Moving to Dayton

[eupher]

My family will be moving to Dayton (actually Miamisburg) at the beginning of May for a job. Right now we're looking to rent an apartment in Miamisburg, until we get to know the area.

I was hoping people here can offer some suggestions on Dayton suburbs.

A bit of a background...We have a young son and a dog, my wife will be staying at home. During the day she likes to get the dog and kid out of the house an go to parks, museums, malls, etc. How would people here rate the various suburbs in terms of proximity to these kinds of things? The job I'm taking is in Miamisburg, just west of I-75. So, I'm hoping to keep the commute as minimal as possible, maybe 20-30 minutes at a max.

Thanks!

[Big Donkey]

Miamisburg is a pretty nice suburb of Dayton, you could certainly do worse. I was just looking to moving there myself but we wound up getting a place in Kettering last week. The apartment complex in Miamisburg that my girlfriend was really high on was called Lyons Den I believe. It is pretty affordable for the quality of it (I think it was around $500-525 a month), two bedrooms, two bathrooms. I think you can have dogs there but I am not 100% sure on that. Other than this place, I am not familiar with any other complexes in Miamisburg as far as specifics, I just know it is a nice suburb in general. I had a buddy that lived there for a few years and he had a house in a REALLY nice neighborhood around Gebhardt Church Rd. Prince George I think was the name of the neighborhood, or something close to that.

As far as other suburbs, the southern suburbs of Dayton, such as the aforementioned Miamisburg and Kettering, plus Centerville and Oakwood are the nicest. Consequently they are of course going to be more expensive than say Riverside or Trotwood (no knock on those towns, I lived in Riverside for 19 years). Beavercreek to the east of Dayton is pretty nice. They are all really close together and close to I-75. If you want more choices, a little south of these suburbs are Franklin, Springboro, Lebanon in Warren County, just south of Miamisburg, and that's a rapidly growing area and pretty nice as well.

Hope this helps.

[creek14]

The only school districts in the Dayton area I would consider (in no order) are Centerville, Bellbrook, Beavercreek, and Oakwood. All are within the drive you are looking for, with Centerville and Bellbrook being the closest. Beavercreek does not have a city tax, nor does Washington Township (Centerville schools). Not sure about Bellbrook.

There is a mall in Miamisburg (Dayton Mall), there is nicer mall in Beavercreek and a new mall is being built in Beavercreek, near the line with Bellbrook.

All the areas have parks. Not a big museum city, although there are a couple in Dayton.

PM me with any specific questions.

[paintmered]

Also, plan on housing costs to be dramatically lower than they are in Seattle.

I work at Wright-Patt - most of my co-workers live in Beavercreek, Centerville, Kettering and Oakwood.

There are two major malls in the Dayton area - one is in Miamisburg, the other in Beavercreek/Fairborn.

Plus the U.S. Air Force Museum is in your future backyard. If you like aviation at all, you will never want to leave. It's better than the Smithsonian IMO.

[eupher]

Thanks for the valuable feedback everyone!

Creek - you mentioned city taxes, is this common in this area? Excuse my ignorance on this, but in Washington, all we have is Fedearl income tax. Also, is the city tax based on where you work, or where you live? So, if I work in Miamisburg (which I think has a city tax) and live in Beavercreek, would I have to pay the Miamisburg city tax?

As far as housing costs, yes, we were pleasantly surprised at the home prices in the area! Plus it looks like you even get a yard!

[creek14]

Yes if you work in a city with taxes you have to pay them even if you live in a place without. Stinks I know. We're taxed to death here. Fed, state, city, property and a pretty high sales tax.

Scare you away yet? :)

[Big Donkey]

Yeah, I used to live and work both in cities without the local tax, living in Riverside and working in Beavercreek and that always turned into a headache for me tax time because I would have to estimate how much city tax I owed and make payments four times a year to RITA, based around Cleveland. And I always wound up paying way too much but they finally paid me back last year, and now I pay city taxes at the station I work at so thankfully that's over. Must be nice not to have to deal with a whole lot of taxes in Washington, though. Creek's right, we get torn up pretty good with 'em here.

[eupher]

Yeah, unfortunately the taxes are a big drawback, but in the end everything else appears to be cheaper. Gas is about 20-30 cents cheaper on the gallon, based on when I came out for an interview, sales tax, rent, groceries, etc.

I'm actually looking very forward to our move. I grew up in Cincinnati, and most of my family is still there, so that's the big draw!

[Reds/Flyers Fan]

As far as the Dayton area goes, IMO nothing tops Centerville. It's a big city/small town feel. You're just 15/20 min. from Dayton's two major malls but you're also about 10 min. away from beautiful open farmland. Sugarcreek Preserve, the area's largest nature sanctuary, is in Bellbrook just to the east of Centerville. My parents live in Centerville and it takes me about 45 min. to get there from Cincinnati (on back roads, not suicidal I-75). It's only about 20 min. from Kings Island and the Mason area. Centerville City Schools are among Ohio's best in terms of academics and athletics.

Centerville is also convenient to your new job in Miamisburg (Miamisburg-Centerville Road is a direct link). C'ville also has a Graeter's Ice Cream, another major plus. ;)

[Roy Tucker]

I'll second the Centerville, Bellbrook, Oakwood, and Beavercreek areas. All nice places to be from, good location, and excellent schools. Oakwood is the toniest 'burb with the highest $$$ property costs/values followed by Centerville, Beavercreek, and Bellbrook.

You may want to check out Springboro as well. It's a fast-growing area and may be more economical than the above 4. They've been voting through all of their new school construction levys so that's a good sign.

I lived in Centerville circa 1964-70 (CHS grad) and then again 1980-84. I've lived down here in Mason since then. A very nice area as well, but a bit far for you.

[LincolnparkRed]

I used to live in Centerville (chs '95) as well and would say it is a great place to live, most neighborhoods have parks and open spaces to play in. I would take a look at Springboro though as well. It has built itself up a lot in the last 10yrs and will probably be a little cheaper than Centerville. Your son is not in school yet but Centerville and Oakwood are usually rated the highest in the area so that is something to think about for the future. I don't live there anymore but my wife who is from South Barrington IL said she would happily move to Centerville if my career could get me there. So there is a slightly biased opinion for you.

[Reds/Flyers Fan]

Another positive about Centerville: Bill's Doughnuts. Mmmm doughnuts :notworthy

[LincolnparkRed]

Yeah but thanks to the City council there you can no longer smoke while eating your doughnuts which while un-appealing to me was a popular past time for many.

[creek14]

Springboro is having school funding issues, which is why I didn't include them on the list.

[eupher]

Again, thanks for the valuable feedback.

It sounds like the general consensus is that the southern suburbs are the places to be, particularly in Centerville. This is good, as the commute would be perfect! Anyone familiar with the Huber Heights area? Housing costs seem to be less expernsive in the north area, is it just a less desirable area to live?

Thanks!

[Big Donkey]

Just my opinion, but Huber Heights is pretty nice for the most part. It has some questionable parts, but most of it is nice. Riverside is right next door to Huber, so I am fairly familiar with the area, having hung around there quite a bit. I would say it is less desirable to live in the northern suburbs for the most part as compared to the southern suburbs if finances aren't an issue, but there are places to the north of Dayton that are very liveable. If someone were looking for a place in a northern suburb, Huber Heights would be the one I'd recommend. There are some in Miami County, to the north of Huber, that are ok too, but that's probably getting too far away from the Miamisburg/Centerville area if you were to commute there. Huber is right on I-70 and close to I-75, so travel still shouldn't be much of an issue there. It is similar to how Centerville was described in an earlier post in that it has the feel of city and country both; Huber has a ton of retail and most any store you could think of (though no mall, but you're still close to the two we've mentioned earlier in this thread), but there is also quite an area of farmland and open spaces there too once you get away from the I-70 area of town around OH-201 and 202.

[Caseyfan21]

Springboro is having school funding issues, which is why I didn't include them on the list.

I have to say Amen to this being a Springboro graduate (last year). Our school district is one of the fastest growing in the state, but a lot of citizens do not want to foot the bill to put us kids in quality schools. Springboro passed a levy to build two new elementaries last year (they will be the two biggest elementaries in Ohio), and now they are trying to pass an operating levy so those schools can be filled out with supplies and teachers when they are finished. Springboro offers pretty much everything the other cities offer, but it's still smaller than the Centerville's and Miamisburg's. That was really the main reason my parents moved to Springboro over Centerville 11 or so years ago.

Springboro is about 10 mins from the Dayton Mall, 45 mins from Cincy, and 25 mins from downtown Dayton, very much centralized.

All I can say having spent all 19 years of my life in the Miami Valley is you probably will not go wrong no matter where you move to.

[creek14]

Again, thanks for the valuable feedback.

It sounds like the general consensus is that the southern suburbs are the places to be, particularly in Centerville. This is good, as the commute would be perfect! Anyone familiar with the Huber Heights area? Housing costs seem to be less expernsive in the north area, is it just a less desirable area to live?

Thanks!
I wouldn't send my son to HH schools. When we were looking for a home a few years ago we only looked in the communities I listed above because a quality school district was the most important thing to us. If graduation rate, % who go on to college, test scores, etc are important to you, you need to consider the four I mentioned.

[eupher]

Yes, schools are definitely our top priority in terms of where to settle. Right now our son is 2 years old, but we want to find a place to settle for a while.

As far as schools go, do they do mandatory bussing in the Dayton area? I thought I read that it's done in Dayton public schools, but haven't found anything on whether they do it in the burbs.

[creek14]

Yes, schools are definitely our top priority in terms of where to settle. Right now our son is 2 years old, but we want to find a place to settle for a while.

As far as schools go, do they do mandatory bussing in the Dayton area? I thought I read that it's done in Dayton public schools, but haven't found anything on whether they do it in the burbs.
They are getting back to the neighborhood concept in Dayton proper and moving away from busing. They also have specialized high schools (arts, science, etc) but there is no way I would ever allow creek jr to attend Dayton Public. If we had to live within the city limits I would pay for him to go to private schools.

As for the suburbs, it's strictly a neighborhood thing. For example in Beavercreek there are 5 elems, 2 middle, and 1 high school. He attends the elem closet to our house and it will be the same when he moves on to middle school.

[eupher]

Good to know about the busing.

I've heard elsewhere that the Dayton Public Schools are pretty bad.

You mention that Dayton has specialized schools, for the arts, sciences, etc., how do these schools rate, and where are they located? I actually went to SCPA in downtown Cincinnati for several years, and really enjoyed my experience there. Though it was in Over the Rhine, the school itself excelled in the arts (obviously), but the academics were top notch as well.

[creek14]

Good to know about the busing.

I've heard elsewhere that the Dayton Public Schools are pretty bad.

You mention that Dayton has specialized schools, for the arts, sciences, etc., how do these schools rate, and where are they located? I actually went to SCPA in downtown Cincinnati for several years, and really enjoyed my experience there. Though it was in Over the Rhine, the school itself excelled in the arts (obviously), but the academics were top notch as well.
I honestly don’t know that much about them. I believe they are in their infancy. I do have a resource and can check it out for you. It will take a couple days.

[eupher]

I honestly don’t know that much about them. I believe they are in their infancy. I do have a resource and can check it out for you. It will take a couple days.

No big deal. No worries about spending any extra time on it. I'll see if I can dig some stuff up online.

Thanks!