Need help finding suburb that's a practical commute to Troy and Mason both (Cincinnati: house)

[NWgirl72]

We are a family with 3 small children relocating from WA state to the Troy, OH area. I am wondering where to look for housing etc. My spouse will be traveling between the Troy and Mason area for work. We have elementary aged kids, so we need a good school district. Any suggestions would be appreciated very much!

[wrightflyer]

Are you working in one location and your spouse the other? Or is your spouse working in both locations? Sorry if I did not catch which situation is correct in your first post.

Either way, I would look at Springboro and its township, Clearcreek Twp. Not sure what your budget is, but 150K-200K gives you an older ranch or colonial. 200K-300K a newer two-story, and 300K plus can get you a nice house with possibly some land in the township.

Other possibilities would be Centerville/Washington Twp. or Miamisburg/Miami Twp. Centerville has one of the best performing school districts in the area, and one of the better large (7000/8000+ students total) districts. FYI, most schools in Ohio are zoned by township or municipality. Springboro is also good and Miamisburg is fine too, but not as highly indexed as Centerville or Springboro. Miamisburg can be a better value for your dollar though as you do pay for the schools in Centerville and Springboro (both in asking price and local taxes). A word on taxes: besides paying property taxes for schools, there are city income taxes. You will not have these in the townships. Just a heads up.

All of these will have you taking I-75 north or south to work. Back roads can be an option (less so in the winter) for Mason. Unless I-75 is closed in Dayton, I would stick with the highway as the fastest way to Troy.

The commutes:

I currently commute between Beavercreek and Cincinnati and can tell you that I-75 can be a pain sometimes. Still some lingering construction that hopefully will be done soon. Depending on where in Mason you are going, it may be wiser to Google Map some back roads to get to Mason as an alt route. Also, I-75 and Tylersville Rd., which takes you east towards Mason, can gridlock at points during rush hour.

Commuting to Troy actually might be the bigger problem for the next 3-4 years as ODOT works on the I-75/US-35 interchange and some of the I-75 exits in downtown Dayton. Budget an extra 20 or so minutes (more if there is an accident or bad weather) for that commute than what Google Maps gives you. If you are coming from the Seattle area however, these drives will probably seem like a cake walk. Again, not sure where in WA state you are coming from.

[joe from dayton]

I'm not clear either. Are you looking for a place between the two cities? Is most of the work done in one city or the other, or is there a daily commute involved?

[NWgirl72]

Thanks for your information-my spouse will be commuting to both Troy and Mason periodically. Honestly I dont know Ohio geography at all so not even sure how close Troy and Mason are to one another.

[wrightflyer]

By Ohio and Dayton standards, they are on opposite ends of the metro. Actually, the census considers Warren County to be a Cincinnati metro county, despite some of the northern portions like Springboro that are more realistically Dayton's southern suburbs. So Mason is a northern suburb of Cincinnati (south of Dayton) and Troy is north of Dayton. Hope that clears up some of the geography.

Compared to places out west though, the metros are really pretty close together. I drive about once or twice a week for now between Dayton and Cincinnati.

[joe from dayton]

On a good day, they are an hour apart, however, at the wrong time of day, I-75 is terrible. If possible, I would try to find out how often he has to go to Mason. Vandalia, Troy and Tipp City all have decent school systems (they are north of Dayton). Wrightflyer covered the area south of Dayton pretty well, however I would add Oakwood to the list. Homes are pricey and property taxes are high, but it has the best rated school system in the area and one of the best in the state. You have plenty of good options, but I would make my decision on how often I had to be in each location, as they are not anywhere near each other.

[Crew Chief]

Living in Centerville/Washington Twp. might be a good possibility. OH 48 down to Mason is not too bad. And I-675 North to OH Spangler Road to OH 571 and local roads into Troy might be better than I-75 through downtown Dayton. NWgirl72, do I understand that you plan to settle in the Troy area and your hubby will sometimes commute to Mason? Or will the drive between home and Troy OR Mason be a regular event? Troy/Tipp City are both nice if his commute to Mason is infrequent.

[NWgirl72]

Thanks crew chief, and yes my spouse will working the majority of time in the Troy area and commute to Mason periodically. We have looked into Tipp City area.
Thank you everyone for your guidance.

NWgirl