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ajpiko t1_j2dootb wrote

anywhere down the new haven line and you should be fine for 2 hours. walkable, you need a city, eh? suburbs arent walkable, especially during winter

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moneynerd OP t1_j2dtb6q wrote

Yeah, this is my fear. Having a hard time finding something that is a good fit, even though my husband really wants the space.

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ajpiko t1_j2e5ghe wrote

okay so, you're more or less limited to looking at places directly downtown if you want walkeability in connecticut.

you might simply investigate every town on the new haven train line. there's a train branch off norwalk, the danbury line, those stops will have good schools but they might not be walkeable/have really small downtowns, if at all. edit: i would ignore the waterbury line.

you might try fairfield, if the downtown/denser area likely has everything you need, it has good schools. don't know if it's pro or con for you, but it is relatively lily white, and has a sort of high-brow attitude that can intimidate people. $1m is kinda low. 1.5 hours by train to nyc. has a beach!

i love stamford, and consider it my home (but i technically grew up in wilton). stamford is relatively high on us diversity ranking (might be important to you), it is also extremely high on us safety ranking! (top 15 last time i checked). its a city though so it has same characteristics of other city public school systems, some people refuse and go to private, others work to get into the really good magnets. also has a beach!

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edit: am going to add that i said fairfield because i think it has the biggest downtown area (of a non-city) compared to say, westport, or darien. westport has a decent downtown too. those are good school towns. westport is a little haughty jewish (sorry jewish friends, its true) and darien is just full stop "we pull over all cheap looking cars". norwalk is great but again, might be testing your limit for schools.

you could be more specific about walkeability, it might help. is it like, kids need to walk to school? you need to walk to doctor? or you just want to be abel to go to a cafe/gym/grocery without driving? or is everyone walking everywhere?

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edit 2: i mean really you might consider new haven, but like we might as well just call it yale. not sure about schools, but the university area obviously is really walkable, and it has the resources of yale medical school, plus all the businesses that cater to yale students. historically the tension was always like yale vs the town and that (at least in the past) meant white vs black.

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moneynerd OP t1_j2e63pf wrote

I'd love to walk to get a coffee or lunch. I'd love to be able to walk to school and to kid activities or community activities.Groceries have delivery and can be done with my husband on the weekend. Doctors office don't require hauling around a kid and can be done via Uber. Train is less important for me. My husband would use the train more than I would.

And laid back, not lily white would be preferred. But I have a long list, soo....

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ajpiko t1_j2e7thp wrote

right so "good school" towns in connecticut are usually going to be super white, so much so that people often say ones just a dogwhistle for the other. stereotypes, i leave the details to your research.

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walking to kids activities in the suburbs of connecticut, just my gut reaction, 1000% unreasonable expectation for ct suburbs. like i'm thinking of all the sports fields, schools, libraries, farms, nature stuff. its all a drive. kids all have to drive. kids drive each other, like everyone has a car by the youngest age possible. it would have to be a city. (so, stamford, norwalk, new haven)

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moneynerd OP t1_j2eam9w wrote

Thanks. I think just saying it like it is is good. I mean... the lack of social life if you can't drive often :/
Better to depriortize it vs. just wasting time looking at something that won't work.
So maybe bump up New Haven, Norwalk.

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curbthemeplays t1_j2eco40 wrote

Fairfield is more diverse than Westport which is rich and white.

Fairfield = 87.2% white
Milford = 84.6% white

Which, is honestly pretty diverse for CT towns with good schools.

I’ll say I live in Milford and I see a lot of diversity here. I think it’s partially due to it being a magnet for visitors of nearby diverse areas like Stratford and West Haven.

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curbthemeplays t1_j2ecdpf wrote

Milford has a pretty robust downtown too. It even has 2 other walkable commercial districts: Walnut Beach and Devon.

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