Where to live in Columbus, OH

Worthington Hills.

Great neighborhood just north of 270 off 315. Hilliard and UA are about 15 mins away. Great schools and a beautiful, quiet neighborhood.

I guess it comes down to income. Yeah Worthington and Upper Arlington and Dublin are the top areas.

For families who make under 200,000 a year Gahanna is a great little town and is one of the newer Ohio sports powerhouses for high school (especially soccer and baseball).

I make WAY under 200,000 a year and live very comfortably in Dublin Schools (but Columbus taxes, which is the best deal around). Worthington Hills is OK, but it is far from downtown and traffic there is a nightmare because of the 315/270/23 interchange which is a total bottleneck. Worthington Schools are inferior to Dublin or UA also (this year, Dublin Schools were ranked the best in Central Ohio). Worthington is probably more on a par with Hilliard Schools.

Trick question! Don't live in Columbus OH, it sucks!

Go AGAINST traffic and live in a district with excellent, small schools close to downtown -- Grandview. No reason to even consider anyplace else (except money).

TJ wrote:

I make WAY under 200,000 a year and live very comfortably in Dublin Schools (but Columbus taxes, which is the best deal around). Worthington Hills is OK, but it is far from downtown and traffic there is a nightmare because of the 315/270/23 interchange which is a total bottleneck. Worthington Schools are inferior to Dublin or UA also (this year, Dublin Schools were ranked the best in Central Ohio). Worthington is probably more on a par with Hilliard Schools.

Woah, TJ. You've got some major Worthington envy going on, man. Traffic isn't a nightmare at all out of the Hills, esp after all of the new construction around Hard Rd that was completed recently. It's pretty smooth and reasonable - unless you're going to the 23/270 cluster F - which this guy won't. With Dublin you have the 33/270/Avery stupidity, so there's backups everywhere at rush hour.

Also, your take on the schools is insane. Dublin, UA, Worthington... all pretty much equals. Not sure what "ratings" you're looking at, but to call Worthington Schools inferior is ridiculous.

By the way, my family's collective income is 90K. We're just fine in Worthington.

The garden spot wrote:

Go AGAINST traffic and live in a district with excellent, small schools close to downtown -- Grandview. No reason to even consider anyplace else (except money).

Yeah, Grandview's great. Excellent schools, and a city within the city. Cool place. For me, though... too many college kids and apartments. I like to visit Grandview; I just would rather live elsewhere. But it's perfect for some...

New Albany is a great area with great schools but a bit pricey in places

southohio ave. near livingston is an awesome area!!

well if you like being George Zimmerman on a weekly basis!

also..

livingston,parsons,alum creek in that area,and also most definitly lockbourne are just WONDERFUL places to raise a family! well if you are the Terminator....

Along the Olentangy river. Many nice places to go for a run.

Hilliard, Worthington, Upper Arlington, & Dublin are all nice areas and wouldn't be a long commute. Schools are very good in that area. It depends on how much you make & what you can find housing wise. New Albany & Gahanna are just annoying. I'd stay away from anything North of 270 because traffic can be horrendous there even though there are some really nice places & nice parks there. Your best bet if you want to find somewhere to run is close to the Olentangy River or Antrim park (or southern Hilliard near Darby Creek Park)

Any of the following school districts are very good: Worthington, Dublin, Olentangy, New Albany, Bexley and Upper Arlington. I may have been missing a few but those are the ones that come to mind.

UA is a great area to live but not worth the premium you'll have to pay to live there. I grew up in Columbus and now live in Manhattan. The people in UA were more snobby about where they live than people I've met who live in the most expensive zip codes in the country.

New Albany is a little mini-bubble in Columbus. Everything is very new and expensive. Wexner built his own little playground but again, there is a lot of pretentious people there. Its also on the opposite side of the city as Hilliard so I would rule it out.

Dublin and Worthington are probably your best bet in terms of schools and living area. Dublin is going to be slightly newer, have nicer homes, more golf courses, etc but will be more expensive. All of Dublin is connected by bike paths.

Worthington is more affordable but I feel like so many of the neighborhoods are next to large roads. It makes commuting easy but it doesn't feel very private. Brookside is nice and there are some nice homes along the river next to the York golf course.

Bexley is weird in that there are sections with huge, beautiful homes and 3 streets later you can be in the ghetto. The schools are great but the supposed selling point of Bexley is that it is close to downtown but still a "nice" area. Columbus isn't exactly a cultural beacon, and the proximity comes with lots of downsides.

The Olentangy area has grown ridiculously fast the last 15 years. The commute will be a little bit longer than Dublin but you get the same level of homes, golf courses, schools at a slightly lower price point. The running in that area might be the best as well. Highbanks Metro Park is hands down the best place to run in the city, there are several smaller parks with 2-4 miles of trails (Delaware County preservation parks), and all of Powell is connected by a bike path system as well.

Hilliard is not a bad area but the schools are not on par with the other areas discussed above but still good. I really don't know enough about the area to comment.

westerville is nice, but you'd have to use 270 to commute to Hilliard (25-30 min), so maybe Dublin is your best bet. grandview & UA are fun areas but kind of pricey for a family.

Upper Arlington for sure. Good running neighborhood quick access to the olentangy trail. Can be expensive though. Dublin and Worthington are other good choices too.

If you are going to work in Hilliard, then there is no reason to not live there also. It's one of the nicest suburbs and more affordable than UA. You would have your choice of living in the city or in a more rural setting and the schools are outstanding and growing. Why make your commute longer for the same situation with the price of gas so high and less time with your family?

I second the Westerville reply.

Ohio_Miler's comments about the schools are not accurate.

Not to sound like I'm getting a commission from home sales in Hilliard... however, in researching the rankings with the Ohio Department of Education, Hilliard was exactly on par with Dublin, Olentangy, Bexley, Upper Arlington and was ranked slightly higher than Worthington and New Albany.

You have two children so I'm guessing that you do not have a ton of disposable income. The most bang for your housing buck is most likely in Hilliard, but it all depends on what other factors come into play for you. Understand that anyone from the Columbus area is going to have slants on what is best, but you are best served by doing objective analysis.

For the schools, you can research at:

http://ilrc.ode.state.oh.us/Districts/Default.asp

For other factors, it is best to come have a look for yourself.

Stick to the city itself. I would recommend The Bottoms. It's a beautiful neighborhood just past downtown. Much nicer than German Village.

The city schools are not all that good, but look into the stats yourself.

Also, Highbanks is nice, but it's tough to do 16 or 17 milers there without really repeating and is tough to get to at certain times of the day with traffic. Battelle Darby Park is the biggest hidden gem Columbus has to offer. I can easily do 15-20 milers without really repeating. It's very close to Hilliard (5-15 minutes depending on where in Hilliard).

Having some interaction with Hilliard Schools, I'm very impressed with their academics. Any of these areas mentioned would be a great place to raise a family & work. Best of luck. I hope you love Columbus as much as I have.

There are a lot of pretentious people in these ares, but there are also a lot of genuine, kind people there as well. I've always found New Albany or Gahanna as the worst, but that's my own personal slant.