Submitted by Swagnasty95 t3_z7gmyc in Connecticut

Me and my girlfriend are currently living in Wisconsin and got job offers in New Haven. Neither of us know anything about the area and don't know anybody from it so I figured I'd ask you guys. I'm getting a vibe that there are a lot of unsafe areas in New Haven and the last thing we want is to accidentally end up in an unsafe area.

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iidexzy2 t1_iy6lmph wrote

might be helpful to know what you are looking for/interested in. How old are you and your gf? Do you have kids that need to go to school? Apartment or House? Etc.

I don't think New Haven is as dangerous as it's made out to be. But it certainly has it's problems like any city.

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Swagnasty95 OP t1_iy6ucxc wrote

That's what I keep thinking. All I can find on the internet is how shitty a rough the city is but I've lived close to Minneapolis most my life and I never thought it was that bad. A big reason I made the post was to see what people from the area thought of it just to make sure.

Were both mid 20's and looking for affordable renting which seems to be tough basically everywhere in the country.

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curbthemeplays t1_iy6m5bl wrote

Depends on what you want. Are you renting? Buying? You want more of a city or suburb? Coastal? Woods? What kind of property? Kids?

There’s plenty of great, safe areas of New Haven. It’s CT’s best city, for enjoying city life! Downtown, East Rock, Wooster Square, Westville are particularly great areas to live.

Outside New Haven, I’m a big fan of Milford. It’s a really well rounded town with a great shoreline, parks, downtown, and walkable areas.

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Swagnasty95 OP t1_iy6u318 wrote

We're both in our mid 20's with no kids. Definitely looking to rent with no plans on buying a house for years to come. I don't think we want to live downtown as none of us have ever lived inside a big city before and we both enjoy having as much nature close to us as possible.

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curbthemeplays t1_iy6u800 wrote

Gotcha. East Rock and Westville could fit that bill in New Haven. Lots of green and parks nearby. Walkable, but leafy and relatively quiet.

Also, it’s most definitely a small city. Even downtown is fairly chill.

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1234nameuser t1_iy7x7m9 wrote

There are no big cities in CT, but Id also recommend Westville / East Rock for getting outdoors.

You'd have either East or West rock within spitting distance which makes it easy to get outside, even in the cold months. I'm always amazed at how empty West Rock is, very peaceful.

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1234nameuser t1_iy7wqbu wrote

If you're a reasonable person then it's safer than most all other 100k+ population cities in the US that aren't just another soul-sucking suburban wasteland.

It's an old city with old problems, but I've never seen trouble for those that didn't go looking for it yet.

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Illustrious-Chip-245 t1_iy7z8r6 wrote

Westville is a cool area if you want to be in the city of New Haven. Otherwise, Milford is a great town with good restaurants/bars and nice beaches. It’s right on the train line with easy access to New York

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ijuanaspearfish t1_iy6ii88 wrote

Woodbridge, Bethany, Orange, are all towns not too far from new haven. When I lived out there a long time ago, woodbridge had money, bethany was more rural, and orange was maybe in between.

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Mofiremofire t1_iy6o7qt wrote

Orange is like suburban neighborhoods, Woodbridge is like rural neighborhoods and Bethany is rural. All are nice if you're looking for a nice, safe, peaceful place to live. Not much to do after 9pm though.

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silasmoeckel t1_iy8nb7s wrote

Pretty much this. Our city's are small what would be a nice neighborhood elsewhere is a neighboring town here.

Orange is bisected by a strip mall called the post road.

Living just north of Bethany it's a nice drive in your close enough to things but not in them. Lots of horse farms and nice places but 15 minutes from things to do.

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CT-hotspur17 t1_iy7ek9j wrote

I had a friend who moved from California to CT as her husband had a job in New Haven, I told her to rent in Branford or Guilford. They found a place in Branford and liked it so much they wound up buying a place, and what was supposed to be a couple of years turned into a decade. I would give you the same advice, those are still two great towns which will feel more like Wisconsin.

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Doctorbencarson1 t1_iy8676i wrote

I have family living there and my dad has a small business in new haven. I would just stay completely out of new haven , and avoid west haven and Hamden. look into north haven, Branford(A lot of rentals) , Bethany, Oxford, Woodbridge, northford, north Branford, guilford , some parts of east haven .

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flytweed t1_iyb97ed wrote

New Haven is a nice, small city. Anyone who has lived in or near other US cities will find it laughable when you arrive and wonder what all the sky-is-falling-stuff was about.

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TriStateGirl t1_iyeb0ho wrote

Milford. There's a train station to get you there if you don't feel like driving there.

Great schools, beaches, a mall (kind of dead though), a movies at the mall, Walmart, and Barnes&Noble.

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