Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I find out in 2 weeks if I am getting a promotion that would relocate myself & my family to CT. I will be working from home mainly but will need to got into NYC about once a week. My husband will be leaving 18 years as a Police officer, looking for Asset protection or Fraud/ Security work. We have two kids, 11 & 8 & a St. Bernard. My boss lives in Wallingford, but they don't seem to score well on great schools. Where are the good districts with strong high schools?
We currently live in the 3rd largest district in MI & one of the higher rated. I know it won't be the same. CT seems to spend significantly more with much smaller class sizes.
We currently have a 2100 Sq ft house 4bd 2.5bath & large yard, will sell for around 240k. Looking for similar up to $350k with a large lot, lots of trees.
So looking for good areas with some conviences, don't want to drive 30 mins for the grocery store, where there are job opportunities for my husband, but closeish (under 40 mins) to the train?
I find out in 2 weeks if I am getting a promotion that would relocate myself & my family to CT. I will be working from home mainly but will need to got into NYC about once a week. My husband will be leaving 18 years as a Police officer, looking for Asset protection or Fraud/ Security work. We have two kids, 11 & 8 & a St. Bernard. My boss lives in Wallingford, but they don't seem to score well on great schools. Where are the good districts with strong high schools?
We currently live in the 3rd largest district in MI & one of the higher rated. I know it won't be the same. CT seems to spend significantly more with much smaller class sizes.
We currently have a 2100 Sq ft house 4bd 2.5bath & large yard, will sell for around 240k. Looking for similar up to $350k with a large lot, lots of trees.
So looking for good areas with some conviences, don't want to drive 30 mins for the grocery store, where there are job opportunities for my husband, but closeish (under 40 mins) to the train?
Welcome to Connecticut
CT is a pretty urban state filled with nice rural, suburban, and urban areas. You don't have to worry about driving far to the nearest grocery store or bank. I can't think of one part of CT where you would have to drive 30 minutes to the nearest grocery store. Is there a certain part of the state you have to live in? New Haven area? Bridgeport area? Stamford area? Hartford area? If you need to commute into NYC once every week I would look into the Southwestern CT area...mostly Fairfield County and Western New Haven County. For your price range I would look into Monroe and Trumbull. The closer you get to NYC from this part of the state (Monroe and Trumbull) you will only find homes to get more and more expensive as you get closer to the NY border. Nearly every town in CT has good schools and low crime excluding the larger cities like Bridgeport, New Haven, and Hartford. Connecticut is up top when it comes to quality of life. Unfortunately this comes at a high price as you'll find taxes are higher here than Michigan. Though don't worry. For the most part (depending on your field) you will notice that your wages may be higher here than in Michigan. Our taxes are high because we have higher than national wages to compensate for it. If you have to go into NYC every week I would recommend riding the train as driving a car into NYC can be atrocious as traffic is getting worse especially on Interstate 95 through Fairfield County. You can take a train from New Haven, Bridgeport, and nearly every town on the Interstate 95 corridor. There's tons stops on the metro north line from New Haven to Greenwich. The metro north train leads you right into Manhattan and a for a decent price.
You're moving from one of the more affordable states to one of the most expensive. The towns with the highest ranked schools in this general area are mostly concentrated in Fairfield County (NYC suburbs) and you'll pay dearly for a home there (think 3x the high end of your budget). You may find a 4 br house at the high end of your budget in a good school district, but it may need work.
That being said, I'd suggest you look into Woodbridge and Orange. Woodbridge (more affluent) is a more rural but the two towns share a school district, which is considered to be very good. Amenities and shopping are mostly located along Route 1 (has any store you could possibly want), and the Metro North train station is located in nearby Milford or West Haven.
Guilford and Madison are other towns you may want to consider. They are stunningly beautiful and along the coast. That said, they are a bit further to major shopping and the commuter rail (Shoreline East) requires a transfer in New Haven to get to Grand Central. These two towns have great schools as well.
Cheshire is another beautiful town in the area with great schools. The only downside to Cheshire is access to trains, so you may want to stick with places further south. It's a great suburb, though.
Lastly, Wallingford schools aren't terrible. It's a nice town with a range of people from all socioeconomic backgrounds. You have everything from working class to wealthy, not uniformly affluent, which is likely why the rankings aren't as high as other area communities.
Good luck with your move and let us know what you decide!
Edit to add: Apologies for my reading comprehension issues, I missed that you'd need to go to NYC once a week. In that case, I'd recommend you remove Guilford, Madison and Cheshire from your list. Continue to consider Orange/Woodbridge, but also add in Trumbull and Fairfield to your list, maybe Monroe. Actually the more I read it, the more I think Fairfield is your cup of tea. It's pricey, though.
agreed with kidyankee - the schools in Wallingford are fine. Connecticut typically scores near the top as a state in terms of public school quality. So, even a school that is "average" in Connecticut is typically above average to very good in many other states.
North Haven also has good schools like Wallingford.
If you want above average, I also agree with kidyankee - Woodbridge and Orange are two towns with excellent schools and they share a middle school and high school, and Cheshire, Madison and Guilford are other good choices. However, all 5 towns are a step up in price from Wallingford and North Haven.
Thanks for the recommendations! I think Fairfield might be a little outside of our range, especially not knowing how long it'll take my Hubby to find something once we get there. I was looking at Durham, but I think it might be too small. Killingworth looks nice but not sure about the area. We were thinking more central would be our speed and perhaps less sticker shock from our area. I also like Glastonbury, but I think it might be too north.
That's great to hear about Wallingford, I thought that might be the case. Mi schools are very hit or miss, so I think perhaps I'm comparing apples to oranges.
350k? You might just get something in Upper Fairfield County (Danbury area towns like New Fairfield, Bethel, Brookfield, Newtown). These places tend to have 1 acre lots but the 4bd/2.5br might be a bit tough to hit.
Your other best option might be around the Milford area. Other posters can probably pitch in here for you.
You want to try and be close to the train line for an easier commute to NYC for your husband. I know it's once a week but he'll really appreciate it.
We live in Wallingford and have been very pleased with the schools here in the two years we've lived in CT. There is also a great library, lots of youth sports and a nice YMCA. The town is also fairly affordable by Connecticut standards though coming from Michigan you may have sticker shock when you look at property taxes and how little home you get for your money.
We live in Wallingford and have been very pleased with the schools here in the two years we've lived in CT. There is also a great library, lots of youth sports and a nice YMCA. The town is also fairly affordable by Connecticut standards though coming from Michigan you may have sticker shock when you look at property taxes and how little home you get for your money.
Thank you JG! That is very helpful.
How about the Guilford, madison, old saybrook areas? Is the traffic bad over there? The schools seems to get good ratings. Also would it be accessible for my husband who would be looking locally for a job?
In Michigan, things vary greatly by both County & city. Are there any counties that are not very desirable? I keep finding homes in Middlesex County that I like as well.
You are very welcome. When we were looking at moving to CT, the members on this board were extremely helpful so I am always happy to try and help. I am sorry to say, I don't know much about the Guilford, Madison areas other than what I hear from colleagues who live there so I'll let others tell you about those areas. If you do have any specific questions about Wallingford, please feel free to ask here or PM and I'll help if I can.
With regards to bad counties, I personally don't think there are any that are bad from what I have seen in my time here. There are cities that I would avoid moving to (Bridgeport for instance) but others might tell you are perfectly fine.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
