Considering Southington ....how is it compared to avon, farmington, glastonbury, canton (Hartford: apartments, mobile home)
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We will be commuting to Hartford. How is the commute from Southington? How are the schools compared to the other areas I mentioned. Also how is the neighborhood in comparison, socioeconomic class?. I notice the houses are priced less as well as the tax. Wondering if we should consider this neighborhood. Thanks in advance
Many nice areas, middle class, okay schools, lots of Italian extraction families. Possible to commute to Hartford, but traffic is heavy, although if you can adjust your hours to work a little before or after 9 to 5, that would help. It's really a perfectly fine town.
Southington is a perfectly good town. The Plantsville section of Southington is especially nice.
My one complaint with Southington is the size of the high school. It's large school district- I think 8 grade schools. But everything eventually funnels into just one high school. The high school thus has a student population of close to 2100 students.
I don't know if that makes a difference to you, but some kids could be overwhelmed. I have relatives who live in Plantsville and their kids did just fine at Southington High and got into top notch colleges so it may not make a difference.
I agree with what the others say. Southington is a nice middle class town with good schools but it is not in the same league as Avon, Farmington, Glastonbury or even Canton. Those towns are among the most affluent and desirable in the greater Hartford area. Southington is just more middle of the road. The schools there are good but do not generally perform as well on the Connecticut Mastery and Connecticut Academic Performance Tests. You can review information on schools in Connecticut at the link below. Also as Kidyankee notes Southington does not have the aesthetic character the other towns mentioned do. That is not to say it is a bad town. Quite the opposite. Jay
I'd say Southington is more than an average town. There is always something to do from what I've seen. Yes, the high school is huge but with that comes a large variety of extracurriculars and academic opportunities. It's all preference.
I think Southington is a very nice town. You can get more for your money there. They have a few good non-chain restaurants in their downtown area (Anthony Jax, Smokin' With Chris) , along with most chains on Queen Street. Shopping is convenient and I84 runs right through. The commute to Hartford won't suck until you hit West Hartford. As soon as you hit west Hartford traffic slows down or stops during busy drive times, but luckily there are only a few miles to go at that point. It almost might be quicker to take 84 to 72 to 9 to 91 during rush hour. Maybe not, but I often feel that way driving through the area and sitting in traffic. I have no experience with their schools, but I've also never heard bad things about them. I grew up in a neighboring town.
Southington's neighborhood vary widely, but I wouldn't say there are any bad areas, just more working class vs moderately wealthy, depending on where you are.
Have you checked out Berlin, Cromwell and Rocky Hill? The commute would be better, but I'm not sure if they fit what you're looking for.
I think Southington is a very nice town. You can get more for your money there. They have a few good non-chain restaurants in their downtown area (Anthony Jax, Smokin' With Chris) , along with most chains on Queen Street. Shopping is convenient and I84 runs right through. The commute to Hartford won't suck until you hit West Hartford. As soon as you hit west Hartford traffic slows down or stops during busy drive times, but luckily there are only a few miles to go at that point. It almost might be quicker to take 84 to 72 to 9 to 91 during rush hour. Maybe not, but I often feel that way driving through the area and sitting in traffic. I have no experience with their schools, but I've also never heard bad things about them. I grew up in a neighboring town.
Southington's neighborhood vary widely, but I wouldn't say there are any bad areas, just more working class vs moderately wealthy, depending on where you are.
Have you checked out Berlin, Cromwell and Rocky Hill? The commute would be better, but I'm not sure if they fit what you're looking for.
School sports are the big thing in Berlin, as opposed to academics, from what residents tell me. So if you're the kind of family whose kids are into cheerleading and football, Berlin is a good choice. If they're into academics exclusively, maybe not a great choice. Rocky Hill schools are overcrowded and underfunded. At this point, families I know are actually looking to the Hartford magnet schools to escape Rocky Hill school issues - which is saying a lot. Don't know about Cromwell.
I would say that for convenient location, reasonable cost, decent schools, and doable commute to Hartford, Southington should definitely be on the list. I think that Farmington near the Fieneman road entrance or near the Westfarms Mall entrance to 84 are also good choices, but NOT near the Rt 4 entrance, because of the terrible traffic bottleneck at that exit and entrance.
Have you considered Newington? It's also an easy commute to Hartford, has decent schools, has many middle class to upper middle class areas.
As the only or one of the only individuals responding here who has lived in Southington (9 years), I'll give my input. The commute to Hartford is all on I84, but not as bad a commute as the towns in Farmington valley that you mentioned. Southington isn't as upscale as the other towns, but has many, many newer developments with large homes and beautiful yards. The owners of those properties are college educated. You definitely get more home for your money. There are wonderful rolling hills and apple orchards. The views from my old neighborhood were gorgeous. One of the most highly attended festivals in the state, the Apple Harvest Festival, is held in downtown Southington. The town is a great place to raise a family. However, the schools are not as strong as the towns you've mentioned. They're better than average for CT, and get 7s and 8s from greatschools.org if you value their opinion. On schooldigger they're actually ranked higher than Glastonbury. I loved living there, and would have loved to stay there, but family lives east of the river, and I believe Glastonbury's schools are better.
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