of having a top floor apartment- MOLD. I'm in Florida (damp, humid conditions) and after the hurricane, mold seemed to be one of the biggest issues. I noticed that ground floor apartments had it worst. At least on the upper floors, you're less likely to deal with moldy conditions.
actually you're MORE likely.. I've lived in SWFL for 20 years and what you find is that the hurricanes come through and rip off the shingles and sometimes corners of the apts, and all that rain from the hurricane, and storms afterwards gets under the roof and drips into the insulation etc and then its soo hot and steamy its a breeding ground for mold.. its just that its above you instead of around you, but since its above you its in your air ducts and ventilation so its blowing into your house air
To me, the floor doesn't matter too much. My problems have been with the neighbors that live on the other side of my adjoining walls. I loved waking up at 3 am to sound of my neighbors across my bedroom wall scream, trying out for a Porn Oscar. I almost never heard anyone above or below me, but next to me...that was another story.
My apartment only has one adjoining wall and that is in my daughter's room to the other second bedroom in the adjacent apartment. It is a downstairs unit. I have a small child and small children like to run and make a lot of noise. I didn't want to get some jerk downstairs neighbor who would complain all the time. Beyond that, my husband and I are not lightfooted even if we tried to be.
I assume it would be more easy for someone to break into a downstairs, but I have never known anyone that had happened to including myself. Doesn't mean it can't, it just isn't a compelling reason for me to go upstairs if the neighborhood has been proven very low crime.
I lived in a top level apartment in the summer that faced the west to boot, and it sucked. It was very difficult to cool. I can live with cold in the winter, but I can't stand heat in the summer. I would take the cooler lower floors any day of the week. YMMV.
We lived on a 2nd floor and it wasn't that good at all. First of all, our bedroom was next to the stairway (didn't know this when we rented the apartment). We could hear people walking (sometimes "stomping" up the stairs.....that got very old, very fast) during the day and into the "wee" hours of the night on weekends. Below our apartment was an enclosed garage that the neighbor behind us rented. All the time we could hear the garage door going up and down when they left or came home.....that got annoying. When they moved out, we grabbed that garage very quickly! The people above us were awefully noisey......the noise was shaking our ceiling and rattling our displayed dishes in a cabinet. Our neighbors right across the hall were three cocktail waitresses and they made "enough" noise at
3AM, after getting off of work, that I had to get up and tell them "there are people sleeping, would you ladies please be quieter". Apartment living is NOT fun for everyone, no matter what floor living on. After the apartment, we bought a house, but had noise problems there also with next door neighbors dogs barking in the middle of the night. Had to sell the house when when we moved......living in another apartment again!
Now we live on the first floor due to my hip replacement and we are getting to old to be "strutting" up and down stairs (age: 59/60). Unfortunately, we have noisey neighbors above us again....thumping, running across the floor. Sometimes we just don't think that people care how much noise they make living in an apartment on any floor.
If the 3rd floor is the top floor in your complex, I would go for it. Even though you'll do more walking, you will sleep so much better!
I lived on the second floor of my last apartment, and we could always hear our neighbors upstairs walking around. In the end, it depends on how well the building is constructed. Check out a site like apartmentratings.com to see what other tenants say.
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Doesn't mean it can't, it just isn't a compelling reason for me to go upstairs if the neighborhood has been proven very low crime. 
