jackson county vs. washington county (Indianapolis, Bloomington: transplants, real estate, rentals)

[klaingx]

Hi! My family and i are relocating to the area in mid-sept. We're used to the rural, country life. Currently surrounded by corn and bean fields. Anyways, was hoping to get some pros and cons about both counties. Crime? High drug activity? Etc. Schooling isnt an issue as we homeschool but, I would like my children to be able to ride bikes down the road with any worries. Is it friendly? Any input would be GREATLY appreciated!

[MissingIndiana]

Pros for you would be the rural environment. Very quiet in that respect. Meth and petty crimes are an issue though. Also if health is an issue, Washington County is usually ranked as one of the worst in the state and most people smoke

[klaingx]

Thanks!! Is that in both counties? And is there any other counties with 45 min or so of bloomington yoh would recommend looking at?

[domergurl]

Why not Brown County?

[MissingIndiana]

Honestly, I'm more familiar with Washington County than Jackson. Brown County would be a great option, especially if you're talking about home schooling. It's a lovely area and would put you close to plenty of things to do. It's very rural, but in more of a hills and woods sort of way than corn and soy beans so that sounds like it would be different for you. There are also a lot of good people around Orleans and Paoli in Orange County and that would be rural as well, but less touristy for the most part. A lot of people in that area work in Bloomington. It's about a 45-50 minute drive from Paoli depending on what parts of town you're talking about.

[klaingx]

Thanks for the info... checking out those other counties! What about seymour? We were thinking of going there to rent just until we figured out where we wanted to buy and put down roots.. is that a pretty high crime/drug area, too? It seems pretty urban. Any chance of finding a rental on the outskirts of town? Really appreciate the comments! We're farm people so, preferably we'd like to stay within our comfort zone of corn fields and whatnot

[domergurl]

Seymour is small town America.

Best advice I could offer you is to contact a local real estate agent to give you an idea of what you could find. They can also assist you with rentals too. It's not uncommon for that to happen here in Columbus ... lots of transplants who want to try things on before committing!

[MissingIndiana]

Seymour is John Mellencamp's hometown (ie "I was born in a small town"). I wouldn't exactly call it urban unless you're truly comparing it to a corn field. You mentioned Bloomington. If someone in the family is going to be traveling there regularly I really wouldn't look that far out. My top recommendations if you're truly looking for a really small town in driving distance to Bloomington would be Spencer or Ellettsville, Nashville, and Paoli or Orleans. Roughly in that order. If you don't mind being near a slightly larger town you could look around Bedford. You're going to have yahoos in all these places that choose to be involved in drugs or various other crimes, but it's not as overwhelming feeling as in some other areas and there are plenty of great activities and things to do for families around these towns.

[MissingIndiana]

As DG says, using a realtor is a good idea as well. We did that when we moved to the Louisville area and they were pretty helpful. Many of them will help you find a place to rent for free in the hopes you will later use them when you are ready to buy something.

[rrah]

I have to concur with missingIndiana. Neither Jackson or Washington counties are within 45 minutes or so of Bloomington. It will be at least an hour to either one. It will also be an hour to Orleans or Paoli with Orleans being slightly closer. Seymour will be over an hour.

I've driven to all of those places from my home in Monroe County. I'm not basing this on the google version of the drive. It's based upon actual and multiple experiences doing those drives. I can get to Orleans or Paoli in about 45-50 minutes, but I live pretty far south and near 37 so it's faster for me.

You don't mention why or how often you need to go to Bloomington. You also don't mention where you need to go in Bloomington. It can take 30 minutes to get from one side of town to the other at certain times of the day.

I would suggest you look in the counties immediately surrounding Bloomington: Greene, Owen, Lawrence, Brown and Morgan. I think Morgan will be the least rural of those. The advantage to Lawrence county is access to Highway 37 which goes to Bloomington. In the not too distant future I-69 will be completed to Monroe County/Bloomington. It goes through Greene County which will make that drive faster.

Greene County, while safe, definitely has a meth problem. I maybe naive, but I don't think of those places as unsafe because of the meth problems. I suspect there are more burglaries, etc. but meth-heads tend to stay to themselves. There isn't a lot of violent crime. (exception noted here-there was a brutal murder in Greene County this year. A couple of drug dealers brutally killed a friend for "fun.") All of that said, I think meth is a problem in many rural areas. It's invaded rural areas all over the country.

There is a tv show called Porter Ridge which is about a junk yard in Owen County if you want to take a look.

I-69 is already complete in Daviess County. I do think though it will still be more than 45 minutes to Bloomington though even when the highway is complete to Bloomington. We drove through there a couple of months ago.

In any of these places you're much more likely to see cows rather than corn or beans. The topography is hilly and much more suitable for animals.

If you want corn and beans you need to be north or west of Indianapolis.