good school system and safe neighbourhood close to bellerica MA (Andover: renting, crime)

[larochesurforon2211]

Hello all,

We are a French family with two kids and we will be moving soon to MA as my husband has picked up a job in Bellerica MA. Can anyone give any recommendations for the best areas to live within about an hour commute to Bellerica, MA?

Our kids already attend English schools, so we are looking for a place with good school system, safe neighbourhoods, lots of activities for kids... "nice" downtown area, friendly neighbours etc .

We have been looking at lexington, concord, beford, andover and charlisie ...., but we have no idea what these towns are like apart from reading around the internet.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[miu]

I grew up in Concord and loved it there. I got into Brown, and my best friends all went on to Princeton, Yale and Harvard.

[ogre]

Some additional information would help narrow the possibilities. Such as, your housing budget, and whether you want or need to be close to public transit. Also, when you say you want a "nice" downtown, am I correct that you mean an active downtown with a good variety of small stores?

Without that additional information it's difficult to narrow the possibilities much, but I can tell you that if you're seeking an active downtown with more stores than just a few basics, Bedford and Carlisle might not be the best choices for you. That's especially true of Carlisle, which is kind of out in the country.

[brightdoglover]

The mentioned towns are all safe and known for their schools. I second the comment about downtowns, and would happily recommend Concord and Lexington and Andover, but I think I saw OP's budget in another thread and it wouldn't be too likely.

[waterboy7375]

Westford has a great school system. It is also managed correctly as it ranks in the lowest 15% of cost per student but in the highest 93% in performance. Crime is almost non existant.

[larochesurforon2211]

Thanks so much for the replies
as we have never lived in the US before we thought of first renting a house and later on we will move on to buy a house.
At the moment we have not fixed a budget for housing and the rest.
Our family income per year is around 146 000 USD, so we are looking for a place where we can live comfortably with the kids(4 of them....pretty big family lol)
Concerning the downtown, I meant lots of extra outdoor activities for the kids and for us adults.

[larochesurforon2211]

is commmuting from winchester to billerica daily for work easy and feasible by car?

[gf2020]

Yes, easy AND feasible.

[larochesurforon2211]

thanks alot, we have finally settled for winchester, I will keep all posted on our feel on the town so it might help others in their choices that will be next year march .... America here we come.....lol