relocate to Cincinnati. Is Hamilton area safe to live? (Middletown: sales, daycare)

[kv1100]

My family is relocating to Cincinnati. We have a 3 year old and 1 year old. Safety is the biggest concern for us. Is Hamilton a good area to live? Or Oxford is better?

Also, anyone can recommend a good daycare around Hamilton? Thanks!

[mommster]

I wouldn't recommend Hamilton. Oxford is a much better choice all around.

[abr7rmj]

Will you be working in/around Hamilton? Or will you be in Oxford?

Oxford is a beautiful, almost idyllic small college town. You could do a lot worse than living there. There's also West Chester, which has outstanding schools and seems to be popular among the suburban crowd.

[kjbrill]

Hamilton is an old blue collar town. With the withdrawl of many of their manufacturing businesses, Hamilton has suffered as a residence. Oxford is the home of Miami University, and therefore a college town. Everything in Oxford revolves around Miami University. That is not so say it is bad, but recognize you are in a college town.

I would not recommend the city of Hamilton as a place to live, simply because of the problems they have incurred recently. But there are several areas outside of the city itself which are quite active and attractive.

[kjbrill]

I did not mean to dish directly on Hamilton, but their economic problems are well known. A recent article on home sales within Butler Co. emphasized how much the median home value has dropped in Hamilton. The only place significantly worse was Middletown. Both cities have far too high a percentage of vacant homes.

[Ohioan58]

A contractor I use lives in Hamilton. I don't remember the name of the section (Grand- something?) but it's close to the hospital, and he described it as a gracious tree-lined older area without the decline problems of the downtown area, with some long time professional residents.

I see Hamilton as a mini-metropolis. They even have their own hydroelectric plant.

Middletown overall is a dead dump filled with stupid rednecks. Middletown property is dirt cheap which is the only thing going for it. Hamilton has small pockets of affluence and has much more of a big city feel. Even though they are close to each other, I don't regard them alike at all.

However, my wife has a friend who is a teacher in Hamilton city schools and the word there is the schools are quite rough (again, may not be a useful generalization.)

[rrtechno]

I have 2 sons who life in Hamilton and have for 13 and 10 years respectively. We have looked in Hamilton but have not committed to any location yet as our current house has not yet sold.

My impression of Hamilton is that it is much like most communities of its size and age. There are "good" areas, and there are "bad" areas (and some in between). Probably almost anything you want can be found someplace in that area. "The schools are quite rough" can mean many things these days, but you are going to find that most public and many private schools have a different type of student than they did 30, 20, 0r even 10 years ago. It depends on what you are after.

It is good to get thoughts and feedback, but just remember, human nature says that those with the most negative views will make the most noise. Be sure you get a good cross section of comments if you decide to base your decision on feedback.

[t45209]

The thing about Hamilton, Oxford, and Middletown, Trenton etc is that there is is a lot of rural areas in between that can't be labeled as being any of these towns, and yet be within a few minutes drive. So, to be worried about whether Hamilton is safe is sort of immaterial in my mind. If whatever is bringing you the area is within a the Hamilton-area, you can find a lot of nice property and homes nearby and not have to deal with the mean streets of Hamilton or drunk coeds of Miami in Oxford (as a Miami grad I can say that).

[kjbrill]

Hamilton has had some fabulously successful companies over its history. Champion Paper was a well over 100 year company. There used to be an established meat packing industry, hence the name Hamilton Mett. Unfortunately these companies have fallen on hard times and with them Hamilton as a whole. But Hamilton seems to be hanging in there better than Middletown.

[mike1003]

FWIIW, the Lindenwald area of Hamilton (on 127, between Fairfield and Old-er- Hamilton), seems to be trying to re-gentrify. Check it out if you want.

That said, the above posts seem to say it all. An older blue collar city that is long past it's prime.