Danbury, CT
 

Anyone familiar with the area. We will be visiting schools there in the next few weeks.

What schools are in the Danbury area?

Good area with lots of hotels and things to do.<BR>There is a huge haunted house in the area around hallowen if you can wait.<BR><BR>Westcon is a good schools as well

Do you mean West Conn (Western Connecticut State University)?<BR><BR>They have 2 Danbury locations Exit 4 and Exit 5 off of I-84

Danbury is average among large school districts in CT, but below average compared with all school districts, esp those in western CT.<BR>Connecticut Magazine ranks all sorts of things each year, education, among them.<BR>Here's the current list for large towns only (there are separate lists for smaller towns):<BR>Name Education <BR>(lower # is better)<BR>1. West Hartford 1.0 <BR>2. Greenwich 2.0 <BR>3. Fairfield 3.0 <BR>4. Milford 4.0 <BR>5. Manchester 5.0 <BR>6. Hamden 6.0 <BR>7. Bristol 7.0 <BR>8. Norwalk 8.0 <BR>9. Danbury 9.0 <BR>10. West Haven 10.0 <BR>11. Stamford 11.0 <BR>12. Meriden 12.0 <BR>13. Bridgeport 13.0 <BR>14. New Britain 14.0 <BR>15. Waterbury 15.0 <BR>16. New Haven 16.0 <BR>17. Hartford 17.0 <BR><BR>Danbury has a rather blue collar feel to it. It's a working class town.<BR>

Jan<BR><BR>What do you mean by Blue Collar?<BR>I hope working people do not offend you, because we are Blue Collor ...and proud

Many people in Western CT, esp the farther south you go, are very affluent. You should be aware of the various flavors of the different towns in the area if you move there.<BR>Ridgefield is only a few minutes south of Danbury and feels very different. Westport, same thing.<BR>Hartford is split east vs. west.<BR>Not a negative comment toward working class people. But if you are "working class and proud", you would hate some of the towns south of Danbury and may be very comfortable in Danbury.<BR>

I don't think Dad wants to move there. I read the post to mean he's looking at higher education places in the area.

Danbury is relatively dumpy and not the safest place in the area. No one else wants to say it but...it has to be said. If you had to rate the top dumps in CT, it would have to go something like this:<BR><BR>1) Bridgeport/New Haven - tie, but a fierce battle<BR>2) Waterbury<BR>3) South Norwalk<BR>4) Hartford<BR>5) Danbury<BR><BR>Maybe I missed a couple...<BR><BR>The area is weird like someone else mentioned. You can get a house in Danbury for $150k and drive 10 minutes down the road to Ridgefield and the same house is $750k.<BR><BR>My fiancee is a high school teacher and the school system there is somewhat poor, again as someone else demonstrated. Do some homework and spend some time in the area. I've lived in CT for 30+ years, a large portion of it in Bridgeport, my #1 rated dump. I bring friends from college who grew up in affluent midwestern/southern suburbs and they're somewhat nervous in these cities so it all depends what you're used to and what you expect. Dig around for data on Danbury and you're certain to find it sub-par in many areas.

OK Maybe I did not make myself clear.<BR><BR>I am taking my kids to visit colleges. One of the ones we want to see is WestConn in Dabury. <BR>We are not looking to move or anything.<BR>What can you tell me about the area?<BR>Tell us more about that haunted house thing someone mentioned.

Great mall there, lots of restaurants, the only hotel I recall is Quality Inn, but I'm sure many more. Pop into Ridgefield for a taste of "the way life should be". Not really a "college" town, but there are restaurants, etc if the kids want off campus. There is a small airport in New York (anyone help me with the name) which is about 45 min and VERY easy to get in and out of if having to fly home for visits, much better than Hartford, etc and comporable prices. Also you can catch a train into NYC from RIdgefield, takes about an hour.

Thanks Dad. I thought I was the only one with a reading comprehension problem. What other schools beside Western Conn. are you looking at. Are you in-state residents?

White Plains is the airport in NY.<BR><BR>From Danbury, Hartford is just about as close and is much cheaper.

Since Robin Leach lives in Danbury, surely there must be at leat ONE upscale neighborhood there, no?<BR><BR>How does Westport fall on this scale as per "upscale living?"

I thought Robin Leach lived in Las Vegas.

Westport is definitely upscale. That's where people like Letterman and Newman live. Cute quaint shops, and tons of fancy homes. About 30 min from Danbury due to all the traffic.

Letterman does not live in Westport.<BR>He's in New Canaan which is more upscale than Westport.<BR>But on a scale of 1-10, 1 being dumpy, Westport is about an 8 IMO.<BR>The interesting thing about it is that it's upscale but in a relaxed, unostentatious way.

But I still want to know where Robin the Leper lives.

In terms of House prices an indicator for lower Fairfield County from highest to lowest - Greenwich, New Canaan, Darien, Weston, Westport, Fairfield, Ridgefield, Stamford.<BR><BR>In terms of average personal income, from highest to lowest - New Canaan, Weston, Darien, Greenwich, Westport, Ridgefield, Stamford.<BR><BR>Letterman moved out of New Canaan several years ago. Lot's of celebrities all over FFld county, most of them are in Greenwich, Westport and Weston. New Canaan has more of the independantly wealthy, master of the universe types.

Average home price in New Canaan last year was rougly 1.6 million. Average income (per capita -, $ 82,000, with an average household income of over $ 200K.