Submitted by ZombieIntrovert t3_yieo7k in Connecticut
My family is considering moving to Connecticut. Are there any towns to avoid completely? Any sundown towns still in existence? Unnecessarily expensive with no nearby employment? I’ve never been to the east coast so I know nothing. Any input is appreciated!
Lived here all my life and have never heard the term sundown town so you’re good there. The closer you are to the river and highway the more lively the town is.
A Sundown Town is a town that (unofficially in today’s day and age) is a “white people only” town.
https://justice.tougaloo.edu/sundown-towns/using-the-sundown-towns-database/state-map/
The river or highway, people in Fairfield county don’t even acknowledge the river, assuming you mean the CT river.
They don’t acknowledge it? If op wants to live in a community that isn’t in the middle of nowhere, choose something near the highways or the closer to the middle of the state if in the north
Yeah, I was thinking my initial reaction to the comment was “what river?”
The shoreline is pretty active…
Need more info here friend
Don't have enough info to call them a "sundown" town but Darien is against desegregating schools.
Too vague, how do you expect good Information?
Sundown is a southern thing.
Kind of opposite for the poor mostly Black urban areas, many would not feel safe walking around after dark unless used to it.
The higher income residents all commute, smaller expensive towns, tend to be de facto segregated, but lots of money solves that, higher income educated people bend over backwards to not show racism.
Close to highways and train lines rents are higher. WFH changes everything of course
New York City is the economic center of the Gold Coast and train lines, closer to Greenwich higher the rents but lots more economic opportunities.
Jobs can be good in the Hartford area, has its own suburbs.
Northern counties and east of Hartford can be very limited, rural woods and hills, farming even, servicing wealthier weekenders and retirees homes landscaping. The uneducated lower class rural folk can be very Trumpista, guns anti BLM etc
The eastern coastal towns can be VERY nice but not as wealthy
I think where you’re coming from is a helpful thing to know, because then we can address what is different here vs where you are. If you’re coming from southern CA, you may find that living here feels cheap but the weather is rough. If you’re coming from MS, you’ll feel like everything is expensive but I promise it’s worth it. If you’re coming from MT, you’ll feel like everything is close together. It’s just very hard to make comparisons without knowing where you’re from, because the US is so varied!
We have lived all over the place so I was just looking for generalized suggestions for that area. I understand cities and their suburbs are more expensive and that’s typically where the jobs are. If the town is at least big enough to have a Walmart it will work for us lol I know places in my home state that I would never advise anyone to move a family to be it for crime rate, racism, schools, being far from civilization, or any number of reasons. I just don’t know the first thing about that area as I’ve never been further east than Illinois.
You can drive from the top of the state to the bottom in an hour, and other than the far rural Northwest and Northeast corners of the state you won’t find yourself far from civilization. Education overall is considered good when looking at the US as a whole. There are big wealth disparities between the rich towns and the poor towns, and education follows because the property taxes in the towns are what fund the school systems. Rich town = high taxes = highly funded school system. It’s easy if you picked an area to look into the school systems in different towns. I included a list of sundown towns in a comment further down where someone didn’t know the term. Some of the towns I nodded at, other ones I raised my eyebrows at because I am surprised. I think racism in general is certainly quieter up here than other states, and tends to be more systemic than personal. You won’t find people casually throwing around the N word, so a large part of the population doesn’t think it exists here.
The culture in the northeast is “kind but not nice”, as the saying goes. People here are often viewed as being cold and standoffish in comparison to just about anywhere else. We embrace it and you will see many jokes about just wanting to be left the heck alone. But people are genuinely kind - New England is the type of place where you can get a flat tire and someone will stop and change it for you without saying more than 5 words and just be on their way. It’s not personal, we’re usually just either too cold or too hot.
There’s a funny post on here from the past week that kind of lays out what each county in CT is like, I’ll see if I can find it and tag you. The state is super small in comparison to any other you have been in. Honestly, you might as well consider CT/MA/RI if you’re looking to come to the area.
Thank you. You’ve been very helpful. The whole kind but leave me alone attitude is right up my alley lol
No sundown towns. Very blue state.
Derby is a hell hole imo. Just moved from there no plans of returning
The valley in general seems to be stuck in the 70s. It's cheap, sure, but like the saying goes: you get what you pay for.
Avoid cities.
Nearby? It's hard to be more than 30 minutes away from a major job center in CT. Most of the nice places to live dont have any place to work. Were firmly live in towns work in cities.
What the hell, no we don’t have any sundown towns! Take your racist ass somewhere else, you are unwelcome here, fucking move to Alabama or Russia you piece of shit.
Awfully presumptuous of you to assume I’m asking because I’m racist and looking to specifically live in a sundown town. You can take your trolling self elsewhere.
I ask because it’s still a very real thing and those just happen to be the places I would like to stay away from.
But truly, thank you for your completely unhelpful comment.
I mean you can understand how it maybe read that way, and I’m sorry. Also maybe Andover CT is someplace to avoid.
Actually I don’t see how it could be perceived that way at all but apology accepted and thank you for the input about Andover.
https://ctmirror.org/2022/04/28/the-freedom-to-divide-zoning-and-segregation-in-connecticut/
>Connecticut’s zoning laws maintain the status quo economic and racial segregation. The word “segregation” might conjure images of separate lines and “Whites only” signs. Some might even think, “That doesn’t happen anymore.” But the harsh and horrifying reality is that it absolutely does. Segregation today looks like restricting people’s choice of where to live. Municipalities use zoning codes to prevent certain people from living in their neighborhood while welcoming others. Although the signs aren’t posted, the message remains: Whites only.
stinkbeast666 t1_iuidznx wrote
With no other information other than "wuts bad?" you won't find much help.
What's your budget? What industry do you work in? Buying or renting? City or rural?