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Ridgefield

Did you check Milford? It is not far away from New Haven, where there are hospitals. And Milford has nice places to walk.

Simsbury or West Hartford? Depending where you live both can be walkable. They're also both near Bloomfield which has a million doctors offices and they're near the hospitals in Hartford.

With a budget slightly over 1M, around say 1.3M, you could have a larger house with water views and walkable to the downtown (including train station) and hospital in Milford. However, a car is still 100% needed for regular life (groceries, etc)

West Hartford, mystic, Essex. The thing about CT (and RI for that matter), you are never more than a stone throw away from great medical care. We are really blessed in that sense.

West Hartford, good luck finding a doctor who’s accepting new patients however.

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Fairfield, near the downtown/beach area.

Most CT towns depend on how close you are to the downtown area for walkability but Westport has some of the best public schools in the state and is about an hour on the commuter train to Grand Central.

Not sure about the price of homes there now but I know they can be $$$. Obviously the further out from the city you go the less homes cost.

I'd look at New Haven or points west along the rail line for your husband's commuting needs. Sure, he could drive in, but napping on the train is a fine way to pass the time as is laughing at people in traffic on 95.

Hospitals are pretty good in that area (Fairfield county) because there’s a lot of money but it’s also a quick trip to NYC hospitals too

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

West Hartford

Branford or Guilford. Stamford.

what does that mean lol?

Old Saybrook is walkable, pretty, and has a direct train to nyc. Plenty of doctors and such in town and close by as well. Also easy to get to Yale hospital via train or Uber if needed.

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

There is grocery delivery and my husband can drive us on weekends. Things like kid activities are harder -- happen every day, seem to be spread out, and I want to be a part of it. Thanks for overview. : )

West Hartford resident here and can confirm. I prefer where I live (closer to Bishop’s Corner) because it’s not AS busy as the center/BBS but I’d say that area is more walkable

Does Westport have a downtown with a good school district/ family homes? Or is it more a large shopping type area? We'll go for a visit eventually but it'll be a trip.

Good to know!

Then I would definitely check out Milford. Lots of park space behind the library (which is downtown in the harbor) which also has scheduled programming.

As a person with a rare disease, I’d advise trying to focus on areas along the New Haven line. You can take the train to NYC (or New Haven) and see any doctor you want. That’s mostly why I commented, as I’m fairly new to CT and we are also looking to purchase a home (but we are middle aged and childless). I wish I had additional advice!

Your budget would certainly get you into many of the nice towns with good schools, but walkability is going to be harder in those towns due to the larger estates.

Focus your search on Westport, nearer to the post road than further north if you want to be nearer to the downtown area which is somewhat walkable.

Following that, Southport/Fairfield, and towns east.

That said, this is CT, and you will probably need to do at least some driving.

Re: large estates ... totally agree with you.

Westport has a lovely downtown. Food shopping would be a drive but there’s lots of nice restaurants and shops. Excellent schools and nice homes

I would add that Ridgefield checks a lot of the OPs boxes!

Any specific spots? Good to know :)

With that budget I would move to East Norwalk. 2nd, 3rd or 4th st for walk ability. Or down cove Ave after 5th st. That gives you walk ability to south Norwalk downtown.

Marvin Beach is an amazing place to live, your budget could get you there too, walk to parks and an elementary school. It's a far walk to downtown though. But the neighborhood allows taking a stroll

Fairfield maybe. Walk to town and train is very possible Good schools and variety of real estate options. Good doctors and hospitals are very close by.

West Hartford or one of the shore line towns

That’s because almost no one in CT cares about being able to walk places, which blows my mind. My recommendation would be to check out Milford.

With a budget like that Fairfield county so you’re closer to nyc

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.

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....

Rocky Hill. Schools are decent. Many parks and.houses are affordable. Aldo best part is in 5 mins you get to 91 and then anywhere u want 84,95 just 20-30 mins drive.

Yeah, Milford has tons of parks: https://discovermilfordct.com/things-to-do/beaches-and-parks/

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)

Unfortunately 1 million doesn’t go very far in the family friendly towns from Westport to Greenwich.

Fairfield is a solid option. You have Bridgeport Hospital nearby which is part of Yale. To me, it’s a more down to earth and friendly town than Westport, and I’ve spent a ton of time in both.

For Hospital access, AND NYC within 2 hours, AND a friendly community feel, AND walkability, I’d find it hard to beat Milford. It’s ~15-20 minutes from Yale New Haven and all the ancillary medical infrastructure in New Haven. That is our medical center of the state, without a doubt. If you want the best specialist access, that’s it. You can take a train or Uber.

Your money will also go further than in Fairfield, too.

For walkable neighborhoods I’d recommend Fort Trumbull, South of the Green (literally right below the green), the duck pond area north of downtown, Gulf St, and Woodmont.

Thanks. Appreciate the details there and I can add the neighborhoods to my list. Anything in this area seems to be $1.5-$2.5M for this size house.

Honestly, I'm going to check these areas out since my husband is hoping for a real house like this, but I still enjoy where we live now... which is extremely walkable for elementary school, activities, lunch etc and has houses in the $1.5-$2.5M range and has access to NYU in 45 minutes. Middle school and high school get harder.

It will be 600-1 in Milford, unless on waterfront, then a bit more. It’s also very laid back. I love that I know so many shop owners downtown by name.

I was going to say, another suggestion that might be crazy is to live IN New Haven. Again, medical capital of CT. Very walkable. East Rock is a pretty family friendly area in particular. You’d probably want private school, but that may even out with saving some on a house. Just a thought.

Consider New Canaan, just south of downtown. Could be within a 10-15 minute walk of downtown, most municipal buildings, middle school, high school, and Waveny Park. Could be pretty expensive though and definitely a bit “snobbish.” Most Gold Coast suburbs have walkable downtowns and good school but the activities will typically be more spread out. Fairfield and Westport are probably the most “friendly” but I’m less familiar with their layouts.

Thanks. I'll add that back to the list with private school.

I wish I could suggest some houses in good spots, but the inventory is abysmal right now. Hopefully some good homes pop up in Spring.

This one would be pretty amazing with a bit of work. Walkable to everything. Take a look at this home I found on Realtor.com 3 Plymouth Pl, Milford $595,000 · 4beds · 1.5baths

https://apps.realtor.com/mUAZ/820m7188

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.

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

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.

I honestly can’t think of a better fit than Milford for ALL that criteria. A big part of this is Yale New Haven. That’s going to be your best concentration of specialist medical care in southern New England.

The town has walkable areas (but isn’t ALL walkable, mostly below route 1, downtown, coastal areas) and train access to NYC. Very laid back vibes. Tons of parks and family activities.

West Hartford I see suggested, would be great, but not 2 hours to NYC.

Fairfield would be another option. Plenty of good doctors around there, smaller hospitals.

Near downtown Ridgefield. South Ridgefield mostly.

I agree with this advice. NYC is 60 minutes by train from Westport. You might also consider south Norwalk, Southport and downtown Fairfield

Walkable?

If that's your budget, Fairfield county along the train line. I grew up in Darien and wouldn't personally live because of the overall ritziness and wealth, but they are completely redoing the downtown to be more like a European village. Westport and Fairfield would also make sense, as well as Old Greenwich, if you can afford it.

With that budget you can go look down in Fairfield and the surrounding area then.

I saw someone above mention Ridgefield. In the same vicinity is Bethel. They have some of the most pleasant people I have ever met and the Facebook group is a delight and overwhelmingly positive. If you live downtown, you have total walkability. We were right behind Dolan Plaza and had less than a half mile walk to a coffee spot, bagel spot, 3 pizza spots, several restaurants, a brewery, a local toy store, and the grocery store. My wife and I had a 1 year old while in the area and would take her in a stroller or walk all the time, even in mild winter conditions.

The commute to NYC is about 1.5 hours by car with fairly quick access to 84 then 684. The New Haven Line goes through town and you would have to hop another line in Norwalk if you wanted to take the train to the City. The NYU trip could be a bit tough if you need to get down there by Uber, but not sure if that is restrictive for you. I could see that being tough anywhere other than the southwestern portion of the state / southern Fairfield County.

Your best bet is downtown Fairfield or Blackrock if you can afford it. Keeps you close to the city. You are also close to New Haven and the ferry to LI. Most of CT, even the urban areas, is not walkable. If you don't have kids, Blackrock is the choice. People in Fairfield can be a little extra. Tons of nice people but ... some people who are extra.

Could probably switch to Yale? They have some NYU doctors in White Plains too.

Milford actually has it's own hospital.

I think there’s two middle schools but one high school, but from what I’ve heard all public schools there are great. There’s a really nice downtown shopping area with a few restaurants right on a river. If you Google maps the town library it’s right there. All very walkable! The town as a whole you need a car. I think Darien has a similar downtown area. I grew up in the town next to Westport so I know that area better.

Also not sure if the commute to NYC is by train or car but they used to have a small shuttle that would pick you up at your house and bring you to the train station.

I dont know Milford inside out, but since OP had a chronic illness, i thought being close to Yale new haven hospital would be nice. I assume it would be bigger than hospital in Milford?

Schools are definitely not near the downtown area if that’s what you meant! But I have seen some nice neighborhoods a few streets away from the downtown shopping area

Fairfield. A commute is still possible.

Anywhere close to Hartford doesn't make sense. Having just driven back from NYC through Hartford, there's no way I would want to do that on a consistent basis. Even only a few times a month. If that frequency needed to increase, that would be very painful.

Hospitals near the New Haven area are excellent, and you could still head into NYC if needed.

Towns mentioned in Fairfield County should be the primary target.

Yes--Milford is a small community hospital that does a lot of elective procedures, but is fully equipped, and is fine for most purposes. Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven is a top flight teaching hospital with two campuses in the city, and is affiliated with Yale Medical School. Any case at Milford that requires expertise and/or facilities beyond what they have will generally be transferred to YNHH. I have experienced some health complications of my own over the years, and all of my treatment has been at YNHH. The really serious stuff gets handled at the original York Street campus. The St. Raphael's campus is a smaller hospital that YNHH bought out a few years ago, but I have had treatment at both. I would put the York Street Campus on the same level as Mass General or NY Presbyterian.

West Hartford. Great doctors on either side in Farmington and Hartford. Check if UConn Health and Hartford Healthcare are in-network for you. Farmington is also littered with private/smaller PCP and Specialist practices that also mostly take insurance.

You could get one hell of a house in West Hartford for $1M. You could probably even spend less. Very highly rated schools. Walkable if you live in the right area, which you can with that budget.

There are at least three ERs in the area to choose from also. UCONN, Hartford Healthcare, and St Francis. All within a 10-15 minute drive.

Gonna agree with this, the PCP availability at UConn… call them as soon you you might think you are moving to the area, given the level of care you’ll need. Ask about their schedule for seeing patients also.

This might go for other areas too, not sure.

Westville or East Rock areas of New Haven seem to fit your criteria well.

Norwalk

This is making me think we go all the way out to Milford or New Haven or stay where we are. Walking to school, activities, etc makes it easier to do the stuff I love ... spend time with my kiddo! If everyone else is far out it will be hard to visit with friends too.

Otherwise, we would get 25% more space and a less grungy area for the same price...but lose a lot in terms of my personal lifestyle.