[randomguy1000]

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are young professionals looking to move to Connecticut for our jobs. One of us will be working in Hartford and the other in the New Haven area. What is the best area around greater New Haven for young professionals to live?

We want to be in a safe neighborhood, but also an active area that's not completely suburban. Budget we'd go up to $2,000/month. Most of the recommendations we've gotten have been for Milford, Branford, or Middletown. Is the commute from Milford/New Haven to Hartford unreasonable? Thank you for any advice!

[BPt111]

Originally Posted by randomguy1000

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are young professionals looking to move to Connecticut for our jobs. One of us will be working in Hartford and the other in the New Haven area. What is the best area around greater New Haven for young professionals to live?

We want to be in a safe neighborhood, but also an active area that's not completely suburban. Budget we'd go up to $2,000/month. Most of the recommendations we've gotten have been for Milford, Branford, or Middletown. Is the commute from Milford/New Haven to Hartford unreasonable? Thank you for any advice!

Welcome to Connecticut !

New Haven is major city in Connecticut but it feel kinda small compare to national standard cities. The city is consider a college city with Yale, Southern, UNH, Albertus Magnus College, Gateway Communtiy College nearby. Downtown New Haven is full of young professionals and college students with descent night life and bars. New Haven is hub for Metro North coming from NYC which go to Grand Central in Manhattan or Boston/Washington D.C by Amtrak. Nightlife is full of 18-26 year old people places like Barcelona, Prime 16, Cask Republi, 116 Crown, Firehouse 12, Cafe Nine, Toad's Place.

New Haven to Hartford typical 35 min drive on the highway but traffic during rush hour could push it 1 hour.

Wooster Square, East Rock, Downtown is recommmed for New Haven

West Hartford, Downtown Hartford is another option.

[AnonChick]

Originally Posted by randomguy1000

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are young professionals looking to move to Connecticut for our jobs. One of us will be working in Hartford and the other in the New Haven area. What is the best area around greater New Haven for young professionals to live?

We want to be in a safe neighborhood, but also an active area that's not completely suburban. Budget we'd go up to $2,000/month. Most of the recommendations we've gotten have been for Milford, Branford, or Middletown. Is the commute from Milford/New Haven to Hartford unreasonable? Thank you for any advice!

Some data would probably be useful:

Hartford is north of New Haven.
Milford is south of New Haven.
Branford is east of New Haven.
Middletown is north of New Haven, but south of Hartford.

Strictly based on logistics, Middletown is the only option for you.

However:

Middletown is not part of the greater New Haven area. It's also primarily (not completely) suburban.

My personal recommendation would be the east side of Rte 5, in Wallingford. You can get a pretty nice place for under $2,000/month, with the bonus of dirt-cheap electricity (the electric company is owned by the town). The downtown area is walkable. Living on the east side means you avoid the worst of rush-hour traffic ON route 5, which can be incredibly frustrating. It also means you can avoid dealing with the train that passes through parallel to rte 5 on the other side several times every day.

Wallingford, as a whole, is a lovely town. It's just that one road, route 5, that's a pain in the butt to traverse when it's busy, or when there's bad weather, or when there's a funeral, or when the train's passing, or when someone wants to take a left.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by randomguy1000

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are young professionals looking to move to Connecticut for our jobs. One of us will be working in Hartford and the other in the New Haven area. What is the best area around greater New Haven for young professionals to live?

We want to be in a safe neighborhood, but also an active area that's not completely suburban. Budget we'd go up to $2,000/month. Most of the recommendations we've gotten have been for Milford, Branford, or Middletown. Is the commute from Milford/New Haven to Hartford unreasonable? Thank you for any advice!

New Haven definitely has the best nightlife, and is mostly what you're seeking, I think. For sanity, you might want to look at one of the quiet burbs in between and visit the activity on weekends. Middletown has a decent downtown area and your budget would go very far there.

[BPt111]

Originally Posted by AnonChick

Some data would probably be useful:

Hartford is north of New Haven.
Milford is south of New Haven.
Branford is east of New Haven.
Middletown is north of New Haven, but south of Hartford.

Strictly based on logistics, Middletown is the only option for you.

However:

Middletown is not part of the greater New Haven area. It's also primarily (not completely) suburban.

My personal recommendation would be the east side of Rte 5, in Wallingford. You can get a pretty nice place for under $2,000/month, with the bonus of dirt-cheap electricity (the electric company is owned by the town). The downtown area is walkable. Living on the east side means you avoid the worst of rush-hour traffic ON route 5, which can be incredibly frustrating. It also means you can avoid dealing with the train that passes through parallel to rte 5 on the other side several times every day.

Wallingford, as a whole, is a lovely town. It's just that one road, route 5, that's a pain in the butt to traverse when it's busy, or when there's bad weather, or when there's a funeral, or when the train's passing, or when someone wants to take a left.

Milford is west of New Haven* south of New Haven is Long Island Sound

[JayCT]

I would not recommend living in Milford and commuting to Hartford. It would be about an hour drive. I would recommend living half way between Hartford and New Haven. Middletown would be a good choice. There are some very nice apartments right off I-91 in the West Lake area. From there you both will be about a half hour from your jobs. Middletown has a nice downtown with great restaurants. It would be a good place to look. Jay

[Stylo]

Milford is an easy commute to New Haven, but not so much to Hartford. Same with Branford.

Middletown is a decent option commute-wise, but if you're looking for an active urban area with a variety of things to do, you'll quickly grow bored of the handful of options in its downtown. I think you will be disappointed since you're looking for "active".

For a more "happening" area, I'd recommend either the East Rock area of New Haven or the Whitneyville area of Hamden. Both are safe, near plenty of things to do, and easily accessible to 91 for a reasonable commute to Hartford. You could even do downtown New Haven as another option. Ninth Square is reasonably close to 91, and has a lot of things to do nearby, bars, restaurants, a great local music venue, and will soon be home to a Barcade.

[Csiko]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Ninth Square is reasonably close to 91, and has a lot of things to do nearby, bars, restaurants, a great local music venue, and will soon be home to a Barcade.

Wow, must have missed this in the new restaurants/businesses thread. I know a lot of people interested in that sort of thing.


OP, seconding New Haven, though it's a long commute to Hartford. I normally recommend Wallingford for this sort of thing, since it's between the two and only 15 minutes from New Haven, about 30-35 to Hartford. But while Wallingford has a ton of restaurants, there's not much else to actually do. Not sure if that'd be active enough for you. But then again, you are close to both cities and can venture to either, and the center of town is fairly busy (especially in the summer).

Definitely falls in your budget though.

[AnonChick]

Originally Posted by Csiko

Wow, must have missed this in the new restaurants/businesses thread. I know a lot of people interested in that sort of thing.


OP, seconding New Haven, though it's a long commute to Hartford. I normally recommend Wallingford for this sort of thing, since it's between the two and only 15 minutes from New Haven, about 30-35 to Hartford. But while Wallingford has a ton of restaurants, there's not much else to actually do. Not sure if that'd be active enough for you. But then again, you are close to both cities and can venture to either, and the center of town is fairly busy (especially in the summer).

Definitely falls in your budget though.

That's why I recommend Wallingford. But also, there -are- things to do besides go to restaurants. There's a very active civics community, and Oakdale is in Wallingford. There are fairs and festivals during the warmer months, plus the Saturday farmer's market at the Gazebo. Plus the fact that it's only a 10-15 minute drive to Downtown New Haven, without having to pay the downtown New Haven price to live there, makes it optimal. You can get SO much more in Wallingford for under $2000/month than you can in New Haven.

Then there's the fact that both Rte 15 and I-91 are near each other, so no matter which direction you're headed, you can get to a highway quickly. The Meriden highway interchange is just a single exit away, which means you also have easy access to travel toward Danbury.

The fact that it is close to so many things pretty much negates the need for so many things to be in that town. Access to everything is the attraction, rather than the whole shebang all wrapped up in the same tiny little package.

[EUPL]

I would stay in New Haven...Wallingford is a bit more family orientated