Southern Indiana: which city is the best place to live? (Louisville: apartments, crime rate)

[andraquelsaid]

Hey everyone! My family and I will begin our house hunt soon, and I'm curious as to what everyone has to say about cities in Southern Indiana like Charlestown, Jeffersonville, New Albany, Clarksville, Sellersburg, etc. I had read online that the crime rate was pretty high in some of those areas, would anyone suggest moving a family with young children there? Everybody I hear from seems to love living there as opposed to Louisville (where we are now), but the crime rates I look up online make me uneasy...we also need to stay in a decent radius from the Ford assembly plant for work as well.

Thank you all in advance! Any and all advice is greatly appreciated!

[Msradell]

There are areas with high crime rates in almost any city. I'm sure there are areas in both cities you mentioned that have high crime rates but there are also areas in Louisville and surrounding Kentucky areas that have high crime rates. To look at what you want in housing and where that exists and then look at the crime rate in that particular area.

Another thing to consider if you are looking at the southern Indiana area for your home but will be working at LAP is the commute between the 2 points. Within a couple of years there will be tolls on 3 of the bridges which will obviously increase the price of your commute. The amount of time required because the traffic is also a definite consideration.

[censusdata]

In general Jeffersonville is a bit better than New Albany and Clarksville in terms of crime, affluence, etc. Further out areas are pretty much all nice in Floyd or Clark Co (save for the Borden Valley, aka Meth Valley). Violent crime seems worse (based on the news) in parts of New Albany and some apartments around the mall in Clarksville. But the 3 S IN cities combined probably average 5 to 10 murders a year, it's not East St Louis.

There are 2 Ford plants on different ends of Louisville. I live near the NE one (the truck plant). When the new I-265 bridge is complete it will be very close to Utica / Jeffersonville though now you'd have to go all the way downtown for a bridge. The South End Ford plant (makes Escapes) would be easier to access from New Albany/ Floyd Co since you could take the less busy section of I-264.

Until the bridges are complete in a few years traffic on weekdays is always a mess. The traffic flow will improve with 2 new bridges though there will be a $1+ toll per crossing.

[eok]

In the summer, when mosquitoes are biting, does Southern Indiana have the same amount of mosquitoes as Louisville? Or is it more like city mosquitoes vs country mosquitoes? Which bite worst?

[censusdata]

In general bug populations are about closeness to standing water. Unless you're next to a pond or something there's not much difference. So no difference btw Indiana or KY. Biggest thing to keep mosquitos away is not leave things near your house that hold water after it rains. But there are a few bugs everywhere in the summer, that's just how it is

[veggienut]

Beware when you move to Southern Indiana, that soon or sometime in the future that we will have a bridge to be built and the city plans to charge a toll to go thru both ways. May not matter to you, but a lot of people live in Indiana and commute over here to Louisville.

[Michi527]

None, stick to Louisville.

[Guineas]

Indiana is like a giant wasteland of billboards for strip clubs, lawyers and degree mills.

[MissingIndiana]

Originally Posted by Guineas

Indiana is like a giant wasteland of billboards for strip clubs, lawyers and degree mills.

That's not entirely true. The strip along 65 from the river up to around Lewis and Clark, yes. Ew. The rest of it for the most part is pretty decent though