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Looking for suggestions on a good suburb/town of NYC for a single 40-something women? Divorced and working from home, and have been traveling for my job the last 5 years. I’ve spent a lot of time in the DMV region, but my network is all NY, so I plan to move back. I’d like to find a town with a rental that is a) not more than 1.5 to the city; b) interesting and walkable c)not exorbitantly priced (no more than 2.3k for a 1 bed rental)…..Any thoughts or favorite places that I should check out?
Thanks for the tip on Beacon, Ckhthankgod. It may be a little too far north for me. I guess some good guidelines would be no more than 1 hour north or 1.5 east of NYC.
Most of my family is located on Long Island, so probably either Westchester/Rockland counties or somewhere on Long Island would be preferable.
For Rockland, I’d look into Nyack, although train access to NYC might not be ideal. In Westchester and Long Island, you have lots of great options, with varying degrees of price, interest, walkability, and urban/suburban depending on your tastes. Your price point of $2300 is close to the minimum for many of the newer apartment complexes, but you certainly can find cheaper, especially if you take a look at Craigslist listings.
For Westchester, you could find some excellent values in Yonkers in the newer complexes along the Hudson, but any of the river towns from Hastings on up to Tarrytown could have some great places at the right price. White Plains is a popular hub with lots of apartment complexes and amenities. Pleasantville, a little further up, has a quaint Main Street area. A little further south of White Plains is Hartsdale, also with a nice town center and some appealing apartments. Heading further south and east will yield even more prospects in places like Bronxville, New Rochelle (comparable to White Plains in terms of being a mini-city), and Larchmont, Mamaromeck, Harrison, and Rye/Port Chester from south to north along the Sound Shore. All have very good access to the City via Metro North; also within reach of Long Island.
As for Long Island, it depends how far out you want to go out east into Suffolk County. In Nassau, on the North Shore, from west to east, you have Great Neck, Manhasset, Port Washington, Roslyn, and Oyster Bay. In Central to South Nassau, from West to East, you have Floral Park, Long Beach, Lynbrook, Malverne, Rockville Centre, and Farmingdale. In western Suffolk, from west to east, you got Huntington and Northport on the North Shore, and Babylon, Bay Shore, Sayville, and Patchogue on the South Shore. A little further out east on the north shore is Port Jefferson and Stony Brook. All have very good access to the City via LIRR.
Once you decide Rockland/Westchester/Long Island, then it’s really a matter of do you want a more urban or suburban feel; do you want to be closer to the water (river, sound, or ocean)? I think you could find something within your budget that meets any of these criteria if you have the time to shop around.
I would say search on Trulia or Zillow for rentals and use their map to find areas within your desired distance. Dobbs Ferry was nice, and White Plains in my opinion has nice mixture of suburbia and small city feel with its restaurants and cutesy stores and very walkable. I also agree with what the other posters have said, if you want towns with more culture/artsy feel you're better off along the Hudson River (east). Middle of Putnam County has smaller towns and is more rural but still has Metro North accesibility.
Wow. Thanks so much CogentChas and Psalm42! You provided such a wealth of information for me to consider. I hadn't realized there would be so many walkable towns to check out in those surrounding areas. I've heard about Nyack and Tarrytown but hadn't realized there were so many more walkable communities along the Hudson. Even on Long Island, you present many different places that I hadn't even thought of. I'm not as familiar with the South Shore as I am with the North Shore but will look into those towns - Floral Park, Long Beach, Babylon. Realizing that each of these towns probably have their own uniqueness to them, I think I'll have to take a trip up in order to narrow down my search. My goal was to try to be within an hour or so of my family, especially as they are getting up there in age, and I think all of those places you mentioned would fit the bill.
I do tend to be interested in places/towns that have a more laid back, liberal vibe, arty, with plenty of restaurants and cafes to choose from. I lived in Manhattan for many years, and while I loved it while I was there, I'd now prefer to be in a place where I can see the sky and trees and just be more in a natural environment. As for body of water - I love them all and am not necessarily partial to one over the other. Being near any body of water at this point would be a plus for me!
Again, thank you so much! I'm going to check out all of your great suggestions!
Anytime, happy to help! NY really does have something for everybody, costs notwithstanding. For the artsy, liberal, laid-back vibe that you might gravitate towards, in Westchester, definitely visit those river towns from Tarrytown on down (the new pedestrian pathway across the Tappan Zee/Mario Cuomo Bridge connecting Tarrytown to Nyack seems pretty great, along with other nearby well-established trails), but I think you could find that in many others there as well. On Long Island, I feel like Huntington would really check a lot of your boxes. But Long Beach would be a close second. You can’t beat the boardwalk. And don’t sleep on Farmingdale/Babylon either. And Floral Park’s closeness to the city is a plus. Take a drive through/walking tour weekend, and do a Westchester day and a Long Island day to get a feel for it all.
In terms of Rocklnad, you can also look into Pearl River, Piermont, South Nyack and Suffern, among a few others.
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