[drcr4]

Hello everyone. My husband and I are interested in renting a house in CT. We've lived in NYC all our lives, but went away to college in Fairfield County, CT, which I absolutely loved. In college, we decided that we wanted to raise our (then future) children in CT. Now, we have two little kids and are looking to move.

We want to rent a house (we really don't want an apartment, unless it's 3 bedrooms). We'd like to live in a diverse, safe, family-friendly area, preferably one with a good public school system. Also, the location must be within one hour drive to NYC (my husband will keep his current job).

We've looked into Westchester county and there are a few nice places, but I'd really prefer to be out of NY.

So, which areas do you recommend? I heard that Stamford is diverse, but is it in our price range? Is it a good area to raise children? Darien? Danbury? Stratford? I really have no idea where to begin looking. I do know, however, that Bridgeport is a huge NO!

For rent, we can do $1500 a month or less.

Thanks!

[drcr4]

Forgot to add:
In college, we were going to rent a 4-bedroom house in Milford for $1000/month. Milford wasn't too far, but it didn't seem so diverse.

[RogerAnthony]

Originally Posted by drcr4

We'd like to live in a diverse, safe, family-friendly area, preferably one with a good public school system.

You can live in a diverse area, or you can live in a safe, family-friendly area with good schools. They are pretty much mutually exclusive.

[drcr4]

So you're saying that there is absolutely no area that is culturally diverse and safe? There has to be someplace.....

[ericvon.zipper]

drcr4 you may not like this but the more "culturally diverse the less safe the area". In my town of Greenwich the highest crime area is in it's "culturally diverse area" which is a shame for the many good moms and dads living there that want better for their kids. You can bet your last dollar that one day when these kids can move the last thing there going to want is to live in a culturally diverse area. If you find what your looking for...make sure your kids aren't paying for it. Good luck.

[seymourct]

Diversity of race or religion or whatever in the suburbs is fully accepted pretty much everywhere. Connecticut is lovely and welcoming. Glad you liked going to school here. Welcome back.

[drcr4]

It's sad to say, but I know that with more diversity, there's usually less safety. Seymourct, do you really think diversity is accepted? I really, really hope so.

I grew up in a beautiful, safe, diverse (but expensive!) area in NYC. (The public schools were not great, though, except the gifted & talented programs.) I attended Catholic school from the sixth grade onward to high school, and in all those years, there's only been one black student and one Indian-American student in my entire grade. They had "friends," but faced so much ignorance from students and staff. I don't want my children going through the same thing.

If diverse areas in CT aren't so great, then maybe I should just stick to Westchester County? I don't know what to do.....

Oh, does anyone have more info on Trumbull? In college, my DH and I went shopping there often (the mall, etc), and it seemed pretty diverse. I've read a few threads in this forum, and it seems that people mostly have good things to say about Trumbull. Does anyone know about the schools there?

[jesse_f]

If by "diverse", you mean significant black and/or Latino populations, then sadly there isn't any area I know of that fits the bill. Before CT, we lived in such an NYC neighborhood, so we looked a bit in Stamford and Norwalk, but didn't find anything to our liking. I will say this though, as SeymourCT said, I don't think any Fairfield CT town is unwelcoming to "diversity", but there just aren't large populations mainly due to income and wealth constraints.

Honestly, I think the bigger issue you'll have is budget. $1,500 isn't much for a 3 bd apt or especially a house anywhere in Fairfield. I don't know about Milford or Trumball prices, but then you're talking 2 hours a day on the train to Manhattan. I hope you find what you're looking for though.

[drcr4]

I don't mean significant black or Latino populations. I mean blacks, whites, Asians, Latinos, etc etc. I prefer seeing more than just one black student or one Asian student in a class.

I thought $1500 was reasonable. I guess the renting prices have increased a bit in the last few years. My husband will drive to work. His drive from Fairfield to NY is a 45 min-1 hour drive, which isn't too bad (he will be in the Bronx).

[jesse_f]

Gotcha, if there was such a mixed community around, I'd be the first to go there. Of the 20 or so kids in my son's nursery school class has 1.5 Asians (he's the half), 1 Latino and 1 black. That definitely is one benefit of some areas of southern Westchester over CT.