[Stylo]

Wallingford seems really well rounded and is nicely in the middle with good highway access. North Haven or Southington are good options. Which city would you rather be near? Personally I would go for closer to the coast, but your preferences may differ.

[magnetnh]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Seems like Wallingford is affordable and close so we will look into that area.

[JGBigGreen]

Like clutchrider, we chose Wallingford largely because of the schools. We moved here from Vermont, in a school district that ranked in the top tier of the state, and we have found Wallingford schools to be very, very good in comparison.

In addition to the schools, Wallingford has a great rec program and an absolute top notch public library.

[Vin100]

We recently moved to Cheshire. We also had the same dilemma..my wife works in New Haven and myself in Hartford. Our priority being the schools. We also looked at all the towns mentioned before in this thread.
Essentially you have 2 options- Cheshire and Wallingford.
I will say that Cheshire is a better town in terms of schools- excellent schools. Thats why we moved here. My daughter is very happy in the middle school. The people are nice..very friendly. Yes..as mentioned before the drawback of proximity to highway is there..but not as difficult as it is mentioned. There are back roads and you dont need to necessarily take route 10 in the morning. It does take 10 minutes for me to reach the highway I-84 (we live in central south Cheshire)..but even if you live in any town..it will take at least a few minutes to reach highway...unless you plan to live bang next to highway. You have to factor accordingly. But yes..the taxes are higher...(better schools better taxes .....except in one town- farmington).

We also gave a strong thought on Wallingford before buying the house in Cheshire. We didnt chose Wallingford as schools was more a priority for us. But I think its a great town with very good schools, and definitely..cost of living will be cheaper in Wallingford (lower taxes and lower electric rates)..at the slight cost of schools (Cheshire being step better than Wallingford). Also..when we started moving around in Cheshire looking for house..we started liking the place a lot....

If you can afford a slightly higher cost of living then I would say Cheshire should be an option if schools are the major priority.. But you definitely you will not go wrong with Wallingford either.

[NewJeffCT]

the mill rate in Cheshire is 27.6 and Wallingford is 26.22, so that is a very small difference. For every $100,000 of house, it's about $100/year difference. (for example, a home that sells for $300,000 should be assessed around $210,000 and taxes would be $5,800 in Cheshire and $5,500 in Wallingford) Electric rates would definitely be cheaper.

[Calvin77]

Wallingford, Middlefield, or Berlin would all be good choices with great schools.


Middletown to Wallingford is a pain in the ass commute unless you're right on the Meriden border.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

the mill rate in Cheshire is 27.6 and Wallingford is 26.22, so that is a very small difference. For every $100,000 of house, it's about $100/year difference. (for example, a home that sells for $300,000 should be assessed around $210,000 and taxes would be $5,800 in Cheshire and $5,500 in Wallingford) Electric rates would definitely be cheaper.

You can't compare taxes this way, nor can you compare homes. The OP would be better to compare homes and their taxes in their price range. I am pretty are home prices and their taxes are lower in Wallingford. Jay

[Vin100]

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

the mill rate in Cheshire is 27.6 and Wallingford is 26.22, so that is a very small difference. For every $100,000 of house, it's about $100/year difference. (for example, a home that sells for $300,000 should be assessed around $210,000 and taxes would be $5,800 in Cheshire and $5,500 in Wallingford) Electric rates would definitely be cheaper.

The mill rate of Cheshire was increased to 30.25 last July. Also, every town assesses the property differently. The same house may be assessed with 2 different values in 2 towns.

[clutchrider]

Your dollar goes farther for home purchasing in Wallingford that is definitely true. It is also notable that when we talk about schools in these towns and which ones are better, when is comes to North Haven, Cheshire, Wallingford, etc. we are comparing them to each other and not based on say a state or national average because in those instances the differences become much more minute.