[Route7toRoute202]

Originally Posted by hvexpatinct

For $500k, train access, and commuting to the Bronx...if you want to be in CT, head north to the Danbury area, New Fairfield and Ridgefield have good access to 684 and the Harlem line. Wouldn’t hurt to look in the northern Westchester towns along the CT/NY line either, although I admit I am not super familiar with the tax burden in those towns.

The Pound Ridge/Lewisboro/North Salem area is a great area and should really be considered by the OP.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by Route7toRoute202

The Pound Ridge/Lewisboro/North Salem area is a great area and should really be considered by the OP.

That’s not going to happen on a 500k budget.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

I've reverse commuted to Danbury as well and 684 south can be surprisingly brutal in the morning from what I saw. Especially getting onto 684 from 84.

Yes, the I-84/I-684 backs up in the morning and that will add to commute t8m3. A little secret though i# to live on the west side of New Fairfield and use local roads to get to I-684 north of I-84 and avoid the worst of the back up.

New Fairfield is a beautiful town. It has very good schools, nice amenities and is not far from great shopping, dining and entertainment in Danbury. Taxes will likely be lower than Courtland Manor (I’d checkThe only problem is that New Fairfield and the rest of the greater Danbury area is over 50 miles from the Bronx. Courtland Manor is about 35 miles so the commute would be longer. Jay

[Bert_from_back_East]

Primary and secondary education are not the only considerations for families with school-aged children. From the standpoint of postsecondary education, New York has a much larger, better-funded, more affordable and more diverse selection of public institutions of higher learning than Connecticut, which is an important long-term consideration for parents in a multi-child family/household who have the option of living in either state, especially if you desire to keep future higher educational costs low for you and/or your children, depending on who is footing the bill. Because Connecticut is a less populous, geographically smaller state than New York, it cannot compete with New York on this criterion. There are some inherent advantages of living in a more populous state that do not always meet the eye; abundant low-cost post-secondary schools is one of them.

[Bert_from_back_East]

And let's face it, while Connecticut is typically cleaner and safer than neighboring New York due to better maintenance of public infrastructure and a more homogenous population, those benefits come at a cost: There is significantly less economic activity in Connecticut than New York. As a result, the competition for local jobs in Connecticut is much greater than what exists in New York. Also, Connecticut employers often pay lower salaries and wages than New York employers because many local employees are willing to accept lower compensation for an easier or shorter commute. And because so many Connecticut residents in the southwestern corner of the state are reliant on the economy of New York City, average commute times are exceptionally long. In my opinion, these social dynamics strain a population and can have deleterious affects on families with children, especially in a region with high taxes and real estate prices (i.e., wherein maintaining middling status is precarious to begin with).