Good suburbs of Providence? (Warwick, Cranston: house, neighborhood, elementary school)

[ck96]

I recently found a job in Providence but do not want to live in the city. What are some good suburbs that follow all/most of the following criteria?
-good to raise kids
-safe
-large, nice homes
-near ocean (not necessarily ON the water, but close enough to see it and walk to it)
-no more than 30 minutes to Providence by car

Thanks

-PS, price is not an issue.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by ck96

I recently found a job in Providence but do not want to live in the city. What are some good suburbs that follow all/most of the following criteria?
-good to raise kids
-safe
-large, nice homes
-near ocean (not necessarily ON the water, but close enough to see it and walk to it)
-no more than 30 minutes to Providence by car

Thanks

-PS, price is not an issue.

Barrington, Bristol, East Greenwich, North Kingstown, parts of Warwick and Cranston.

[Hoxsie454]

Look at the current Rhode Island Highway Map available for free at the State House and State tourist information centers. Every neighborhood up and down the bays and along the ocean fits your demand list to some degree.

[QuilterChick]

Originally Posted by ck96

I recently found a job in Providence but do not want to live in the city. What are some good suburbs that follow all/most of the following criteria?
-good to raise kids
-safe
-large, nice homes
-near ocean (not necessarily ON the water, but close enough to see it and walk to it)
-no more than 30 minutes to Providence by car

Thanks

-PS, price is not an issue.

Many areas in what is called "south county". Near the bay or the ocean; and just about anywhere in RI is less than 30 mins. into the city. You may want to be on a busline though to get into the city if you want to avoid parking and city traffic in and out. There are several "Park & Rides".
These areas would be my choices:

Barrington, Bristol, Jamestown (an island) is lovely, Middletown, Portsmouth, Narragansett, Bonnet Shores, Great Island, Point Judith, Westerly, Charlestown, Warwick Neck -- and basically anywhere along Route 1-A which runs along the shore. (You can Google a map of the entire state and enlarge it on your computer and even zoom down on sub-areas to get a good idea of locations. Just follow the shoreline. Up into Narragansett Bay though, is not "ocean", it is more industrial near the small towns on the shoreline as it gets close to Providence.)

[swimman]

I'm currently living in Saunderstown (North Kingstown) and although our home is on the market, love the area. We live in a neighborhood with 63 homes, of which, all have kids!! One road in and one road out. Very safe and little car traffic as we are in the back of the neighborhood. NK is only 25-30 minutes from Prov.

Traffic is not terrible and the commute is very doable. The ocean is very close as we go to the beach quite often and I do a lot of kayaking and can have my boat in the water within 5 minutes of leaving my home. All in all, many of the communities in Washington County are terrific. The schools here in North Kingstown are fantastic and the kids in our neighborhood go to the more desirable elementary school.

Good luck with the search.

[massnative71]

North Kingstown is as far south as you would want to go, otherwise you are pushing your 30 minute limit.

[mr2448]

Jamestown (an island) is lovely, Middletown, Portsmouth, Narragansett, Bonnet Shores, Great Island, Point Judith, Westerly, Charlestown

None of these are within a 30 minute commute of downtown Providence during normal commute times unless you travel 10-15 mph over the speed limit on the interstates, have only green traffic lights and there is no traffic. Most of these are on average 45 minutes to down city Providence during the perfect commute. Winter and times are longer. Also, during the summer many Rhode Islanders have summer homes in South County which adds even more traffic to the morning commute. But, admittedly, these are all nice places to live and are highly sought after. The lower Narragansett Bay area is one of the most spectacular places to live in the country.

[NY Annie]

Originally Posted by ck96

I recently found a job in Providence but do not want to live in the city. What are some good suburbs that follow all/most of the following criteria?
-good to raise kids
-safe
-large, nice homes
-near ocean (not necessarily ON the water, but close enough to see it and walk to it)
-no more than 30 minutes to Providence by car

Thanks

-PS, price is not an issue.

Originally Posted by mr2448

Jamestown (an island) is lovely, Middletown, Portsmouth, Narragansett, Bonnet Shores, Great Island, Point Judith, Westerly, Charlestown

None of these are within a 30 minute commute of downtown Providence during normal commute times unless you travel 10-15 mph over the speed limit on the interstates, have only green traffic lights and there is no traffic. Most of these are on average 45 minutes to down city Providence during the perfect commute. Winter and times are longer. Also, during the summer many Rhode Islanders have summer homes in South County which adds even more traffic to the morning commute. But, admittedly, these are all nice places to live and are highly sought after. The lower Narragansett Bay area is one of the most spectacular places to live in the country.

I'm a beach person and I would not recommend the waters of Warwick or East Greenwich. I know they have been cleaned up over the years, but still, the beaches aren't that great and it's one of the reasons we moved out of Warwick to N. Kingstown. The first really nice beach south of Warwick would be in N. Kingstown, the town beach is great for younger kids, as are Saunderstown, Bonnet Shores and then moving south into Narragansett for the older kids.

But as folks said, once you get past the northern half of NK (Wickford is sort of the 1/2 way mark), you are looking at more than a 30 minute commute. I made the trip daily to work in downtown Providence for 20 years. It wasn't a bad commute from Wakefield, PeaceDale (could be as short as 40 min if all went well), but mostly it was closer to an hour. It was worth it for me, but my ex who hates sand, disagreed.