Expensive and rich never means nicer or more community friendly. But both are great areas! I think Westville has more resources (library, farmer market, several nice restaurants, cafes etc) - the area around Edgerton is a retail desert. It also has more typical-sized homes, bungalows, etc., than the area around Whitney does, so objectively speaking, you have a much larger number of typical families with young children living there. The area along Whitney and Saint Ronan Street has more of a mix of either 1BR condos or very large mansions.

Hartford Prints is amazing.

Having spent quite a bit of time in both places, New Haven is infinitely better, even before you consider that New Haven is part of the NYC metro area (which honestly makes Greater Detroit look like a small town in Saskatchewan), and close to many other great places.

Westville proper, like the part around the village and Yale Bowl, is not tied to any of the parts of Whalley Avenue with crazy drivers. I've lived in CT a long time and would say that's probably the nicest neighborhood in the state, all things considered. The main street through East Rock (Whitney) is much worse than that part of Whalley. To get from Westville to Downtown I think most people would take Edgewood, Chapel, Route 34, etc., on a routine basis over Whalley.

If you only have to go to East Hartford once in a while, you could also look in the New Haven and Bridgeport areas.

It wouldn't be a bad commute to East Hartford, and you'd be closer to NYC and many more hospitals (Yale-New Haven is the largest hospital).

The climate is more mild on the Sound, and it's more similar to NYC in terms of culture and diversity. If it matters to you, New Haven itself is a boomtown, whereas Hartford is still really sleepy and economically distressed.

If you're staying in the Hartford area I would recommend sticking to towns that are right along I-91 or I-84, since otherwise you'll be in the car a lot.

This is true, it's one of the nicest neighborhoods in the state in most parts. I was thinking of some of the areas near the edge of the neighborhood, where there have been more violent crimes.

The city has gentrified, and there aren't many truly unsafe areas relative to what you find in most other large cities. There are a few spots with more concentrated safety issues especially some of the streets just south of the hospital in the Hill (especially the ones near a methadone clinic), a few parts of Newhallville and Beaver Hills, and parts of Fair Haven away from the riverfront, but in those much lower-income neighborhoods, there are also many blocks that are just fine. Anywhere within walking distance to the downtown would be best if you want to be close to stuff to do on weekends.

A lot of the city is middle class or upper middle class, with Westville, East Rock, and Wooster Square, and Downtown proper, being the most popular wealthier neighborhoods for people who can afford them such as Yale professors, doctors, lawyers, state employees who run offices in Hartford, engineers, commuters to big companies in Fairfield County and NYC, etc., or students who want to double up on rent for smaller apartments and/or don't mind taking out loans for a year or two while they are in a master's program or something.

New Haven and some of the surrounding areas are very walkable compared to Florida. You will run into neighbors all the time. That also means that people may walk around and look for crimes of opportunity, like packages sitting on porches. If you have a car make sure you don't leave stuff in it that is valuable, since break ins can happen, whether you are in the city or in the suburbs. If you have a bike you can talk to the bike shops about getting better locks and replacing your quick release with special key bolts.

My personal ranking is something like as follows, but it depends a little on whenever the last pizza I had was, since some of these places that are farther down the list can be a bit inconsistent. Also, getting the pizza in person or eating it on the sidewalk right after you take it out (assuming you pick it up right when it's taken out of the oven of course) is always better, especially with the thin crust places, since when the pizza sits in a box for more than a couple of minutes it loses some of its texture.

Sally's

Modern

One Six Three

Ernie's

Pepe's

Zuppardi's

Da Legna

Zeneli

Next Door

BAR

There are lots of other good places (Roseland, Dayton Street were mentioned among others) but don't quite rise to the top tier list from what I can tell.

There's also a pizza truck that's good that people hire for parties and such, but I forget the name of it.

Just put on a safety/construction vest and walk around looking like you are on official business. I don't think they'll ask you any questions.

Not sure if this matters but the heat pumps are fairly easy to program and zone (if you have 4 pumps, you have 4 zones).

East Rock between Whitney/Edwards/State/East Rock Park, and Westville between Fountain/Yale/Forest/Chapel, are the two best areas by far.

New Haven/West Haven have several Turkish restaurants that are top notch.

A massive hurricane hitting at high tide isn't that likely at all, but possible. The Sound offers some protection over the open ocean, but very low lying areas are definitely at risk if it happens.

Is Bridgeport really cheaper? Downtown New Haven and East Rock is pricey but the other neighborhoods don't seem a whole lot different from other parts of coastal CT in terms of prices.

There's a fairly large contrast between that area and some of the blocks near the center of the neighborhood.

The area near the waterfront (where the fancy restaurants are) is quite nice, with a mix of homeowners and renters. If you go a couple blocks in from that it's considered to be a very low-income area on average, though there are some very stable, safe areas in pockets.

Better than Worcester because it is quite a bit closer to New York City. You have pretty easy access to NYC plus all of the areas around it that are the most diverse and wealthiest parts of the country, including the Fairfield, New Haven, Hudson Valley areas.

I mean comparing NYC to Boston is like comparing Toronto or Montreal to, like, Winnipeg or something.

Worcester and Hartford are both kind of lacking in terms of their downtowns proper, but you are very close to cities and towns that have more vibrancy and street life, especially New Haven, but also places like WeHa.

I think there are way more Yale people per capita in Westville, but it's true that Westville is much more diverse (as noted above).

Both of these neighborhoods proper have crime rates that are way, way below the statewide average. And consider that CT on average is one of the 3 or 4 safest states in the US.

Most of the crime in nearby areas would be in areas with low income housing (like, in adjacent neighborhoods - for example if you are biking from Spring Glen to downtown New Haven you go through Newhallville on the canal trail a few blocks away, and that is probably the most disadvantaged neighborhood in the area) or in the big commercial areas (which just have crime incidents because of the overall amount of activity). For example many people have been carjacked in the Stop and Shop and other large shopping plazas next to Spring Glen. The neighborhood itself is very safe though, and given the number of people shopping in those areas, statistically your risk of being a victim is very small.

Not that close, but driving or biking around the Berkshires and/or Northampton area is a nice activity right now. I also like the views along the shoreline, though it might not be quite peak color there yet.

You could probably email and ask. If they don't get back to you that's not a good sign. (As others mentioned there are public universities in the area that also offer a marketing major). You also might find data at https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/.

Should be fine. There are also regular taxis you can call.

Westville would be a much better choice if you can afford it, especially considering the commute. It's also a nicer neighborhood IMHO, with more large parks right in the neighborhood itself, plus all the land trusts in Woodbridge, not to mention the Westville Village and its popular farmers markets and festivals.

Many people even walk from Lower Westville to downtown for their commute. It's closer to places like Rudy's than most of East Rock is. It's an easy bike ride from Westville to downtown or about 10 minutes by bus (there are 3 bus lines to choose from, so far better service than what Spring Glen has).

The downside is that the houses might be more expensive these days since that part of the city has been getting even more affluent.

Culturally there are some differences. Westville has a large Jewish population with several synagogues within walking distance, and more racial/ethnic diversity in general. Wealthy Black professionals tend to buy in Westville or Woodbridge for example. Spring Glen does not have that at all, but it has more white Catholics (though Westville also has a large Catholic church). Also Westville is known for having many LGBTQ families.

Makes sense. The worst part about a combined subway-train commute is the unpredictability of the subway, especially if you are doing an additional transfer. Because that means you don't know if you'll make the train you want to take home, unless you leave a lot of extra "just in case" time. At least with walking or biking, you pretty much know exactly when you'll arrive.

If we all lived in Central and Northern Europe where the trains run like clockwork every 5 minutes it would be different.

If you're within an hour, daily commuting to NYC would be fine.

If you live farther out than that but still on the rail line, then 2-3 times a week is probably OK, especially if you can take an express train. More than that would get stressful.

If you're in Hartford or somewhere like Guilford or New London, then maybe once per week would be OK.

In the above, I'm assuming that once you get to NYC, you do not have another long train ride. Commuting from CT to NYC is pleasant if your office is at or very near Grand Central than it is if your office is somewhere down in Lower Manhattan. You can get a lot of reading done on Metro North, but waiting for and riding subways in addition to that adds a lot of stress