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Over the past couple of weeks I've been reading these threads and I've found it all incredibly helpful. So thank you in advance. My husbands job will be relocating him to their Worthington office starting next week. We will be listing our home in suburban Detroit asap and hoping to move soon after. We are looking at the Northern suburbs and all seem to be good choices, good schools, access to shopping and parks etc... Top choices are Westerville, Dublin, Lewis Center, Worthington, and possibly even Delaware. How are the schools in Gahanna, Delaware (found a house i love but it is Delaware/Buckeye schools and not Olentangy)? Also, what's Reynoldsburg all about? I see some incredibly nice homes for cheap and low taxes. JWould the drive from Reynoldsburg to Worthington be a nightmare? In all of those other suburbs though, I do worry about the taxes. We are looking at homes in the $250,000 range, but I hate the thought of an additional $6000+/year in property tax.
Overalll, we are looking for a community with lots of recreation activities, and that is friendly to newcomers and would love to find a subdivision that has normal, nice, healthy families that are social. We have a 2 year old and a 4 year old and we are both professionals, but are very laid back. Can't stand the 'keeping up with the Jones' thing...so would love to avoid any kind of snobiness.
Ugh, that was a multi-layered post. I"m sorry. Im just excited, and stressed, about the upcoming move to the Columbus area. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
I will try an outline how I feel about the areas. The following is my opinion only. All of those areas are nice, and all have pluses and minuses, so I am sure there are those who will disagree with me, and I am sure some will be offended at my lack of political correctness.
Dublin- great schools, wonderful community. Traffic can be rough. Tons of parks, soccer leagues, all that good stuff. A lot of money in the district. If you can handle the traffic you can't go wrong there.
Lewis Center- (Olentangy school district)- Fantastic schools. Olentangy and Dublin are probably the best in the area. Huge district. Newer neighborhoods with tons (and I mean TONS) of kids. Orange Township is a fantastic place to raise a family. They are putting parks in many of the neighborhoods, there is a great pool/water park type of thing, and they are starting to connect all the different areas with bike paths. Tons of young families, kids of all ages, lots of rec activities and sports leagues. You can't go wrong with Lewis Center. Traffic can be rough. The Polaris Mall is in the area and that creates a lot of traffic.
Delaware- more of a rural community. Schools arent on par with some of the top districts. Not a bad district, but it can have its struggles with the rural population and hillbilly element.
Westerville- great community but the schools are an interesting situation. They grade out very well and are highly rated,but there have been some well publicized financial battles over school funding, with many classes and activities being cut in recent years due to failed levies. Also, one thing you have to watch out for in the Columbus area is many of the burbs have a tax agreement with the city of Columbus. It is complicated and confusing, but the gist of it is certain areas of the city get bused into some of the suburban districts. The areas getting bussed into Westerville are rough, and that is having an impact on the schools. I hate to disparage the city of Westerville because it is a quaint, nice little town with an awesome parks system. Houses tend to be cheaper there, and you can get a lot for your money. Don't get me wrong, your kids won't grow up to be gangbangers there, but there are a lot of behavioral problems at the middle and high schools, and a huge population of Somali immigrants that get bused in can sometimes create some cultural issues. Again, I don't want to make it sound like you should avoid Westerville. They do fantastic things with their parks and rec, and the city services and street maintenance can't be beat.
Reynoldsburg- I would avoid it. Aging suburb with school issues and crime problems popping up in some of the areas. There are nice areas of it still, but its going down hill. Again, this is in comparison to other suburbs. Compared to inner city Columbus, it is fine.
Gahanna- Good basic burb. Some money, some working class, good mixture of all income levels. Good schools, maybe a step below Dublin/Olentangy, inexpensive homes, established neighborhoods. I have not lived there, but know people who do and they like it.
Worthington- great older suburb. Lots of mature trees and older houses. Schools used to be top notch, and are still very good, but have had some financial struggles over the last 5 years or so. They seem to be pulling out of it nicely. Like Westerville, they bus Columbus students in, but the areas they bus from are not as large, and not as run down, YET. I would feel comfortable with my kids in Worthington, but would keep an eye on the Columbus areas and see what condition they are in.
As for taxes. you are going to pay high taxes in any of the areas with the best schools. Dublin taxes are high. I would guess 6k on a 250k house. Westerville and Lewis Center have moderate taxes. I would guess you will pay 5k on a 250k house there. Worthington I would guess is on par with Westerville. Gahanna will run a little lower and you will get more house for your money there.
Also, to add to all the rambling I did above, my family and I recently moved from Westerville to Olentangy. We did a lot of research into the schools while we were making our decision of where to move. From our point of view Olentangy and Dublin had by far the best curriculum. The class offerings at those two districts are outstanding. All those districts you list do a good job with the kids. But not all have the huge variety of programs and activities that Dublin and Olentangy offered. Once we started digging into the actual offered curriculum we noticed a separation between those two and the other northern burbs.
I would agree with just about everything the previous poster has said. He (she) is spot on...Only thing I'd disagree with is Dublin. The area does have all of the attributes that wwtpbb has stated, but if you want to avoid the "keeping up with the Jones" mentality, I would steer clear. I think Gahanna is a great area with tons going for it...fantastic location, great accessibility to all major freeways, extremely diverse, clean, access to entertainment, ...etc. I'd say the only drawback is the size of the High School. At last count, their High School had over 3000 kids in one High School with no real space to build another one, but they have made additions to the current building. That being said, I know several young people that have graduated from that High School who are impressive youth...and I do not dole out that compliment very frequently. You are quite far away from having to worry about High Schools, though. If you're looking at having interactions with more children in the age range of your own then I would attempt to narrow your research to the North East quadrant of Gahanna. The houses may be a bit more expensive in that area, but the area seems to be full of younger families.
Reynoldsburg- I would avoid it. Aging suburb with school issues and crime problems popping up in some of the areas. There are nice areas of it still, but its going down hill. Again, this is in comparison to other suburbs. Compared to inner city Columbus, it is fine.
What part of inner-city Columbus? There are areas as nice or nicer than many areas of the outer suburbs, and areas that are still in decline and in rough shape, but it would seem that those areas are getting smaller with time. There is no broad brush description.
Wow, thank you for the responses - especially wwtpbb. I appreciate the information, especially about Reynoldsburg. I'll keep in mind those pockets you referred to. We plan to take a trip down in early March to learn the area and start scouting some neighborhoods.
I have posted a lot about our experiences in Worthington, so you can look back through the archives for what I have contributed to other threads. Overall, we love the school district and the options we have, especially for Middle and High School with two different alternative options available. Some of the elementary schools have more kids that come from ESL or more economically-challenged families but I can recommend Wilson Hill, Colonial Hills, Evening Street, Worthington Estates and Worthington Hills without reservation. The schools have very different cultures and vibes, so it really depends on what you are looking for.
Worthington is very laid-back for the most part, though some neighborhoods might be a little more fancy-pants than others. I prefer a jeans/t-shirt/tennis shoes standard myself and we fit right in here. Worthington is very down to earth and has started to skew a little crunchy in the past few years as young families relocate from Clintonville for better schools while keeping walkability. We live in the walkable area near Old Worthington so the housing here is a little older, but it is a trade-off for the amazing neighborhood. The housing prices are a big range and can vary by a LOT based on a one or two block difference. Worthington is very Norman Rockwell-esque with a really nice farmers' market and a lot of community amenities that offer family activities (amazing library, community center, youth sports programs, etc) but that might be a little suffocating if you are looking for a cul-de-sac suburban experience. I love it, but it isn't for everyone. The farther out areas of Worthington are more like your average suburbs which have feed into Worthington Schools but pay Columbus taxes + Worthington School taxes, so they are a little cheaper in the tax area.
Wherever you go, you may want to consider renting for a year to get a feel for the neighborhoods before you buy. Unless your 4 year old is starting kindergarten this coming fall, I would strongly consider living in Columbus before you commit to a specific school/neighborhood. Are you looking for preschools too?
Also, there is a big construction project going on at 270/315/23 for the next few years. If you are really worried about traffic, I would try to avoid moving anywhere too far north like Lewis Center/Powell. I have had some real issues getting into Old Worthington going south on 23 in the past few weeks due to 270/23 traffic. I hope that it will resolve quickly, but the project is supposed to last at least 2 years, so who knows?
If you want to know more about Worthington or have specific questions, feel free to send me a private message. I know that making such a big move can be really stressful.
As for taxes. you are going to pay high taxes in any of the areas with the best schools. Dublin taxes are high. I would guess 6k on a 250k house. Westerville and Lewis Center have moderate taxes. I would guess you will pay 5k on a 250k house there. Worthington I would guess is on par with Westerville. Gahanna will run a little lower and you will get more house for your money there.
Great overall thread but just to clarify, the property taxes in Columbus by and large exceed those of other Ohio cities and it isn't only the schools to blame. According to a recent article in USA today, Columbus has the highest property tax rate in the nation of those cities studied. My observation is this is attributable to the layering of property taxes. Any given property in Franklin County has the following levies - MRDD, library, the zoo, schools, and fire and this is assuming the community hasn't approved a special levy of some sort to pay for roads or economic development. Other cities in Ohio are able to provide similar or superior education with lower property taxes so it must be more than the schools driving the rates.
Does anyone have insight into Buckeye Schools? I've found two houses that I like, one in Powell and one in Delaware and they are both in Buckeye Schools. I've also found others listed in Delaware Schools, which I've read are not great, but not horrible...and a bit of the 'country-folk' affect. But, what about Buckeye? I've been under the impression that Powell is a very nice area. Anyway, anyone have any personal knowledge of the Buckeye School system? Thanks in advance!
All right, I am here again to put up another same school report card. FYI, many people claim many things about their school district subjectively -- "Very Good", "Excellent", "Best", "Amazing" .... You really cannot tell what is the gap between them.
Here comes the rescue -- report card from Ohio Department Education. Specifically, look at Performance Index which weight all tests of all students with advance group get higher weight. So Higher score, the better, with max at 120. You can see the reports here Pages - Ohio School Report Cards
FYI:
1) I only include the districts you mention -- Northern or surrounding Worthington area, across a 2 year span.
2) I did not include it here, but if I include all other areas, you would find that top tier districts like Dublin/Olentangy/Upper Arlington/New Albany/Grandview would score around 107+ in the index. 2nd tier would be like Hilliard, Worthington in the 103/104 region. And then the rest.
3) For specific property tax, you may want to look into Franklin County Auditor Franklin County Auditor - Home Page , and Delaware County Auditor Home Page sites for more info.
But based on my past research, Best school districts are all charging high property tax, with the exception of Olentangy. Dublin + Worthington + New Albany + Upper Arlington are at about the same rate, while Olentangy is a step lower. So for a $300K property, you may be looking at $6K+ in Olentangy while at least $7k+ in the rest. Pull up Zillow map and look into properties in those are to get a feel.
Good luck hunting!
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