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Within the next 12 months my wife and I, along with her young son, and her younger sister, are seriously contemplating a relocation to Rochester. I have visited the city a few times over the past decade for business, and my wife had visited the city a couple times in her youth. From a standpoint of cost of living, safety, public school systems, and a plethora of additional criteria, the city truly "appears" to be a match for our needs.
My questions however are as follows, and any insight anyone could offer would be truly appreciated;
Both my family, as well as my wife's, hail from Southern Italy. While we were raised in the states ourselves, our lifestyles, choices, native language, mannerisms, habits, faiths, and behavioral predispositions all mirror closely that of our parents homeland. Thus, we would very much like to surround ourselves with like minded and culturally common people. So, while we recognize that diversity is inevitable, and certainly carries with it multiple benefits, can anyone recommend areas/neighborhoods/suburbs that may remain predominantly Italian-American?
In addition, while my wife and I are in our thirties, her son is currently seven years old, and will be eight by the time we relocate. She has a prototypical maternal instinct to want her son to grow up in a safe, clean, and overall advantageous area. So, ideally, our requisite "Italian-American" area should fit that criteria as well.
Lastly, we are very much "middle-class". That is to say, we cannot afford to live in a luxurious or expensive area. We have been looking at homes in the "Greater Rochester Area" and it seems that our house budget of between 150K and 200K could be accomodated. However, once again, we are unsure if our financial parameters can succesfully fit with our other aforementioned criteria.
So, to anyone out there who could potentially offer guidance, we would be quite appreciative. Thank You.
The westside suburbs are more Italian IMO. I lived in the East Side suburbs, and there was plenty of Italian Americans, but the west side seems to hang on more to the traditions while the East Side is more of a mixed bag.
Gates comes to mind. It is a suburb with diversity, but I believe that people of Italian descent make up close to 30% of the population. Most of the town is served by the Gates-Chili school district, but some of the town is served by the Spencerport school district. Towns like Chili and Greece may work as well. East Rochester also has a high percentage of Italians at around 26% of the village/town.
I forgot about East Rochester. It also has a very high Italian American population... and has a nice walkable village unlike the west side suburbs of Greece, Gates and Chili
Greece (Western Suburb) and Irondequoit (technically considered Eastern suburb but really in it's own subset)...have two of the highest percentages of Italian-Americans of towns with population over 50k in the country. Both are very much considered typical middle-class suburbs. Irondequoit (specifically West Irondequoit) has what is generally considered a better school system, but Greece gets a bad rap IMO. You can get a really decent house in either of these two towns in the $150k-$200k price range...that's probably the "meat of the market" in both towns so you should have no problem finding a wide array of houses in that range.
Gates is also very, very Italian but IMO has always been a little on the gritter side. Homes and yards aren't as well-kept in Gates as in most other suburbs. East Rochester is very Italian as well but it is a tiny and dense village with some of the highest property taxes (not to mention most homogenous/limited housing stock) in the area. Good schools though.
Greece (Western Suburb) and Irondequoit (technically considered Eastern suburb but really in it's own subset)...have two of the highest percentages of Italian-Americans of towns with population over 50k in the country. Both are very much considered typical middle-class suburbs. Irondequoit (specifically West Irondequoit) has what is generally considered a better school system, but Greece gets a bad rap IMO. You can get a really decent house in either of these two towns in the $150k-$200k price range...that's probably the "meat of the market" in both towns so you should have no problem finding a wide array of houses in that range.
Gates is also very, very Italian but IMO has always been a little on the gritter side. Homes and yards aren't as well-kept in Gates as in most other suburbs. East Rochester is very Italian as well but it is a tiny and dense village with some of the highest property taxes (not to mention most homogenous/limited housing stock) in the area. Good schools though.
Pretty much spot on, however Gates has it's gritty areas and it's nicer areas, much like Greece and Irondequoit. Just like any suburb that borders the city, the closer you get to the city border the crappier it becomes. Once you're a few miles outside of the city limits, you really notice the quality of property start to go up. I'd look in to Greece and Gates if I were you, followed by Irondequoit, which has a prominent German population as well. There are a lot of italians on the east side (Webster, Penfield, Pittsford, etc) but they'll all the rich snobby italians that take more pride in their fake accents, italian flag tattoos, and Cadillacs than their actual heritage.
Thank you to everyone who has replied thus far. Your insight will undoubtedly prove valuable as figuring out our move and relocation gets closer. Any further insight from anyone would be great, but the information provided thus far has truly been welcomed and helpful.
Factoring schools into the equation I would go with Spencerport over Gates. Spencerport has excellent schools. Make sure you look at taxes when you're looking at home prices. While base home prices are quite affordable taxes in NY are high (unless you're already elsewhere in New York and already know that). I would search on Spencerport schools because you could live in Greece or Gates (as I think someone mentioned before but still be in Spencerport schools) I have friends that located from the city of Rochester to Greece (spencerport schools) a few years back and are very happy. Having grown up on the westside (Churchville-Chili) many of my classmates stayed on the westside but have kids in Spencerport schools and have been very pleased with the education their children have/are received/receiving.
There is an Itlalian American Center on the westside Here is the link (I think it says "Home" because it's the homepage for the organization) Home you may want to check this out.
Good Luck
And I'm Irish "but some of my best friends are Italian"
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