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Greetings, everyone. I am a single man planning a move from out of state to the Capital District in August of this year. I will be working in downtown Schenectady. Ideally, I am looking for a town to live in that meets the following criteria:
*Within a 30 minute drive of downtown Schenectady, avoiding any known bottlenecks or relatively high-traffic areas.
*Apartment, townhome or house to rent (my budget is approximately $1,500 per month).
*Calm, charming, rural but accessible (“boring” is fine!).
*Safe/low crime.
*Schools are not a concern as I do not have children.
I have spent some time researching in these forums and speaking with people during a recent visit to Schenectady, and have come up a list of the following towns:
- Ballston Spa: Safe and fun little downtown area. Close to Saratoga and Saratoga Lake as well, which have nice spots. The commute you'd have would avoid busy/major highways. Recommend.
- Glenville: More rural than most of the others on the list. Not too much going on in the area, but that definitely means it's calm and quiet! There a couple nice hiking spots in the area, but honestly its mostly a bedroom community. Low crime of course.
-Guilderland/Colonie/Latham: Think traditional suburbs, but there are definitely more rural parts than others. Some solid restaurants and parks in each and all pretty safe. The commute wouldn't be bad from any of these and you can avoid the highways. Guilderland and Colonie are close to neat towns like Altamont and Voorheesville, while Latham is a nice central location near the urban centers (Albany/Schenectady/Troy/Saratoga)
Stillwater: Very quiet, safe, rural town on the Hudson. Doesn't meet your criteria for a 30 min commute though.
Scotia/Watervliet/Rotterdam/Waterford: Middle class areas (more so than a lot of others on the list). Less rural and more urban. Not as safe or as quiet as some of there others on the list either. Waterford has some nice amenities (parks, canal site, restaurants, farmers markets) and punches above its "weight class" so to speak.
- Ballston Spa: Safe and fun little downtown area. Close to Saratoga and Saratoga Lake as well, which have nice spots. The commute you'd have would avoid busy/major highways. Recommend.
- Glenville: More rural than most of the others on the list. Not too much going on in the area, but that definitely means it's calm and quiet! There a couple nice hiking spots in the area, but honestly its mostly a bedroom community. Low crime of course.
-Guilderland/Colonie/Latham: Think traditional suburbs, but there are definitely more rural parts than others. Some solid restaurants and parks in each and all pretty safe. The commute wouldn't be bad from any of these and you can avoid the highways. Guilderland and Colonie are close to neat towns like Altamont and Voorheesville, while Latham is a nice central location near the urban centers (Albany/Schenectady/Troy/Saratoga)
Stillwater: Very quiet, safe, rural town on the Hudson. Doesn't meet your criteria for a 30 min commute though.
Scotia/Watervliet/Rotterdam/Waterford: Middle class areas (more so than a lot of others on the list). Less rural and more urban. Not as safe or as quiet as some of there others on the list either. Waterford has some nice amenities (parks, canal site, restaurants, farmers markets) and punches above its "weight class" so to speak.
- Ballston Spa: Safe and fun little downtown area. Close to Saratoga and Saratoga Lake as well, which have nice spots. The commute you'd have would avoid busy/major highways. Recommend.
- Glenville: More rural than most of the others on the list. Not too much going on in the area, but that definitely means it's calm and quiet! There a couple nice hiking spots in the area, but honestly its mostly a bedroom community. Low crime of course.
-Guilderland/Colonie/Latham: Think traditional suburbs, but there are definitely more rural parts than others. Some solid restaurants and parks in each and all pretty safe. The commute wouldn't be bad from any of these and you can avoid the highways. Guilderland and Colonie are close to neat towns like Altamont and Voorheesville, while Latham is a nice central location near the urban centers (Albany/Schenectady/Troy/Saratoga)
Stillwater: Very quiet, safe, rural town on the Hudson. Doesn't meet your criteria for a 30 min commute though.
Scotia/Watervliet/Rotterdam/Waterford: Middle class areas (more so than a lot of others on the list). Less rural and more urban. Not as safe or as quiet as some of there others on the list either. Waterford has some nice amenities (parks, canal site, restaurants, farmers markets) and punches above its "weight class" so to speak.
Watervliet is definitely quiet. At least I can have my windows open in the summertime without having to listen to ghetto-blaster noise, unlike when I lived in Skank-ectady back in 2015-2016. Everyone on my block of 7th Ave off of 19th Street respect everyone else's air- and ear-space.
I would also recommend Valley View Apartments off of Johnson Road in Latham, since I personally know the leasing consultant. Place is under new ownership and they are refurbishing all the apartments.
Watervliet is definitely quiet. At least I can have my windows open in the summertime without having to listen to ghetto-blaster noise, unlike when I lived in Skank-ectady back in 2015-2016. Everyone on my block of 7th Ave off of 19th Street respect everyone else's air- and ear-space.
I would also recommend Valley View Apartments off of Johnson Road in Latham, since I personally know the leasing consultant. Place is under new ownership and they are refurbishing all the apartments.
Thank you! I appreciate the info - who should I ask for at Valley View, & who should I say sent me? Feel free to DM me about that. Thanks again.
I'm kind of surprised that Scotia isn't suggested due to its proximity to Downtown Schenectady, while having its own Main Street/Downtown; it is a bigger and walkable village and the crime rate is low.
What do you all think about the city of Rotterdam? I am looking at some apartments there. Thanks!
Northwest Rotterdam (the areas around route 159) I would recommend. Rotterdam can get dicey nearer to downtown, but it has some good amenities (outdoor area close by, Italian deli, aquarium)
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