I think we’re finally abandoning the sinking ship that is NY (Upstate). Looking forward to escaping the tax burden, snow loads, and reacquainting myself with my rifles, magazines and modest collection of NFA. I’d also love to raise my daughter free of leftist entanglements.

The wife and I have been job hunting in and around Columbus. My younger brother was also a transplant from Upstate and lived in Hilliard for a few years before his job took him to Texas.

Any advice on a quiet ‘burb of Columbus with more modest housing prices? We’re probably going to lease an apartment for the first 6 months to a year while we house hunt. We loved Dublin but my understanding is it’s on the more expensive side.

I can’t wait to tell you all how we do things in NY. That was a joke! I can’t wait to get out from under the umbrella of Democrat nonsense and breathe free.

Thank you in advance. Looking forward to being your neighbor.

Be glad to have someone else like minded around. We live about 30 minutes north of Columbus in one of the fastest growing counties in the country(Delaware)

What kind of jobs are you guys looking for?

Not sure what the draw to Columbus is? Work?

I live in Wooster, about 1.5 hours north. Small town community in Wayne county. (22k) Lots of like minded individuals.
Conservative community, voted top places to live in money magazine...

If you want to avoid leftist crap, don't move to Columbus.

Pretty sure Columbus still has an assault weapons ban on the books. It's illegal to try to enforce it and most Columbus cops are conservative, but it's still on the books regardless.

Delaware is a nice town and isn't too far. Stay away from the south and east sides. Hilliard isn't too bad either, although it's had issues on and off, including poorly designed traffic patterns which clog to a near halt during rush hour.

I’m an intern architect (several years experience but not yet registered) and my wife is an architect / construction admin.

We’re open to moving to the quieter areas of Ohio but it seems much of the job market is centered around the cities. I’d also like to live close to a good range and I remember one of my brother’s complaints was it was a haul to get to his range from Hilliard.

I’d love to avoid being directly tied to the cities as much as possible. I’ve spent my fair share of time in NYC, and while it was fun when I was younger it’s just exhausting now. I’m not a fan of traffic and congestion.

My older brother and his family live in Lebanon between Dayton and Cincinnati. We like that area too and are hunting for jobs nearby.

Really though, anywhere is an improvement from where we are now. My wife has a phone interview set up for Monday for a place outside Columbus and I’m sending resumes out as well.

ETA I appreciate the replies!

Good luck on the move and welcome!

We have a lot of members in the Columbus area.

@armoredsaint but he lives in the expensive part

I'd look to the far east side of Columbus for good housing at reasonable prices.  Eastern Reynoldsburg and Pataskala are really good neighborhoods without the hyped prices in Dublin or some parts of Hilliard.

Both Reynoldsburg and Pataskala are close enough to the city to enjoy the attractions but still country enough to live around farmland if you want to.

What kind of a range are you looking for? Indoor? Outdoor? Long range? Trap/skeet? Blackwing in Delaware has a pretty nice facility, and the Cardinal Center is on route to being one of the nicest facilities in the country. The ODNR range is currently getting revamped and is supposed to be pretty nice when finished as well. I live within 15 minutes of all of them.

Reynoldsburg is turning into a leftist crap hole. I would avoid. Pataskala would be better but they do not reciprocate fully with RITA city income taxes so it could be a bit more expensive. Also after interacting with their police department, they seem rather inept.

I'd look for an unincorporated area and enjoy a little more personal freedom.

It depends on what you really want.  I lived in Hilliard, Dublin and Powell for a time.  All really pretty nice but the traffic proved to much for me. It’s not bad relative to DC or NYC, but Ohio drivers are just as stupid (myself included).

I moved to a rural town just east of New Albany.  In 2012, and really enjoy it.  It’s near Granville, which a liberal sinkhole itself, but does have nice little restaurants and stuff to do.

If you want an actual burn, Hilliard, Blacklick, Gahanna and Westerville come to mind.  You will have a high rate of TDS in those areas though.  Stay away from metro Columbus.

Edit to add Johnstown.  I could use a good neighbor.

If it were me, i'd move to groveport or grove city.  Housing is not as expensive as the "nice" areas of westerville, powell, new albany, dublin, sunbury.  I live in the extreme north of Delaware county and enjoy it.  Cardinal Shooting Center, Blackwing Shooting center and the new range at Delaware State park are all close by.  The area i live in is less expensive than the southern half of the county, and is close to 71 for commuting in to Columbus.

You probably want to live within 20 minutes of Blackwing Shooting Center and 30 minutes to the new Delaware outdoor rifle range. Draw a circle/rectangle from Northwest Columbus to Delaware and that is your target area for housing. Housing is in high demand in the nicer areas which is pushing up house prices.

Look at Pickerington...  the houses are priced right. Fairfield county taxes are low..
I have been here for 30 years... only 20 minutes from Pickaway county sportsman club... Best private club in central Ohio hands down..
about a 30 minute commute to Columbus... Or look over by Circleville cheap houses, 30 min ride to cbus... kinda Rural as its people go...

East side is where it’s at. Housing is less expensive than the West or North sides, and if you work in town the sun is at your back driving in in the morning and home at night. Plus my shop is out East and We have NFA stuff in stock and a Silencershop Kiosk for stuff we don’t

Since you are both looking for work I will throw the west central Ohio area your way.  I am in Madison county (London is the seat) and have a 30-40 minute drive in to Columbus at the rush.  At the same time I can be in Dayton in about 45 minutes.  Neither city is on my 'places I want to live' list but must go for work.  Springfield is by and large a crap hole of a town but has nicer areas and about 20 minutes drive.  Madison county is about as conservative as you will find, mostly rural.  I have to walk out the door to shoot

Where ever you land, welcome to the land of the free (for the moment)!

You mentioned Lebanon; Middletown is fairly close and apparently full of homeless now:

https://www.ar15.com/forums/Hometown/Middletown-rolls-out-the-red-carpet-for-homeless/12-639898/

I work in Columbus and live in Clark County outside of Springfield. It takes me 45 min to get to work. I love it lit here. It’s way cheaper than Columbus, but close enough to work there.

Like others have said, 45 min from Columbus, and hour from Cincy, 25 min from Beavercreek.

@thirsty

I’m up in Delaware as we were in the same boat as you.  I also work at an architecture firm.  PM
Me if you want details bc I’m pretty sure we’re hiring.

I have some friends that moved out that way. Off of Waggoner rd.  You do need to get far enough from the Eastside of Columbus though.  They ended up in Blacklick which is a pretty good area depending on the neighborhood.  Off of Taylor rd is a good area.

First off my wife and I appreciate all the suggestions so far.

My wife has a phone interview tomorrow with a company out of Canal Winchester. We don’t know much about the area, but if her conversation goes well I’m going to switch up my search in proximity to that area.

We looked at some houses in the area and my wife nearly shit herself at the taxes. Less than half of what we’re paying currently!

Keep it coming! We’re getting excited about the prospects.

@bdover

PM sent! Thank you!

Canal Winchester is nice town, an easy drive to Pickaway County Sportsmen's Inc club, there's a lot of weekend matches there like IDPA, Steel Challenge, USPSA.  The rifle range only goes out to 100yds I think.

Canal Winchester is nice, I think You'll like it.

I have some friends that work in and around CW, living in CW itself isn't bad but some prefer parts of Pickerington or even Reynoldsburg.  Taxes are good and schools are good.  The shooting club mentioned is one of the better ones in the state, especially if you're into pistol competitions.  There are some ODNR ranges out further east and north and Briar Rabbit (a commercial range) south of Zanesville is good.

I'm not a Columbus expert but like others have said if you like to do stuff outdoors the E to SE side will put you an hour of less from Wayne national forest, Hocking hills, etc in SE OH.

I have a friend that lives in Canal Winchester, seems ok.

I'm from NE Ohio but have lived in the Columbus area on and off for about 5 years.
Currently live in Gahanna which is a bit spendy but very nice neighborhoods outside of the Somalis spilling in from one side. Good schools at the moment.

Use to live in Canal in a townhome, never again, I don't know where other posters live but north on Gender from 33 is going downhill fast IMO, didn't think Picktown was much better but each neighborhood is different.

Another place I lived was just outside Centerburgh, great deal of house and land for the money and plenty of room in between neighbors. No kids at that time so school is ?

As stated above, have a friend that lives in Blacklick and loves it (Havens Corners and Summit area) more bang for your buck on houses and nice schools (Licking Heights for his kids).

It looks like my job is going to keep me here for a bit longer this time and we want out of Gahanna unless we can find a bit more property and a house priced right. We are currently looking here (Gahanna), anywhere in the Olentagy School District and in the Plain City area but it is still very preliminary. Schools are our top priority since we still have our farm in NEOH.

@ScaryGary

I"m up in Delaware & Delaware Schools but if you want to get into Olentangy Schools you better buy now.  Prices are only going up.  You're also going to be restricted to North of Powell/South side of Delaware County.  You could go off Smokey Row & 270 area, but for the price those houses are I wouldn't even consider them with the condition their in.

That being said when my wife & I were buying a house we could've gotten something in Olentangy Schools, but I really don't want my kids to have to play 'keeping up with the jones' with all the rich kids; so we went Delaware County.   Also with Olentangy schools your kids will be small fish in a very big pond.

I'm out further into Etna/Kirkersville. But yes, need to get out past the "city" parts.

So as an update, my wife’s phone interview was cancelled yesterday 3 minutes before it was scheduled to begin. The company sent an email to let her know that her timeline wasn’t feasible for them. She waited for the call for 10 minutes before she found the email. Kind of shitty but there it is.

We see it as opportunity to expand the search. She’s expanding her hunt to include areas in and around Cincinnati and Dayton.

@bdover I’ll get you my resume and portfolio soon. It’s been a while since it was updated; in my AO everyone in the industry knows each other so getting hired here was more or less by word of mouth. If you’re on LinkedIn I can send an invite to connect that way.

Thanks all, this information is great so far!

If you draw lines connecting those three cities to form a triangle (I70-I75-I71)everything inside is turning into urban sprawl. Some people like city stuff, not me so I would look to stay just outside the triangle.

I'm between Dayton and IN state line, mostly rural agriculture here.

Sorry but plenty off good rural in that triangle...  I may accept the closer you are to those roads the more  congested it becomes but I can hear I70 noise most nights and I am still pretty dang rural where I am.

Yes it was a general blanket statement not 100% fact.
Yes there are rural patches especially east of Dayton,but if your still in Montgomery co the taxes and property cost are WAY higher than where I live.

I can hear 70 in the winter, I've a mile as the crow fly's. I wouldn't want to be any closer to it.

I would stay away from Reynoldsburg, Pataskala or Blacklick. The city is doing its best to shove all the section 8 that direction while it gentrifies the areas around downtown. Not to mention a huge influx of Somali and Nepalese refugees. We sold our home in Blacklick last year and don’t regret it.

Dublin and New Albany is nice, but expensive. Gahanna is decent. All are too close to the city and the problems that come with it for my liking. Columbus is a liberal shithole of the highest order... The city is doing its best to bring in as many 3rd world refugees as it can. I’m from the suburban NE side of Cincinnati and that seemed like a much more reliable conservative area. Cincinnati is actually a relatively small city and it doesn’t have the control over that area like Columbus has.

I’m 10 min outside of Johnstown and finally feel relatively insulated from the problems that come with the city. I can hunt and shoot out my backdoor. Without traffic, I’ve got a 45 min commute to downtown.

I’d personally recommend Johnstown, Lancaster, Granville, etc to be safe from Columbus.

double tap

I agree with this.  I grew up near New Concord which is an hour or so East of Cbus.  I settled for Johnstown area when my wife and I moved from Hilliard.  It’s a perfect blend of rural and proximity to Columbus.  Long term is to move further East, but that’s a few years out.

Thanks guys. I sent my resume to @bdover.

My wife has received a few job declines since I last posted. We think we need to be in state for her to be more attractive to employers and our situation is such that we really can’t move without at least one job opportunity lined up. We’re too risk averse to go without jobs.

I’m taking the lead on the hunt since I’m more likely to find a gig that allows for a few weeks to a couple of months to take care of our affairs (sell our house, get rid of unnecessary shit and move.)

We’re probably going to find an apartment in the short term before we house hunt.

My wife is from West Irondequoit.

I’m looking forward to putting NY behind us as well. Let Cuomo have his empire.

Not sure where abouts your looking, Im in Clark county and land is reasonable, with about a 30-40 min commute to downtown Columbus

I went to the far extreme, I live just outside South Vienna, which is about 20 minutes west of Columbus on I-70. The bonus is there is no local income tax and I just outside the city any township, so there is no permit bullshit required for building or remodeling, either.  If schools matter, we have a great school system, just beginning construction on brand new schools k through 12.

I shoot at mad River armory and range in Springfield, which is about 15 minutes away. It's an indoor range, that does rifle and pistol. Also has a very good tactical class every other week.

We also have very, very nice state parks, just Southwest of Columbus.

Good to see neighbors on here

I had a great screening interview with a firm near
Columbus. They want to bring me in for an interview next week, I’m just not sure if the schedule fits my current deadlines yet. I find out tomorrow whether I can make the drive in. If it works out I’ll probably overnight Wednesday, interview and head home Thursday.

I’m pretty excited about it.

Yes. Wife and I are looking for apartments or house rentals around Marysville currently.

Also known as "Marystucky", you'll fit right in :)

And it's an easy 30 minute drive to Richwood Gun and Game Club, one of the better clubs in central Ohio.

Driving into Columbus from there could be painful if you're going through Dublin.

One of my favorite pastimes.

I’m unable to make the trip, schedules don’t align so we’re trying a virtual interview. Though if things go well I’ll need to head in to scout for housing, daycare and other stuff.

30 miles north of I-270 you start hitting the edge of the lake effect snow.  Just keep that in mind.  The further north, the more snow you get.  Columbus gets gray slush and gray skies.

Lancaster looks good on paper.  It's full of methbillies.
Canal Winchester is hit or miss, the sections bordering Groveport are pretty bad.
Reynoldsburg is trying to still be a small town, but it's big and ghetto and in denial.
Pickerington is in the middle of all this.  Somewhat better than the surrounding cities but stupid traffic.
Gahanna isn't bad.
Westerville was good 10 years ago.  I wouldn't buy a house there now, but renting wouldn't be terrible in the short term.
On the west side, Hilliard isn't too bad but it's surrounded by and full of industrial areas.  I hope you like dump trucks.
New Albany is good if you are loaded.  Property taxes will murder you if you aren't.  There are sections of Columbus that border New Albany that are more Columbus prices, with the feel of living in New Albany.  I can suggest an apartment complex that meets this description if you are interested, a friend lives there and is happy with it.
Columbus school districts are some of the worst in the state.  If you care about schools look at Upper Arlington, Dublin, New Albany.  Not sure if Westerville finally went to shit or if it's still good.
Anything Licking county is surrounded by corn fields full of deer.  Deer can go back to hell where they belong.  Same with all the tractors that want to go 5 mph in front of me while I'm trying to get to work.

Eastern and Southern Ohio is a beautiful area with lots of pollution and no jobs.  I grew up in Marietta and have a love/hate relationship with it.  I'll probably never return.

I lived in Johnstown for 12 years, which was mentioned by some of the others here.  There's a grocery store there, and like 5 places to eat.  If you want anything else it's a minimum 20 minute drive, more like 30 - 40 for most stuff to do.  Also, tractors and weaving around deer.

If I had to do it all over again, and was forced to stay in Ohio, I'd go to the Cincinnati area.  Better climate, better scenery.  King's Island.  Columbus is just where people go to find work, not because it has any other draw.

Rant was 6/10.  Solid job.

Absolute lack of swearing cut me down hard, I see