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I don't know really- museums, art galleries, science centers, aquariums, zoo, rec centers, rock climbing parks, amusement parks/water parks, landmarks & such... Things kids like to do. The house I saw from your post was in a town called Manlius which has a population of 4-5k it appears. Want to stay away from rural areas and be some where with a population of 50k-400k.
That is for the village of Manlius, which has some walkability and is surrounded by the town of Manlius, which has about 32-33,000 people. It is a second ring suburb of Syracuse, a city of 145,000 and Fayetteville-Manlius SD is arguably the "best" school district in Upstate NY. It is one of Upstate NY's most affluent school districts as well. You could go into Syracuse for the museums, art galleries, zoo, etc. Green Lakes State Park has trails and a beach near that house. There are multiple water parks within an hour/hour and a half(Roseland, Enchanted Forest, at Greek Peak Ski Area, etc). Mountains(western Adirondacks) are about an hour and a half away. Niagara Falls has the closest aquarium and is about 2 and a half hours away, give or take. You have multiple ski areas within minutes, as well as many parks in the area.
There is a very nice YMCA in the Fayetteville Town Center nearby and places like Skyzone in nearby DeWitt, as well as activities(Billy Beez, Pole Position, etc) at DestinyUSA, the 6th biggest shopping center in the country and biggest in NY State. Syracuse also has the NY State Fair and Syracuse University Athletic events. So, Manlius is actually a suburb within a metro area(80th biggest metro in the country).
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 02-02-2016 at 06:29 AM..
That is for the village of Manlius, which has some walkability and is surrounded by the town of Manlius, which has about 32-33,000 people. It is a second ring suburb of Syracuse, a city of 145,000 and Fayetteville-Manlius SD is arguably the "best" school district in Upstate NY. It is one of Upstate NY's most affluent school districts as well. You could go into Syracuse for the museums, art galleries, zoo, etc. Green Lakes State Park has trails and a beach near that house. There are multiple water parks within an hour/hour and a half(Roseland, Enchanted Forest, at Greek Peak Ski Area, etc). Mountains(western Adirondacks) are about an hour and a half away. Niagara Falls has the closest aquarium and is about 2 and a half hours away, give or take. You have multiple ski areas within minutes, as well as many parks in the area.
There is a very nice YMCA in the Fayetteville Town Center nearby and places like Skyzone in nearby DeWitt, as well as activities(Billy Beez, Pole Position, etc) at DestinyUSA, the 6th biggest shopping center in the country and biggest in NY State. Syracuse also has the NY State Fair and Syracuse University Athletic events. So, Manlius is actually a suburb within a metro area(80th biggest metro in the country).
Nashville TN fits most of your criteria. Its a great sized town with good amenities and younger vibe. Also fairly easy to navigate the city. You should be able to find a nice home in your budget.
The Maryland/DC area will not be an area to consider nor Delaware. Although, I agree diverse, Baltimore & DC are both very high crime which makes it less desirable to live nearby.
Columbia, Maryland and Howard County as a whole are affluent, safe and have very good schools. The crime in Baltimore and DC is isolated to certain low-income areas where you likely will never go to (unless you're feeling adventurous or something).
The bigger issue is COL.
Last edited by BigCityDreamer; 02-03-2016 at 08:08 AM..
OP, when you gave the population criteria, is that for the particular city/town that you are actually living in and/or could the central city of the metro be in between that population range?
You could also look into major college towns/areas that fit much of the criteria like Ann Arbor and East Lansing in MI or Madison WI.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 02-03-2016 at 08:17 AM..
-Friendly to diversity. There doesn't need to be a huge range of diversity so long as the majority of the people are friendly to interracial families & children. (Not the deep south)
There are places in the Deep South that are friendly to diversity, believe it or not.
If you are interested in the areas within the listings, towns or parts of towns you may like are Amherst, Henrietta, Clay, Salina, Chili, Gates, Greece, Tonawanda(town), DeWitt and some others not on the list are Colonie, Guilderland, Niskayuna, Vestal, New Hartford and Union. All are outside of cities near/within the population criteria, have homes within the price rance(if not lower) and are areas with an overall COL at the national average, give or take.
If you want city options, I'd say look into North Buffalo, the SE Quarter of Rochester, Syracuse's East Side, the SW Quarter of Albany, Binghamton's West Side, Upper Union and the outer south neighborhoods in Schenectady and the outer West and SW neighborhoods of Troy. Perhaps the urban/suburban areas of the Ithaca City SD would work too.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 02-03-2016 at 02:37 PM..
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