Moving from Orange County CA to Carmel IN (Indianapolis, Bloomington: middle-class, apartment)

[missik999]

Originally Posted by McdonaldIndy

Reading some of these comments made me have to Chime in here.
90% of the responses you are reading on this thread aren't based on reality and you are getting worried/paranoid over small silly issues.
Indiana isn't closed minded. If anything California is closed minded as discussed about San Francisco in other threads.
It sounds like you need to actually come out here see it yourself and get a real feel for the area instead of basing your opinions off some Internet Forum with a lack of credibility.

People living in Carmel are definitely qualified to comment here, and these responses are based on reality.

The OP has stated repeatedly that she does not want to live in Indianapolis. So Carmel residents, past and current, would be the most qualified to comment here.

[W & C]

Again - based on the values expressed by the OP in this thread, I can't imagine many more places in this entire galaxy that'd be a worse fit than Carmel, or the entire region in general. Riyad, perhaps.

The one single aspect that's a match is that it's a safe suburb. Everything else about it you will likely loathe to the core of your very being.

[sheerbliss]

I don't live in Carmel, but I work there and most of my meetup friends live there. The meetup friends are a lot more middle-of-the-road than the OP, and even they have some trouble finding common ground with their neighbors.

I didn't say fisherman earlier, I said farmers. I've met a lot of people here who grew up on a farm, or own part of a farm, and such a farm entails using and eating animals. Even the Paramount School of Excellence, which is in the 'hood four miles from downtown Indy, has a 4H program on site. It would probably be one more difference between OP and any potential neighbors.

If the OP were more flexible on where to live and what kind of work to do--along with not expecting everyone else to share her customs and values--she could probably find a suitable situation in Indianapolis, which has some lovely, safe neighborhoods.

[Shellysocal]

Thank you to who mentioned the tattoo parlor in Carmel. I actually was aware of it and had already reached out to them online to see if they needed a manager to work the front for scheduling. I found them on social media and it seemed like a nice parlor. Since some people seem to think I will be a terrible fit because of my tattoos and because of being a vegetarian and some people have private messaged me that people are simply overstating and overreacting and that I will fit in perfectly fine ... I guess the next step is to plan a visit and see which is true. I know my parents love the area. My mom is also a vegetarian and would not fish or hunt, and she says everyone has been very nice to her. Perhaps it's because her tattoo is not visible? Or because she is older and married? But I would like to see when I visit if there are actually any tattooed people or if people react negatively towards me. Despite having tattoos I have quite a normal appearance. I dress conservatively, work hard, attend church every week, volunteer and help my community. So aside from having tattoos and a vegetarian diet I fit in quite nicely with most Republicans. I know orange county where I live now is filled with people who have huge homes and fancy jobs and are Republican. Just people surf here instead of hunting. I have no problems with farmers. I eat eggs and butter and milk and cheese. I just don't support the killing of anything. Most of my friends do eat meat. I don't judge others on their personal preferences just like I wouldn't want someone to judge me for mine.

[rrah]

I'm going to repeat what I said in my first response. It's not that Carmel wouldn't be a good fit because of the tattoos or that you have a vegetarian diet. It is a bad fit because you expressed wanting to meet people, make friends, etc. I think that would be difficult to do in Carmel. Carmel is very family oriented. Again, I think you would have difficulty meeting friends that had the time for you. Families are busy and tend to have other families as friends. Good or bad, that's the reality. About 80% of the people living in Carmel are family units of some type. It's really geared towards families of all types. There's a growing number of younger professionals living in Carmel, but not a lot.

Until you've visited the area I think it's foolish to dismiss living in Indianapolis immediately. Indianapolis is one of the most suburban like cities I've ever visited.

[Shellysocal]

OK it's true that I've never been to Indianapolis. But I do have a friend that lives there who says it's no place for a woman at night and it would be a huge adjustment because I wouldn't be safe like I have been in the suburbs. He says there are lots of homeless and drug deals and crime. Granted the pictures I looked at did look nice... but I don't know why a friend would lie to me about a place that he lives in. He is from orange county so he knows what I'm comparing Indiana to. He is from Santa Anna ... which is considered the ghetto of orange county. Even though any part of orange county doesn't compare to the truly bad parts of California. You won't get shot at but you might get your car stripped basically. But he says Indianapolis is even much worse than that (Santa Ana). Hearing that doesn't make me want to visit :/

[Shellysocal]

What about fishers, nobelsville, westfield? Are any of these a better fit for me then Carmel? They still seem like safe suburbs but because the annual income is listed as less maybe it's a little more laid-back? When I put together the amount of people that were never married in Carmel and the amount of people that are divorced that gives me 30% of the population. Which makes me think there would be some possibility of me making some single friends. Not that I would be against making friends with women who do you have families. I usually meet people when I join a new church. But my church is very laid-back with people wearing jeans and flip-flops and visible tattoos. Im Assuming Indiana churches are not like that.

[loveautumn]

You might want to look into Richmond Virginia, which is the most tattooed city in the US. It's really an up and coming area with lots of young people.






S

[Humboldt1]

And not very ghetto, especially the north side. Broad Ripple would be a great fit for the OP.

Carmel, Fishers, Zionsville and Noblesville are all great but tend to be more conservative.

I think a single woman would be fine living in Indy. My single sister has a nice home on north side of Indy near 82nd street and meridian and she is very safe.

[sheerbliss]

In a city of almost a million people, like Indianapolis, there's going to be a lot of variation in crime rates, socioeconomic status, etc. from one area to another. There are places here where I'll go during the daytime but not at night, places where I wouldn't get out of my car during the day, and places I'd feel pretty safe anytime.

Some people in Indy generalize about certain parts of town (or even the whole city). (I had a friend who moved to Indy from one of the seediest parts of Denver, and she was scared to death to go very far outside her neighborhood here.) They think they'll be carjacked if they go south of 82nd and that there's nothing but drug dealers and hookers on the entire east side of the city. In reality, when I was moving here, I talked to people in Irvington (an east side neighborhood a long way south of 82nd) who said they'd lived there for thirty years and never had a problem. My realtor, who had a wife and two young daughters, moved from Carmel to another neighborhood on the east side.

There have been a lot of shootings in Indy over the past few years. A lot of them are at 2AM and involve a victim who doesn't want to cooperate with the police. Nevertheless, break-ins do happen here--I have an alarm system and would suggest the same thing for a single woman living alone. It's also a good habit to put the phone away and pay attention to your surroundings when you're out and about. Keep your car in the garage when you're home. If Orange County has ordinances like keeping your stuff put away and keeping the garage door closed, it's a good idea to keep observing those practices here to keep the neighborhood looking nice and to discourage burglars.

You can fiddle with this map to look at reported crimes: https://indy.safetown.org/reports-viewer/

You can also look for a Starbucks. Even if you don't go there, Starbucks puts their stores in relatively safe, middle-class places.
https://www.starbucks.com/store-loca...-86.133413,11z