Cincinnati neighborhoods?
 

We're about 18 months from making a permanent move away from Chicagoland (90% likelihood). In thinking about where we'd like to live, we've landed on Cincinnati as one candidate. There are several reasons, which are beyond the scope of this request, but suffice it to say that it's a compromise position between my wife and me, driven largely by proximity to family.

Part of the exercise is to simplify and reduce our cost of living so I can spend more time with the kids.

At this point, we're considering Cincinnati almost entirely on paper. That is, neither of us have spent enough time there to really know whether we could live there or not.

In the next month or so, we'll head down there to start looking around and determining which neighborhood(s) would be worth considering and to generally decide whether we want to keep Cincinnati on the list.

So we're asking the community for suggestions on neighborhoods meeting the following criteria:

a) low cost of living (~$120-150/s.f. for a house; looking at 2000-2500 s.f.)
b) urban or mature suburban neighborhood with walking or biking access to stores, etc
c) <1 hour to CVG
d) reasonably safe

If anyone's familiar with Columbus, I'm looking for the equivalent of a Bexley (the more modest parts of it, anyway), Grandview Heights or Clintonville neighborhood, only in Cincinnati. Maybe Worthington as well. As a stretch, Old Town East (a little too sketchy) or German Village (a little too pricey).

Thanks for any suggestions.

PS. As for schools, it would be nice if the public schools were good and safe, but we've basically resigned ourselves to paying for private schooling and won't let schools quality stand in the way of an otherwise great neighborhood.

I'll try to give you a little input. I am a New Yorker, lived in Paris as well as several other European cities, and I now live in Cincinnati. It wouldn't be my choice, but it's where my husband's job took us. One of the best high schools here is Walnut Hills HS, large, urban, requires an entrance exam, varied course offerings, gets kids into the Ivies, with a building modeled on Monticello (I am not making that up). You would definitely want to live in Hyde Park or Clifton (sidewalks, good mix of house styles, income levels, trees, stores, in some parts very charming; some houses Arts and Crafts, others 100 years old, etc.). BTW, I haven't flown out of CVG in well over a year; the highest fares in the country are out of that airport. I drive to DAY or CMH. It's a real pain, but those airports are tiny, with short security lines, easy parking, and you can save hundreds of dollars -- if not more -- per person per flight.

I lived in Hyde Park for about six years and can 100% backup Georgemma´s suggestion. Clifton has some great areas, but they can get much rougher within just a few blocks. Cincinnati is a lovely city. . just a little on the conservative side, though.

Will you have a commute to work? -- if so you may want to make some test drives first -- or at least watch traffic patterns on the web.

BTW, this applies any where !

Bob H

Nah. I'll work from home, or if necessary get a little office space somewhere close to home.

I'm here now and spend a decent amount of time in this area, nice.

I am a Cincinnati native but I have lived in MOST midwestern cities and am in Chicagoland currently.

There are really two decisions that you have to make. The first on is "Ohio vs. Kentucky". The income tax difference is substantial. In Ohio, you have a high state income tax rate. Kentucky has a lower income tax rate.

Second, it benefits you to live in an unincorporated area OR the city that you work in. In addition, many cities assess LOCAL INCOME TAX on residents income and income earned in that CITY. For example, if you work in Norwood and live in Cincinnati, you MAY be paying taxes in both city. In my last assignment in Ohio, I was paying over 11% state and local income taxes. (In IL, the rate is 3% as an example.) One way to lessen this impact is to move into an unincorporated area like Anderson Township. I don't like to focus on taxes but I am a CPA and Ohio taxes were a strong incentive to leave the state again.

I would not be really excited about living within the city of Cincinnati. Many traditional "nice neighborhoods" have deteriorated over the past 20 years. The Cincinnati public schools are a real crapshoot. Certain schools are heavily funded by parents and offer a great educational opportunity for students. However, the next school down the street might be a rehash of the "blackboard" jungle. (And a number of the public schools are architectural wonders.) There are a number of fine parochial and private schools in the city.

I would strongly recommend that you jump on the freeway and visit the city for a few weekends to see the city and find a neighborhood that you love.

Another Cincinnati native here...
 

Hyde Park is still nice but the public schools (except Walnut Hills) are indeed a crapshoot.

If you decide to live on the Ohio side, you may also want to consider Sycamore Township, Kenwood, Montgomery, Mason and West Chester. These are all on the north (or northeast) side of town which, unless you have a suitcase of money to burn, is much closer to DAY, where the air fares are typically 30-50% of what you'd pay for the same destination out of CVG.

Another thought: as you will be working out of your home, you may also want to consider Springboro, Centerville or Washington Twp., on the southern side of Dayton. Still provides easy access to Cincinnati, but these communities are closer to the airport at DAY.

Going through old threads and curious whether or not the OP has made any decisions on this?

I live about 30 miles NE of Cincy in a small town called Morrow. I'm about 10 minutes from Kings Island. I'm just about exactly between CVG and DAY (roughly 45 minute drive to either) and just over an hour from CMH. As others have said, DAY is *much* cheaper than CVG.

We moved to southern Ohio from the Detroit area (about an hour north of Detroit) and have been very happy here.

Appreciate the request for an update. We are actually moving to Austin. I would have loved to move to the Cincinnati area but my career is taking me to Texas.

Related: I have found that city-data.com has extensive discussions about lots of metro areas around the country, for folks who are looking for info on places to move, etc.