[NewEnglanderToday]

Hi,

We are a young couple with no kids who are relocating to the area and are wondering what town to look for a rental house in. We are looking for a place with an active town center and other young couples. Ideally, we'd like to be able to walk to around our house, so nothing too rural without sidewalks. We'd appreciate suggestions on the towns around New Haven that would be safe to live in and where we'd be able to find a rental house for around 2000 a month on an annual lease (there appear to be many academic rentals). We are also considering buying, but are not sure what town to choose.

Also, if you could comment on what each town offers for services like trash pick up and tax rates we would appreciate it. We don't want to pay extra for trash pick up or have to bring it to the local transfer station. It seems like some of the small towns such as Guilford and Madison have very high property tax rates. Are there towns with lower rates? Finally, if you could comment on schools in each town that would be great.

We've been looking at Branford, Guilford, Madison, Clinton, Westbrook, Old Saybrook. Are there others we should consider? Is East Haven a safe place to live?

Thanks!

[JayCT]

The towns you are considering are very good. It really all depends on what you are looking for in a community. Madison is the most affluent and upscale of the towns. It has excellent schools and a nice downtown area with some really nice shops (check out the great bookstore there).

Guilford is a little less upscale but has a wonderful town green area with some nice small shops. The schools are very good and there are a lot of nice nieghborhoods around town.

Branford is also a little less upscale but has a very nice downtown with a lot of shops. It is also closest to New Haven so it is very convenient for commuting. The town has a lot more condos and apartments than the others so you may have an easier time finidng a rental there.

Old Saybrook is the furthest from New Haven and has a large number of seasonal cottages so it is considered more of a beach vacation community than suburb. It too has a nice downtown with a lot of nice stores many that cater to vacationers.

Clinton and Westbrook are a bit more blue collar than the others above. We recently had a bad experience at a children's sporting event in Clinton and were shocked at how rude and obnoxious the kids, parents and coaches were there. This was by far the worst experience we have had with traveling sports and we have played in some towns that are not known for their friendliness. Friends that lived in the area say they are not surprised and have had similar experiences but I find it hard to believe that the enitre town could be this way.

East Haven is a nice working class town. It is generally safe. There is a small downtown area that has a lot of shops. The schools generally perform under the state averages on the Connecticut Mastery and Connecticut Academic Performance Tests. Still it is a nice town.

As for garbage pickup, many towns in Connecticut do not offer this as part of town services. It goes back to the old days of Yankee frugality that offers people a choice and saves on taxes. I would not rule out a town because of this. Garbage removal is not expensive or difficult to get in any town. Jay

[willow wind]

Much of where you might look for a home may depend upon where you will be working. All of the towns you note are safe

That said here is some info for you

Mill rates:

East Haven 26.84
Branford 23.57
Guilford 20.83
Madison 19.30
Clinton 22.41
Westbrook 16.96
Old Saybrook 13.99

Only Branford & East Haven have any municipal trash service.

The only place you are going to find sidewalks in any of those towns is right along town center and perhaps a few side streets near town center.

Branford, Guilford, Madison and Old Saybrook have walkable town centers. Clinton has a walkable Main St. area. All the towns you note are basically the type of places where you are going to depend heavily on a car to get around. You'll find young people in any of those towns.

East Haven is the most built up of any of the towns you note -with the southern section of the town made up primarily of smaller, older homes on small lots. It is the most affordable of any of the towns above.

The highest rated schools are in Guilford and Madison. East Haven schools under peform. All the others are OK.

I would suggest you look in Branford first. From you seem to want, I think it would come closest. It may be the liveliest, have the most sidewalk areas near town center and have the youngest demographic of those towns. There are also many rental options from homes to condos.

[Stylo]

Are you working in New Haven? Just wondering why you aren't considering towns west of New Haven too.

As far as east of New Haven, Branford sounds like the best bet for you. Guilford and Madison are very nice and have great schools, but are not lively or young.

[anon860]

The most walkable neighborhoods in the area, by far, are East Rock, Westville and Whitneyville/Spring Glen (which are areas within New Haven, or just over the border, that effectively function as suburbs). These are pretty much the only areas you can live and not have to use a car to get everywhere. These areas have very low crime rates, and are near the center of New Haven. They also have more young couples than any of the towns on your list, by a wide margin.

Branford, Guilford and Madison have the nicest town centers of the smaller towns on your list. But I don't think that they are nearly as walkable. There are a few trains and buses that run out to them, but service is extremely spotty. I know quite a few young couples who have moved to these areas, but within a year they were looking to move to one of the "hot" areas that I mentioned above.

Re: schools. The conventional wisdom on this site about schools is so far off the mark (since most of the commenters live in the suburbs and are "bought in" to them, so to speak), that I won't get into that in detail. Let's just say that, if you look at the neighborhoods where the hgihest-achieving students in CT actually come from, they don't all come from the suburban towns you might think. Many live in the cities of New Haven or Hamden, and for high school go to Hopkins School, Hamden Hall, or the Cross Honors Program. If you don't have kids yet, you may have some time to figure this out given that some of the best Pre-K and K (and beyond, at a few schools) programs in the state are at the magnet schools in New Haven, and draw students from New Haven as well as from many of the suburban towns. If you hear CW on this site from folks who have drank the "kool aid", just take it with a liberal dose of salt, that's all.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by anon860

The most walkable neighborhoods in the area, by far, are East Rock, Westville and Whitneyville/Spring Glen (which are areas within New Haven, or just over the border, that effectively function as suburbs). These are pretty much the only areas you can live and not have to use a car to get everywhere.

That's not true. In and around Milford downtown is walkable. I have a friend that lives a few blocks south of the green and he can walk to restaurants, deli's, bars, shops, a bakery, a food truck, gourmet/cheese shop, an independent drug store, CVS, dry cleaners, Metro North train and several convenience stores. He could even walk to Shop Rite, it's only a mile walk and there are sidewalks all the way. Theoretically one could get away with not having a car there, but the point is it's as walkable as the OP wants (they'll likely have a car too) and just as walkable if not more than a neighborhood like Westville.

[RogerAnthony]

Not to get off topic, but they really don't offer trash pick-up? I've never heard of such a thing! What do people do with their garbage?

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by RogerAnthony

Not to get off topic, but they really don't offer trash pick-up? I've never heard of such a thing! What do people do with their garbage?

Milford does, but the 2 other CT towns I've lived in (including Danbury - which is a city) required you to pay for private garbage pick up.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by RogerAnthony

Not to get off topic, but they really don't offer trash pick-up? I've never heard of such a thing! What do people do with their garbage?

Hire private companies to do it. I know East Haven has trash pick-up though.

I live in Branford and there are walkable sections, but outside of the immediate downtown area, you need a car. Branford, Madison, and Guilford are all nice towns and Jay outlined them well. Madison is beautiful but a little removed, as are parts of Guilford. Branford is perfect IMO.

I'd also suggest you look at Milford. It can be pricier than Branford but the large downtown is pretty walkable. There is a ton of shopping within a few minute's drive. This does bring in a lot of undesirable traffic to town from people in outer-ring 'burbs like Oxford, Monroe and Bethany, but it's mostly confined to the Post Road (Route 1) where all of the shopping is located.

I highly recommend Branford though.

[NewEnglanderToday]

Thank you all for the great suggestions on towns. I should have mentioned the reason we are looking east of New Haven is that one of us has to commute to Guilford and the other to Boston (once a week). It seems like commutes from the west side of New Haven to Guilford can get quite long e.g. Milford to Guilford is 37 minutes. We'd like to keep the commute to Guilford 30 min or less.