Where to move? Westchester County NY vs Fairfield County CT.
Considering leaving New York City?
Does the biggest question arise which way should you go to?
Westchester County, NY versus Fairfield County, CT?
This is a dilemma many New Yorkers have when the time comes for change from the glamorous New York city life to calm suburbs. The best option you have are Westchester County NY or Fairfield County CT.
Should you move to Mamaroneck- Larchmont or White Planes, NY areas?
Or should you take the little longer commute to Greenwich, Stamford, Darien CT areas? Choosing the best suburb to move in, usually takes time and a lot of research before you decide to move forward with your decision.
The most important factors will be the school district because most likely the reason why you're thinking to move out of New York will be the expansion of your family and the necessity of more space without increasing your budget to $15,000-$20,000 per month on rent or mortgage in NYC.
The second factor will be the commute time to New York City or in particular to Grand Central. And the third but not least important factor will be the property taxes in the city you are planning to move in.
Here are some pluses and minuses of both most popular counties New Yorkers are choosing from to move outside of New York City, Westchester County NY and Fairfield County CT.
No matter what your decision will be we at SITL Group with our licensed and experienced Real Estate agents are here to help you find the best home for you and your family and if you simply can't find it then our home renovation department will transform any property you choose into your dream home.
There are a lot of factors to consider such as taxes, schools districts and commute times. Here are some pros and cons to consider when you are looking to move to Westchester County or Fairfield County.
In order to narrow down the similar parts of both counties, we will compare the lower part of Westchester County starting from Mt Vernon, Yonkers, and New Rochelle to the White Planes area on the North to the lower part of Fairfield County starting from Greenwich, Cos Cob areas to Westport and New Canaan on the northeast.
Let's focus on commute time to NYC first.
Travel time from Westchester is definitely faster than the commute from Connecticut.
The fastest Metro-North travel time to Grand Central Terminal can be from 22 minutes from New Rochelle, NY, to 34 minutes from Rye station NY.
For comparison, the fastest Metro-North travel time from Fairfield County varies from 37 minutes from Greenwich, CT, to around one hour from Westport, CT.
Of course, all that depends on the specific time you'll be using the train and if it is an express train or not.
Overall depending on where exactly you work in Manhattan, that extra 15-20 minutes in travel time can be the most important factor to choose from before you purchase a home in any of the two counties.
Next Factor is the taxes in Westchester and Fairfield Counties.
This is one of the really important factors if not the most important one said Rangel Nikolov Managing Partner at SITL Group because in the long run, the thousands of dollars difference in the property taxes can bring a significant amount of money saving or the opposite to the home buyers.
Property taxes in cities throughout Westchester County are way higher than the taxes in Connecticut.
As an example, let’s compare one million dollars homes in both counties.
A house that costs a million in Scarsdale, NY the home buyer should expect to pay approximately $23,000-$31,000 in property taxes.
The difference in property tax depends on the municipality of where your house is located.
For example, 54 Clarendon Road, Scarsdale NY sold for $989,000 with the school district Edgemont has real estate taxes of $30,025. While 26 Lawrence Road, Scarsdale, NY sold for $1,000,388 in school district Scarsdale has property taxes of $23,542.
Let’s switch our comparison to Fairfield County and see what the taxes are on similar houses.
For example, in the Greenwich-Cos Cob area, CT a million dollars home has property taxes of around $7,300-$9,500.
17 Farley Street, Greenwich CT sold for $1,000,700 in North Street Elementary School district has real estate taxes of $8,995.
And 33 Windson lane, Cos Cob, CT sold for $1,680,630 in North Mianus Elementary School district has real estate taxes of $8,012.
So the conclusion for the property taxes is, you will save a significant amount of money in property taxes if you live in Connecticut.
The last factor in our comparison is the school districts.
It is really difficult to say in which county the school districts are better.
When you look at Niche.com’s 2020 rankings of the Best School Districts in both states New York and Connecticut among the top 10 ranked school districts in CT are most of the school districts in lower Fairfield County where we focus our comparison. Westport School District (CT) at Number 1, New Canaan School District (CT) at number 2, Darien School District (CT) at number 5, Weston School District at Number 6, and Fairfield School District at Number 9. On the other hand among the top 10 school districts in New York state, the best ones are in Long Island, Upstate NY and a just a few in Westchester County like Scarsdale Union Free School District (NY) at number 4 and Bronxville Union Free School District (NY) at Number 8.
In out 3rd important factor comparison when choosing a home in the New York suburbs the win is for Fairfield County school districts.
When the time comes to make your decision between the shorter commute vs lower taxes and better schools we are here to help you with your Real Estate needs and all of your home renovation dreams with our highly trained, experienced, and well-qualified professionals in the Real Estate and Construction. SITL Group is a company with many years of experience in the Real Estate and Home Renovation business and we are here to help our clients with everything they need for their new home out of New York City.
Reach out to us today for a free consultation, advice, or simply to share your future plans for finding the perfect home for you and your family and we will be happy to assist you with every aspect of it.
SITL Group 2 Armonk st
SITL Home Renovation and New Construction Greenwich
203 550 4498 CT, 06830
info@SITLgroup.com
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