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@jason7613, was curious if you have made the move up to Saratoga yet or still in LI? If you have moved, can you fill me in on it? We are considering a move as well, would love any insight !!! Thx!
Hello !
So, my family and I are considering a move back east from San Francisco Bay Area ( I grew up in west cty ny) to Saratoga springs area. I have family up there and am somewhat familiar, but not with Saratoga springs in particular . Help! We are concerned about cost of living. I see housing is affordable ( compared to where I am lol) but we need to get a idea on average salaries, across the board. What can you survive on? Live comfortable on? Is the economy good there, and year round? Is it a ghost town even for locals in winter time? Which schools are good? Will I feel like I know everyone's business after a year of living there lol? We are looking for a smaller town, more community, change of seasons, lighter commutes, friendly people and rich nature and history. Please ,if you can, give me your two,three or tens cents:
Thank you
Hi
I moved up here for a job and have raised my son here. Its a great place to raise kids. I have been pleased with the public schools, my son has been in one of the 4 elementary schools ( Division Street), middle school ( Maple Ave), and is now a senior at the high school. There are also private and Catholic schools here if you don't want public. There are lots of enrichment activities for kids and its a safe, family friendly environment. The City is going through a period of growth and we will see how that plays out.
Compared to where you are, the COL is reasonable. Its hard to answer your question about how much you need since that depends upon one's lifestyle.
We also are 3 hours from Boston, Montreal and NYC if you want a big city and Albany is about 40 minutes away. The economy is diverse with education, healthcare, and manufacturing and tourism coming to mind.
I don't think you can go wrong moving here and suggest you come and visit. Day to day quality of life is really nice.
Good luck!
We live in the Town of Saratoga aka Schuylerville or Quaker Springs (Saratoga County). We are in the rural area about 10 miles outside of Saratoga Springs. Schuylerville school district is excellent. We are approximately 4 miles from getting milk. IMO the areas that you might consider with a young family would would be Wilton, Ballston Spa, Clifton Park. AFA job opportunities you might look into the Albany area. Also the newspaper from the area might provide some information for you (Times-Union). The commute to Albany is really no big deal, especially coming from LI. Yes, the traffic slows down on the Northway, but it is not the bumper to bumper nightmare that I was used to (NJ).
The area in Saratoga Springs around Lake Avenue school is a nice area you might look into.
I would agree with this also. Saratoga Springs can get very crowded with racing season (horse) and can be a pain to get around. Otherwise a very nice place. Can be expensive but compared to LI is probably cheap (BTW- we moved from LI -Sayville- 17 yrs ago). Another nice family place/town with good schools is Greenwich. It is across the Hudson River about 10 miles east of Saratoga. It has a cute little town with a supermarket, K-mart, Tractor Supply (great for dog food and garden stuff), a hardware store, restaurants, and a bunch of mom and pops, and it will be a lot cheaper than SS. It's very safe. It is across the river from Schuylerville. If fact the western part of Greenwich is in the Schuylerville schools, the town and eastern part is in Greenwich schools.
Driving to Troy, Albany or even Schenectady for jobs is no big deal. We use to live just east of Greenwich and it took my husband about 40 minutes to get to Albany, about 30 minutes to Troy.
As far as jobs- we both use to work for the state (hubby still does) If you are in finance , you have a very good chance of getting a NYS job. have your wife check also. The pay is not bad and the benefits are fantastic.. Deferred compensation, vacations,5 personal days, 13 holidays, drug plan, dental, eye glasses, etc. The Empire plan is wonderful. Hubby needed 2 back surgeries. Each was over $100K. We paid $0!!! Only a $20 co-pay for the doctor office visits. Good luck.
Im surprised no one has mentioned any concerns with the differance in the weather from Long Island and SS. Winters are longer and much colder with alot more snow to contend with. So yeah, it may be tolerable now when your young but that will be a burden in time and then you may have to move again. Also dont like paying tolls every time I hit the road. Other states dont have tolls even on bridges.
Im surprised no one has mentioned any concerns with the differance in the weather from Long Island and SS. Winters are longer and much colder with alot more snow to contend with. So yeah, it may be tolerable now when your young but that will be a burden in time and then you may have to move again. Also dont like paying tolls every time I hit the road. Other states dont have tolls even on bridges.
Some states like TX and NC have actually added tolls on some highways.
I'm sure there are some alternative routes as well.
Luckily municipalities are likely going to have equipment that removes snow as well.
Im surprised no one has mentioned any concerns with the differance in the weather from Long Island and SS. Winters are longer and much colder with alot more snow to contend with. So yeah, it may be tolerable now when your young but that will be a burden in time and then you may have to move again. Also dont like paying tolls every time I hit the road. Other states dont have tolls even on bridges.
Unless something changed recently, there are no tolls on the Northway. You should be able to get from Albany to Saratoga right on up to Montreal toll free.
Im surprised no one has mentioned any concerns with the differance in the weather from Long Island and SS. Winters are longer and much colder with alot more snow to contend with. So yeah, it may be tolerable now when your young but that will be a burden in time and then you may have to move again. Also dont like paying tolls every time I hit the road. Other states dont have tolls even on bridges.
Not everyone like warm weather. As someone from LI who attended Albany, I am familiar with the longer, gray winter, colder temps and snowfall. People who aren't are in for a little surprise lol
One giant plus is NOT having to plan to leave your home ridiculously early to avoid traffic getting off LI. We leave here at 4:45 AM to make sure we are at my daughter's campus before 9. Anything later and traffic is already getting heavy at the bridges -- which have obscenely high tolls.
Im surprised no one has mentioned any concerns with the differance in the weather from Long Island and SS. Winters are longer and much colder with alot more snow to contend with. So yeah, it may be tolerable now when your young but that will be a burden in time and then you may have to move again. Also dont like paying tolls every time I hit the road. Other states dont have tolls even on bridges.
The only toll road in the Saratoga area is the NYS Thruway. I-87 between Albany and Canada, aka the Northway, has no tolls, and neither does I-88, and there is no toll between Exit 24 of the Thruway and Exit 25A, which is where I-88 ends. The only other toll road in this area is the Berkshire Spur - I-90 going into MA, and I avoid that, and driving the Mass Pike, by using Route 20 when I go to MA every month.
The weather isn't identical from year to year. Right now, for example, we are having a cool spell, and 2 days ago actually set a new record for LOW temperature for the day. That beats a year ago, when on the second Saturday in August we had a heat index of 99. Last year was hotter on average than it has been this year. You can't predict the weather based on one year. Christmas Eve 2015 we were in the 70's, for example. And I can remember March 2012 when we had one week in the 80's, and then this year on March 14 we had a record snow storm that equaled the Blizzard of March 1993.
As you can tell, I am a native of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy-Saratoga area. Born and lived here for nearly 43 years.
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