Lol Aiken county a suburb of a Georgia city (Sumter: real estate, crime)

[windsorwet]

Why are North Augusta and Aiken suburbs of Augusta? Do N. Augusta or Aiken have a walmart, target, fresh market. How often do residents have to drive to Augusta? My family and I will be moving to either Aiken or North Augusta. Im starting a new job in South Carolina. Im looking for a nice upper middle class neighborhood. Lookin for ideas on a 325k budget. What city is better North Augusta vs Aiken. Schools, family activities, lower crime, and shopping.

[scyogi]

In regards to Aiken, they have a Target, 2 Walmarts, a small 1 story mall, and a decent movie theater. Several more retail spaces have opened up since I moved in 2007 and hopefully people will post the new additions for you. I just read that the only gourmet grocery located downtown is closing. :-( We lived in Aiken for 10 years and loved it. Schools are great. Crime is basically drug/theft/domestic violence. I never felt unsafe in Aiken. The plus side of Aiken: Hitchcock woods, golfing, and the downtown area. We went to Augusta maybe twice a year for for back to school shopping, etc. Never drove to N. Augusta except maybe for a HS sporting event. $325K will get you a decent house. 3-4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2 car garage. Probably around 2300-2800 sqft.

[Sudcaro]

We've lived in Aiken for several months now and never go to Augusta as far as shopping is concerned... we have everything we need here, Target, Walmart, Kroger... the mall, though small, has stores such as JC Penney, Sears, Belk... Publix (supermarket) has great produce... there's a farmer's market... lots of restaurants...

[lolo2]

Well you can jog or bike from downtown North Augusta to downtown Augusta in 10 minutes. Aiken and Augusta are 30 to 40 minutes apart.... Majority of N. Augusta residents are in Augusta five days a week. Hammond's ferry in N. Augusta can't be beat. The neighborhood is walkable. Stores, a market, and amenities are right there in the neighborhood...... We have a Walmart here in North Augusta..... Driving from North Augusta to West Augusta takes 15 minutes. Tons of store's and restuarants, Target, Augusta mall williams sonoma..Apple..Sephora..to name a few... A Fresh Market, Surrey Center, Washington rd, and Augusta Exchange...... Martinez which is next to West Augusta, has a Earthfare....... North Augusta is about 20 minutes to Evans, they have new stores and restuarants also.

[Butterfly4u]

There is Aiken County, and then there is the city of Aiken, inside AIken county.
The city of AIken has everything that you are looking for.
Great schools, kid friendly, great activities for children, nice neighborhoods in your price range, you have to visist and check everything out.
The county of AIken, has little towns and is more rural, with biggger properties, a little cheaper on real estate taxes than in Aiken city, more livestock, although there are plently of horses in Aiken,
and a hop skip and a jump to Augusta, North Augusta, and Aiken.
I live 4 miles outside of Aiken city in the county.
I like it here. My neighbors are not as close as in the city of Aiken.
You will be surprised as to how many things there are to do around Aiken in general.
Good Luck to you!
Come on down!

[waccamatt]

Originally Posted by windsorwet

Why are North Augusta and Aiken suburbs of Augusta? Do N. Augusta or Aiken have a walmart, target, fresh market. How often do residents have to drive to Augusta? My family and I will be moving to either Aiken or North Augusta. Im starting a new job in South Carolina. Im looking for a nice upper middle class neighborhood. Lookin for ideas on a 325k budget. What city is better North Augusta vs Aiken. Schools, family activities, lower crime, and shopping.

Why are they? Aiken County is part of Augusta's metro area. I'm not sure why this question is an issue.

[sunnyb16]

Visited Aiken in the June. Very nice town and people. They even have a Chilis restaurant. The mall is small with no food court to speak of and the bowling alley is even smaller. However, we had a great time and enjoyed Aiken. It's a beautiful place. Good Luck!

[Ceezer]

Originally Posted by scyogi

In regards to Aiken, they have a Target, 2 Walmarts...

That makes me jealous, since Aiken seems considerably smaller than Sumter. At least by it's profile here.

North Augusta also has some very nice MTB trails. I went over in March '06 to help work on the Forks Area Trail System, which was 16 miles worth of hard, fast, technical trails with plans to expand to 32 miles.

[rmljw]

I was just wondering where you are moving from. I think where you come from makes a big difference as to whether or not you will like Aiken. My family and I moved here a year and a half ago and have been very unhappy. In hindsight we think a move to North Augusta (or just staying back where we were) would have been more wise. If you have young children like we do there is very little to do. We moved here from a western, open-minded city and found Aiken to be a huge culture. Not surprisingly it is extremely conservative, and you are reminded of that every time you meet someone and they ask you what church you attend. We have found social networks revolve around the church, so if you are not involved in one it is pretty difficult to make friends. I am a stay at home Mom which makes it even more difficult. With few children's activities it is even harder to meet people. Aiken is also a car mandatory area. There are no sidewalks, except some downtown areas, no accessible bikepaths, and very little outdoor recreation aside from summer swimming, even though most pools (I believe all of which are private country clubs) are only open Memorial Day to Labor Day despite the long, hot summer.
The Aiken public schools are supposed to be pretty good, at least by SC standards. We do head to Augusta fairly regularly to go to the mall--Aiken has one but it is very tiny with little other than a ncie book store and some small department stores, family friendly restaurants and parks. Aiken has a very poor park/playground system.
I don't mean to be a downer because it seems many people do love it here. Perhaps if I had not lived somewhere else that I really loved and had outdoor recreation, an open-minded feel, and fabulous parks I would not compare so roughly. I think North Augusta is a better bet for activities if that interests you.
Good luck!

[Rapunzll]

Originally Posted by rmljw

I was just wondering where you are moving from. I think where you come from makes a big difference as to whether or not you will like Aiken. My family and I moved here a year and a half ago and have been very unhappy. In hindsight we think a move to North Augusta (or just staying back where we were) would have been more wise. If you have young children like we do there is very little to do. We moved here from a western, open-minded city and found Aiken to be a huge culture. Not surprisingly it is extremely conservative, and you are reminded of that every time you meet someone and they ask you what church you attend. We have found social networks revolve around the church, so if you are not involved in one it is pretty difficult to make friends. I am a stay at home Mom which makes it even more difficult. With few children's activities it is even harder to meet people. Aiken is also a car mandatory area. There are no sidewalks, except some downtown areas, no accessible bikepaths, and very little outdoor recreation aside from summer swimming, even though most pools (I believe all of which are private country clubs) are only open Memorial Day to Labor Day despite the long, hot summer.
The Aiken public schools are supposed to be pretty good, at least by SC standards. We do head to Augusta fairly regularly to go to the mall--Aiken has one but it is very tiny with little other than a ncie book store and some small department stores, family friendly restaurants and parks. Aiken has a very poor park/playground system.
I don't mean to be a downer because it seems many people do love it here. Perhaps if I had not lived somewhere else that I really loved and had outdoor recreation, an open-minded feel, and fabulous parks I would not compare so roughly. I think North Augusta is a better bet for activities if that interests you.
Good luck!

<sigh> Open minded tends to mean agrees with YOU.

Oh, and I have lived in four states MI, PA, TX and now SC and one other country, Indonesia.