Cleveland Ohio? (Update 1st post)

[jndb93]

My husband has been offered a job in the Cleveland area. We need to live within 40 to 60 miles of Cleveland. We have two children (junior high and high school) so a good school district is a must. Currently we live in Alabama in a city with a population of about 35,000. We don't necessarily need to find a city with a comparable population but we have lived in Atlanta and it wasn't for us. What cities should we be considering? I think we would like to be south of Cleveland.


Update: I just realized I didn't update. Thanks again for all of your help. My husband has been living in the area for the last 8 weeks and really likes it. He travels to Columbus quite often so we need to be south of Cleveland. We finally decided on Wadsworth, Ohio. We (the kids and I) opted to stay in Alabama until the school year ended and are moving next week.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

Look into Brecksville, Brunswick, Medina, Solon, & Aurora. I have friends in each of these suburbs. They are all satisfied with the schools. I believe all of these districts were rated "excellent" by the state. Good luck with your search!

 

[ajk912]

What's your housing budget? House costs are all over the board up there...but I think everywhere you pay dearly for a good school district.

I would recommend Beachwood, but that's pricey. Check out greatschools.net, you can check out pretty much any school (and even elementary schools, middle schools, etc) there. I wouldn't go too far from where he works, especially in the winter commuting time can be really long! My ILs live in the Cleveland area, and she lives 20 minutes from work and last week one day it took her an hour to get home. Snow is a fact of life up there, and you have snow (sometimes a LOT of it) for 3-4 months a year, so you really have to plan for it.

 

[KimmyDisneyNerd]

Hi there. I would recommend Brecksville/Broadview Hts, Strongsville, or North Royalton. All of these are south/southwest of the city (within 20 miles) and offer some of the best school districts around the area.
If you have any specific questions you can feel free to PM me.

 

[shortbun]

Welcome to Ohio!!!

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Specifically what area of Cleveland is he going to work? Is it in the city? Or will it be a suburb.

One thing in this area is the difference between the west side and the east side.

I concur with some of the above suburban cities to look at.

PM me also if you have any questions.

Debbie

 

[Cindy B]

I used to live in Shaker Heights, Beachwood and University Heights. All of those towns are east of Cleveland. I'm glad to hear Beachwood was mentioned. I loved it there. Beachwood is right next to Shaker.

Whatever you do, don't do Warrensville Heights. That is right next to Shaker and Beachwood and it was very dicey!

I loved living in Shaker. The homes were really beautiful and the area was really nice. How old are your kids? We moved away when my kids were preschool aged but I heard that Shaker schools were great in elementary and middle. I don't know much about the high school.

Make sure the schools do not feed into Cleveland City schools. Those Cleveland City schools are pretty low ranked. When we lived there (early 90's) the Cleveland city schools were one of the lowest ranked in the nation.

We came close to living in Chagrin Falls as well. I thought Chagrin Falls was gorgeous and it was so nice there. I don't know much about schools there, but it was very nice.

Where would you be working? That is very important. The commute could be very bad. There is a difference between east and west side as well. I lived on the east side but had a lot of friends on the west side. I had quite a few friends that lived in Lakewood and Parma.

 

[sanfran22]

Shaker has like the highest taxes in the universe!...Solon, Hudson, Aurora, Beachwood are all good, but they also can be pricey..I work in Twinsburg and it seems they have gotten much better.

 

[Cindy B]

Shaker has like the highest taxes in the universe!...Solon, Hudson, Aurora, Beachwood are all good, but they also can be pricey..I work in Twinsburg and it seems they have gotten much better.

Funny, I never thought Shaker's taxes were high. After living in NJ and PA all my life prior to that point, Shaker seemed LOW in comparison.

I guess it is all perspective.

 

[sanfran22]

Funny, I never thought Shaker's taxes were high. After living in NJ and PA all my life prior to that point, Shaker seemed LOW in comparison.

I guess it is all perspective.

It is perspective. I think they were one of the highest in the state, if not the highest at one point...

 

[Cindy B]

Really, I had no idea. Do the NE Ohio municipalties still do the RITA tax? I hated that RITA! No matter where we lived, that darn RITA followed us all the time.

 

[harleyquinn]

Really, I had no idea. Do the NE Ohio municipalties still do the RITA tax? I hated that RITA! No matter where we lived, that darn RITA followed us all the time.

Most of them do Cindy. I hate it!

With your 40-60 mile range you could leave cuyahoga county completely and move to my neck of the woods--Lake county. We're the county to the east of Cleveland. I live about 20 miles from the center of C-land.
Most of the schools in Lake county are rated Excellent and we have very affordable home prices. I've lived here my whole life and I absolutely love it.

All the other cities mentioned are great places too and a little more cultured and posch than good old Lake County.

Welcome to NE Ohio! It's really a great place to live with TONS of stuff to do and great people. Oh and super awesome libraries!

 

[EpcotKilterFan]

Most of them do Cindy. I hate it!

With your 40-60 mile range you could leave cuyahoga county completely and move to my neck of the woods--Lake county. We're the county to the east of Cleveland. I live about 20 miles from the center of C-land.
Most of the schools in Lake county are rated Excellent and we have very affordable home prices. I've lived here my whole life and I absolutely love it.

All the other cities mentioned are great places too and a little more cultured and posch than good old Lake County.

Welcome to NE Ohio! It's really a great place to live with TONS of stuff to do and great people. Oh and super awesome libraries!

But if she is coming from Alabama... The snow may be a shock

Hey, Cindy.... yup Shaker is the highest and where I live in Garfield Hts is close behind. At least in Shaker, you get more services for your money. Things have jumped since you lived here.

The key for the OP is where exactly his office will be. Gotta love the cross county commutes

Debbie

 

[harleyquinn]

But if she is coming from Alabama... The snow may be a shock

Hey, Cindy.... yup Shaker is the highest and where I live in Garfield Hts is close behind. At least in Shaker, you get more services for your money. Things have jumped since you lived here.

The key for the OP is where exactly his office will be. Gotta love the cross county commutes

Debbie

Western Lake County isn't like the rest of the snow belt. Beachwood usually gets hit worse than we do.

I think the snow will be an adjustment in any of the locations we're mentioning!

 

[mominwestlake]

Yes, where he is working will definitely make a difference. I live on the west side of Cleveland so if you have any questions about that side you can pm me. I have lived in Bay Village, Rocky River, and Westlake. The schools are very good. I have a lot of friends who have built homes in Avon and really like their city.

 

[Talking Hands]

hi, this is lisa's daughter. I just moved from the Cleveland area. Canton and Akron are nice and they have extra activities for children. If you are looking for something smaller. The Aurora area is great and very close 480. Many of my friends grew up in this area and the kids have tons to do with the arts and education. People in the Aurora area still leave their doors unlocked!! This is not true of Akron or Canton. My friends younger sister was taking trombone and economics at the age of 8 in the public school system in Aurora.

 

[Cool-Beans]

Don't move East of Cleveland. THERE IS SO MUCH SNOW!!!!!

TAXES are MUCH lower out of Cuyahoga County.

Cleveland is really like two different cities. There can literally be NO snow on the ground on the west side and a foot on the east side. The west side is very flat, where the east side gets more hilly. The hills are nice, but do not compensate for the piles of snow that are whomped down every flippin winter.

I've lived here my whole life and while I agreed when DH said it was time to get the hell out of Cuyahoga County, I should have picked a different county than I did. But winter didn't bug me as much back then. And it was warm when we picked the plot.

If you live in Cuyahoga County, I like Broadview Heights and North Royalton ("Home of the Bees") the most. It's less suburban than the suburban areas (quiet, pleasant, laid-back, nice kids, that sort of thing) but very close to the Strongsville mall, which is a nice one. If I wanted something more suburban in Cuyahoga County, I'd go to Bay Village, Westlake, Avon.

Just avoid the east side and AVOID THE SNOW BELT LIKE THE PLAGUE. Piles upon piles. It is unbelievable how much snow we get compared to the rest of this city. And if you don't, don't say you weren't flippin warned!

Again, I wouldn't live on the east side again if you gave me a million bucks. As soon as the kids are out of school, I'm moving. I'd like to move to flippin Florida, but if I can't do that, I'm going back to the middle or way out west.

I've lived here my whole life. I'd say I could answer any question, but then you'd prove me wrong by asking for the date the Euclid Square Mall officially closed or something.

I'll do my best if you have questions, though.

 

[harleyquinn]

Wow. I love the East side, but I also love the NE Ohio area, which you refer to as a "hellhole" so I guess we just disagree. lol

 

[jndb93]

Thanks for all of the recommendations.

My husband will not have to commute to work in the traditional sense. His office will be at our house. The company requires him to live within a certain distance from Cleveland because he will need to go there regularly. However, he will also need to go towards Columbus. And, I guess east and west of Cleveland as well.

I am not sure of our housing budget yet. We haven't gotten that far. This opportunity came up yesterday. So, I have just started researching the area.

 

[LoraJ]

I grew up on the East side in Cleveland Heights. We used to make fun of the West-siders, so I just can't bring myself to recommending a suburb there. I really like Beachwood and Shaker Heights.