Moving to West Windsor / Plainsboro -- any suggestions? (New Brunswick, Princeton: condo, sex offenders)

[atypicalfamily]

Hi, we're a young family looking to move, and we're thinking of either West Windsor or Plainsboro. Since residents of both towns use the same school district, are there any suggestions as to which town would be a better fit?

Some info:
- We're in our early 30s, with two preschool-aged children
- We're of Asian descent (Chinese/Korean) but born and raised in NJ, so ethnic diversity is definitely important to us
- Would like to be close to nice parks / nature, but not live in too rural of a setting; we love smaller downtown areas where we can walk with the kids to local ice cream shoppes, stores, etc.

Thoughts? Thanks for any suggestions or advise!

[jerseyj]

Both West Windsor and Plainsboro are quite diverse, WW-22.76% Asian, Plainsboro-30.51% Asian.

Plainsboro has the new town center with small shops, very cute and pedestrian friendly. If you live in the town center or in the neighbourhoods around Wicoff Elementary School, you will be close to parks and the new shops.
There are huge tracts of land that have large homes but they are generally not within walking distance to the small town center.

[luckyshoes]

Originally Posted by jerseyj

Both West Windsor and Plainsboro are quite diverse, WW-22.76% Asian, Plainsboro-30.51% Asian.

Those are old Census numbers (2000?). There is no way Plainsboro is only 30% Asian anymore.

[luckyshoes]

West Windsor is considered more desirable overall. The towns of WW and P use neighborhood elementary schools but then later all the kids are mixed together, so I'm not quite sure why it's considered more desirable (train station?). Plainsboro has a lot of Indian and Chinese people, but I'm not sure about Koreans. I like WW much better than Plainsboro but that's just me.

As far as walkability, WW doesn't have much to walk to. Plainsboro has a Town Center that they just built, but I wouldn't strive to buy a house near it or anything, I could just drive there and be just as happy.

Robbinsville is another town that is up and coming down there. It's the next town south of WW. Robbinsville has its own brand new high school, which I think is very desirable. For me, Plainsboro would be last in a list of towns around there to buy in; I would prefer WW, Robbinsville, Hopewell or Montgomery. Speaking of Montgomery, I actually think Montgomery is a better town than WW, with excellent schools. Not sure why you zeroed in on WWP other than the school reputation (which I think is overrated).

Hope this helps! Good luck with your house hunt.

[Lucario]

You won't go wrong with either one........but I prefer West Windsor.

[jerseyj]

Originally Posted by luckyshoes

West Windsor is considered more desirable overall. The towns of WW and P use neighborhood elementary schools but then later all the kids are mixed together, so I'm not quite sure why it's considered more desirable (train station?). Plainsboro has a lot of Indian and Chinese people, but I'm not sure about Koreans. I like WW much better than Plainsboro but that's just me.

As far as walkability, WW doesn't have much to walk to. Plainsboro has a Town Center that they just built, but I wouldn't strive to buy a house near it or anything, I could just drive there and be just as happy.

Robbinsville is another town that is up and coming down there. It's the next town south of WW. Robbinsville has its own brand new high school, which I think is very desirable. For me, Plainsboro would be last in a list of towns around there to buy in; I would prefer WW, Robbinsville, Hopewell or Montgomery. Speaking of Montgomery, I actually think Montgomery is a better town than WW, with excellent schools. Not sure why you zeroed in on WWP other than the school reputation (which I think is overrated).

Hope this helps! Good luck with your house hunt.

The OP is not asking about Robbinsville, Hopewell or Montgomery.

They are asking about West Windsor and Plainsboro.
Given the OP's criteria, Plainsboro seems like a better option. There is nothing to walk to in West Windsor (maybe the train station?)

Regarding the demographics, here are the most recent stats (2007) for Plainsboro (zip 08536) as provided by City Data.



Most common places of birth for the foreign-born residents:

This zip code (08535) New Jersey

• India (38%)
• China, excluding Hong Kong and Taiwan (11%)
• Taiwan (5%)
• Korea (4%)
• Philippines (4%)
• Pakistan (3%)
• Russia (3%)

Estimated median house/condo value in 2007: $462,770
08536: $462,770
New Jersey: $372,300
According to our research of public records there were no registered sex offenders living in this zip code in early 2007.
Median resident age: 32.0 years
New Jersey median age: 36.7 years

Average household size:
This zip code: 2.3 people
New Jersey: 2.7 people

58.5% of residents of 08536 zip code speak English at home.
3.9% of residents speak Spanish at home (64% very well, 25% well, 8% not well, 3% not at all).
18.0% of residents speak other Indo-European language at home (77% very well, 19% well, 4% not well).
17.6% of residents speak Asian or Pacific Island language at home (70% very well, 23% well, 6% not well, 2% not at all).
2.0% of residents speak other language at home (77% very well, 23% well).

Sunil's Dad- I really like West Windsor too

[lwnj]

I understand what you want - because I want similar things - a walkable community. However the only real walkable town is Princeton. Since you are looking into WWP, here are your choices:
1. Stay close to Plainsboro Village Center
2. Walk to MarketFair from Canal Pointe (West Windsor)
I personally prefer Plainsboro over WW, due to the fact that the house price is a bit lower and the tax is also lower than West Windsor. I'll PM you for places to avoid.

[atypicalfamily]

Hi everyone, thanks for the information -- all very helpful. The reason we're considering those two towns is due to the diversity in town, the well-rated school district (which we know the ranking systems are often flawed), general lower housing cost (when compared to Northern Jersey), and scenery. I'd be open to other towns in the area, but they seem less diverse... at least based on city-data's stats.

So here's a question that may be touchy: Do those of you who live in the WWP area feel these towns are *too* Asian? As I mentioned in my original post, we're both born and raised in the States, so culturally, we're more "American" than "Asian". Candid feedback is always appreciated -- no offense will be taken on the OP side (though I can't speak for others that may be roaming the forum).

Also, is one of the high schools better than the other? Our kids are pretty far from that age, but I was just curious.

Thanks all!

[VeradoDan]

I like these two towns, especially Plainsboro. When the surveys say "Asian," however, I'm pretty sure it's mostly Indian, not Chinese or Korean. I could be wrong though. In any event, I have a friend who lives in Plainsboro and their neighborhood is very nice and the town is close to tons of shopping on Route 1.

My only complaint is that there seems to be a lack of local restaurants/bars/hangouts and you're pretty much stuck to chains, which would drive me crazy. My friend who lives there doesn't seem to mind, however.

[OysterCatcher]

Originally Posted by VeradoDan

I like these two towns, especially Plainsboro. When the surveys say "Asian," however, I'm pretty sure it's mostly Indian, not Chinese or Korean. I could be wrong though. In any event, I have a friend who lives in Plainsboro and their neighborhood is very nice and the town is close to tons of shopping on Route 1.

My only complaint is that there seems to be a lack of local restaurants/bars/hangouts and you're pretty much stuck to chains, which would drive me crazy. My friend who lives there doesn't seem to mind, however.

Downtown Princeton less than 5 miles away has many unique and authentic restaurants that are great. If that is not enough New Brunswick 10 miles up RT 1 has many more. I don't like chains much either. But the new town center in Plainsboro has a good Italian place, coffee shop and ice cream place. Across the street you have another Italian place, Indian place, bagel place. Along RT 1 there are many other great places to eat. For instance try Salt Creek Grill that recently opened up in Forrestal Village. Or I like Big Fish in Market Place. Believe me there or no shortages of good places to eat around Plainsboro.