[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Right now, at rush hour, a commute from New Fairfield to Armonk is 43 minutes. Hardly soul crushing. NF is pretty affordable as well.

That's 30 minutes longer round trip than what the OP would like, which equates to 2.5 hours longer per week. It's easy for us to sit behind our computers and say "an extra 15 minutes is nothing", but in reality, it makes your day much more difficult.

[Raider111]

To be more specific. Northern Stamford would be no problem to Armonk. Silvermine Norwalk/Wilton border should be right about 30 -35 mins. Not sure about times from Bethel area via backroads.
Atlanta commutes may be better, don't know.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Raider111

To be more specific. Northern Stamford would be no problem to Armonk. Silvermine Norwalk/Wilton border should be right about 30 -35 mins. Not sure about times from Bethel area via backroads.
Atlanta commutes may be better, don't know.

Agreed that north (or even central) Stamford would be most ideal.

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by Raider111

To be more specific. Northern Stamford would be no problem to Armonk. Silvermine Norwalk/Wilton border should be right about 30 -35 mins. Not sure about times from Bethel area via backroads.
Atlanta commutes may be better, don't know.

Friends in Atlanta that moved from CT say it's as bad as the Norwalk/Stamford area.

[JGBigGreen]

If you have to take highway 400, 75,85 or 285 Atlanta traffic can be as bad, or worse, than parts of CT. Working in Roswell though, with the OP's stated budget, they could get a ton of house in some of the best school districts in that area and never have to take one of the highways. In Roswell and Alpharetta, there are plenty of homes in the 400k range that will give them 2-4K sq ft of home with a tax bill of a reasonable $5k

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Friends in Atlanta that moved from CT say it's as bad as the Norwalk/Stamford area.

It's true. Everyone who claims LA is the worst has never been to Atlanta. It's pretty bad, if not the worst in the country.

[fluffydelusions]

I grew up in CT and now live in Olympia. I was also stationed down south right near the Georgia border for a couple years as well when I was in the military. By nice weather do you mean weather like here in western Washington? Unfortunately you won't find anything like that on the east coast. Also been to Atlanta a couple times. The heat and humidity down there is something I was never able to get used to. I absolutely hated the weather down there. Plenty of people love that sort of thing but I'm not one of them. CT isn't nearly as bad in that regard though it's still more hot and humid than how it is in Wa during the summer months. You WILL need an air conditioner unlike here. Winter is a bit different as you can imagine. CT is colder, sunnier, and obviously it won't rain as much lol. I can't speak for hiking in the Atlanta area as I never did it down there but I hiked a bunch in CT growing up. At least once a week. Again, unfortunately don't expect the quality of hiking to come anywhere near what you get in Washington. CT is geographically boring in comparison. There are no majestic snow capped mountains to speak of, no rainforests etc etc. If you want any sorta mountain you will have to go to upstate NY or northern New England but even then the mountains are not as big as out here. You will also notice the trees are much smaller there than they are here. Areas to hike are also much more compact. You'd have to try pretty hard to get lost in the woods in CT. Pretty sure ONP is bigger than the entire state of CT. Also, east coast you will have to deal with bugs while hiking like mosquito's which sucks! One more thing is that you can actually swim in the beaches on the east coast lol. Water is much warmer if you're into that sorta thing. If you appreciate history and/or architecture lots of charming towns and buildings in the New England region.

[NewJeffCT]

Originally Posted by JGBigGreen

If your job will be in Roswell, you could get a lot of house with your budget and your taxes will be much less than they would be in CT. Roswell, on the west side of the city, has great schools all the way through high school. You could also live in Alpharetta or Cumming. Both cities have great schools, plenty of amenities and you'd likely be able to take back roads to avoid the most serious traffic. Living in any of these three towns would eliminate the need to travel on the gridlock that is 400 during rush hour. I lived in that area for four years and can assure you that the people are as friendly and welcoming as you will find in any part of the country.

You need to remember, though, the state of Georgia is near the bottom in the country in terms of school quality. In looking at test scores for public high schools in Georgia, the best regular public high school in the state would not crack the top 12 in Connecticut, and it falls off quickly after the top few schools – the #10 school in Georgia would not make the top 35 in Connecticut in terms of test scores.

[East of the River]

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

You need to remember, though, the state of Georgia is near the bottom in the country in terms of school quality. In looking at test scores for public high schools in Georgia, the best regular public high school in the state would not crack the top 12 in Connecticut, and it falls off quickly after the top few schools – the #10 school in Georgia would not make the top 35 in Connecticut in terms of test scores.

Yep tradeoffs for a nice climate lower taxes and cheaper housing. Honestly I have alot of positive things to say about CT, but where his jobs located makes things tough unless your taking a very highly paid position.

[JGBigGreen]

Your point is taken in comparing the apples-to-oranges nature of looking at the entire state of Georgia's education system to that of Connecticut. It is important to note though that Georgia is closer to the middle of the pack than the bottom. It has consistently ranked around 30-32 in most measurements and has for some time.

Further, and more importantly, the OP would be living in an area that would allow them to choose from the very best high schools in the state. While I can't spend time digging into GPA's, AP's, etc. to determine if they would make the top 35 in CT for test scores they seem to do comparable at least in comparing SAT's. For the most recent years SAT scores I could find (2016 for GA 2015 for CT):

GA CT
Northview HS 1810 Darien 1811
Johns Creek HS 1730 New Canaan 1785
Alpharetta HS 1714 Weston 1785

Doesn't seem like these Georgia schools would do too badly in comparison to CT schools at first blush. Yes, Georgia schools do fall off quite fast outside of their top schools but the OP would be looking at great schools regardless of the state to state comparisons.

Originally Posted by NewJeffCT

You need to remember, though, the state of Georgia is near the bottom in the country in terms of school quality. In looking at test scores for public high schools in Georgia, the best regular public high school in the state would not crack the top 12 in Connecticut, and it falls off quickly after the top few schools – the #10 school in Georgia would not make the top 35 in Connecticut in terms of test scores.