Covington (Lexington, Louisville, Florence: houses, private schools, universities)

[ladyjny]

What is the feel of Covington? I'm coming from NY. Right now I live in a college town in Upstate, but I'm originally from The Bronx.

[rppipa01]

Hey ladyjny,

First let me welcome you to the KY forum. Before I answer your question, I'll throw a couple of facts out there:

Covington is a city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 43,370; it is the fifth-most-populous city in Kentucky. The racial makeup of the city was 87.05% White, 10.14% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.34% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.63% from other races, and 1.57% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.38% of the population. According to recent Census estimates, Northern Kentucky is one of the fastest growing regions of the state (granted, I feel it is a bit skewed...for example add 100 people to a city of 24,000 and then add 100 to a city of 595,000...which is going to appear to be growing faster percentage wise?).

Anyway, on to answering your question. I have never lived in Covington (or the surrounding areas like Newport), but I did live relatively close and frequented the NKY/Cincy area quite a bit. Over the last 15 years, it has changed a lot. Overall, I'd say the overall vibe I get from covington/newport is a trendy/growing urban suburb (if that makes sense). The reason I call it an urban/suburb is simply because Cincinnati is right across the river and a lot of people travel there to work...so it is similiar to a suburb. However, it is still urban (being that it is next to a large cities and for all intensive purposes is right next to Cincinnati instead of out on the fringes). Here is a view from covington into Cincy (well, actually Newport but you get the idea):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/30/Cincinnati_oh_skyline.jpg (broken link)

Now, I don't know what your political beliefs are, or whether you lived in a diverse section of New York, but Covington (and Cincinnati on the whole) will be very different from that sort of environment. Even without looking at the demographic section above, I can tell you that most of NKY is white, middle class republican (yeah, there are some minorities, but I am going with the general feel). In addition, Cincinnati I'd said is a very conservative city (remember when they kicked the Hustler store out of downtown because it was inappropriate?). I'm not saying this is a bad or a good thing (personally I like Covington...right next to Cincy, pretty close to everything like the Reds, Bengals, malls, etc), but it will probably lack the diversity you are use to seeing in NYC.

I also think covington feels like a smaller community (granted it is pretty small at 24,000). The fact that cincinnati is right next door helps to relieve this a lot (especially if you like larger communities/cities like me), but at times, it can feel like smallville, KY. That is just my personal opinion and I am sure others have differing views on this.

One thing you may want to check out while in NKY is the Newport aquarium/Newport on the Levee (I am assuming you know the region...if you don't, Newport and Covington are saddled right next to each other....the only reason they are seperate is because there is a small river between them). Also have the Reds, Bengals, and several shopping spots very close by and Labor Day fireworks are always fun. Hope my ramblings helped a bit.

This is a website with a slideshow from around covington (I think it'll point out why sometimes the city seems urban and why sometimes it feels like it is small).

http://gallery.kyhometown.com/slideshow.php?set_albumName=covington (broken link)

[ladyjny]

Thanks for the reply. Deomographic wise Covington sounds a little like the town I live in now. We have less than 14,000, with a majority of the population white, middle class. It is definitely different from The Bronx, and the tri-state area of NYC. I am not familiar with Kentucky at all. My friend is planning on moving to Covington and suggested it would be a good place to raise my daughter. Thanks also for the link to the slideshow. I could not find any pictures at all.

[rppipa01]

My friend is planning on moving to Covington and suggested it would be a good place to raise my daughter.

I would have to agree with her. There are a number of places in Kentucky that are excellent for raising a family (Louisville, Northern Kentucky area, Lexington, etc..). One nice aspect is that Kentucky is a very friendly state, cost of housing is relatively low (compared to NYC, Chicago, California), and education is great (at least in the Louisville, Lexington, Northern Kentucky areas).

http://www.cabr.org/northern_kentucky.htm (broken link) (public schools only)
http://www.mrmike.com/Relocate/kyschools.htm (public/private schools)

Here is a website with Northern Kentucky schools (this includes Covington, Florence, Newport, Independence, etc...). I know Independce has a very well respected school (Walton Verona Schools)...not too sure about the rest of the public schools.

In terms of private schools, Northern Kentucky does has a large amount of private elementary and grade schools with a few private high schools.

Another nice aspect of the area, especially since you have a daughter, is that there are many many things to do. For sports, you have the Reds and Bengals. Culture wise: Cincinnati Opera, Arnoff Center (plays and musicals), numnerous concerts and festivals. Shopping: Tri-County mall, Florence Mall, etc...there are a lot. Cincinnati also has King's Island (rollercoasters, water slides, etc), botanical gardens, a world famous zoo, and lot more (most of the fun in my opinion happens over in Ohio, but KY side does have some things to do such as the Levee and the Aquarium in Newport). Also have two major universities in the region (NKU and UC).

One thing to note, Cincinnati region, like any big city, has some bad/rough parts of town. Stay out of Over the Rhine (it is by far the worst part of cincinnati in terms of poverty, crime, etc...). Covington and Newport do have some bad spots, but they have been cleaning up their act a lot (10 years ago, they had a huge problem with crack houses and prostitution...a lot of that has been removed though).

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/map1/ohiomap/images/city/cincinnati.jpg (broken link)