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.

18 different states? Dang! I only have 4 with the other being FL for a few months when I was younger so it barely counts.

I am from OH originally. We absolutely loved CT but we’re not too thrilled with NY. The worst part of CT other than traffic was the cost of living. In the transition from CT back to OH, we went from renting an apartment to owning a house in a nice suburb, tripled our living space, and our mortgage is the same as our rent was.

Lived in CT for about 15 months a while back after living in NY and OH and think CT had some of the best plates around. They are simple but recognizable and looked great on both our cars. Now that we are back in OH, I actually proudly display an old CT plate in our garage because I think it looks so good. Having not grown up in CT, I can only imagine the top plate is getting love for nostalgia reasons.