Hi all!  My husband is entertaining a job offer in the Cleveland area and we are looking for advice as to what are good neighborhoods to live in.  We want to be within 20 minutes to Hopkins International airport.  Schools and safety are the most important things to us.  We are planning on renting and would like to have more than one bathroom, which from the looks of it, can be hard to come by! :)  Any help on decent neighborhoods near the airport would be great.  Thanks in advance for all the help!

Get ready for lots of information, opinions and questions.

 

My initial recommendation would be Lakewood.  The trick is finding a rental with two bathrooms.  How many bedrooms do you need?  It's safe, good schools and depending where you live it is within 20 minutes of Hopkins. 

West end of Lakewood, Fairview Park or Berea.  All safe and very close to Hopkins. 

There are plenty of locations within 20 minutes or so - but really depends whether you want a more urban location or a more suburban one... Of the ones noted, Lakewood is more urban, Berea is more suburban... go further south and Strongsville is even more suburban, etc...

Which area of Cleveland is your husbands potential job located? Downtown? We can better help you with that information as well as budget. Welcome to Cleveland hopefully!

Hi all!  My husband is entertaining a job offer in the Cleveland area and we are looking for advice as to what are good neighborhoods to live in.  We want to be within 20 minutes to Hopkins International airport.  Schools and safety are the most important things to us.  We are planning on renting and would like to have more than one bathroom, which from the looks of it, can be hard to come by! :)  Any help on decent neighborhoods near the airport would be great.  Thanks in advance for all the help!

 

Welcome. I'm also just newly settled into Lakewood, but I'm curious why you have to be near the airport. Cleveland is a pretty easy city to get across in my limited experience so far, and there are a lot of great areas on both sides of town, but calling Shaker or Cleveland Heights 20 min from airport is a stretch.

 

As for safety, Kamm's Corner is the safest area in Cleveland proper's westside. Lakewood, Rocky River, and Westlake are probably the safest areas in that range of the airport.

Lakewood is great urban feel with great schools/safety/access to lake/parks/biking.  The downtown area continues to grow and be a desination.  Unless you want to be in a full out suburb, this is your go-to place.  Airport is straight up Rocky River Drive

Given the proximity requirement to Hopkins, you are really limiting yourself..... especially with finding good walkable neighborhoods (Lakewood being a great option but pretty much your only option as well).  If you consider expanding that to a 35 minute drive, then you would have a wider variety of options.  If being close to air travel is that important, you may also want to consider placing yourself equidistant from Hopkins and Akron-Canton Airport.... the latter of which I am using more and more lately.

The reason for proximity to Hopkins is due to the location of the job being at the airport.  We are trying to minimize his commute.  We have been leaning toward Berea due to it's location, but didn't know anything about the area.  Lakewood sounds nice as well, but we haven't seen many rentals in the area.  We are looking for at least a 3 bedroom place.

Ah.... makes sense.  What price range are you working with?  Are you looking for a single family home or are you willing to consider a duplex or an apartment?  Did you come to this board because you are looking for a more urban/walkable neighborhood or does that not matter so much to you (compared to your stated preferences of good schools and safety)?

We're thinking somewhere between 1k and 1500 seem reasonable for the area and our pocket book.  We are most concerned about safety and schools.  And we are open to private schools as well as public.  We are hoping I'll be able to stay home, so schools just will need to be within a reasonable driving distance from our home.

 

On another note, we'll be looking for a new church as well so if anyone has recommendations for those, we'll take them as well!

The easiest thing is to use padmapper.com or download the app. Do the research there and then come back with questions.

  Most of the Cleveland area is fairly safe. Obviously some sketchy sections in spots. For the range you are looking at I doubt you have to worry about safety.

Yeah here are examples of houses that fit your demands. Not urban, but both are very close to the airport, are safe, and are located very close to a lot of shopping.

 

http://www.rentalhomesplus.com/Ohio/North-Olmsted/4bdr-2-bth-cape-cod/934482?p=Padmapper&frontdoor=Padmapper&partner=Padmapper

 

http://www.butternutridgeapartments.com/Apartments/module/property_floorplans/property[id]/13311/

Given the proximity requirement to Hopkins, you are really limiting yourself..... especially with finding good walkable neighborhoods (Lakewood being a great option but pretty much your only option as well).  If you consider expanding that to a 35 minute drive, then you would have a wider variety of options.  If being close to air travel is that important, you may also want to consider placing yourself equidistant from Hopkins and Akron-Canton Airport.... the latter of which I am using more and more lately.

 

I know we now know that she wants to be near CLE as that's where her husband works. But, in general (to future requestors), I wouldn't sell CAK as a comparable airport at all to CLE. The options in terms of cities and frequencies/times of days of flights, Akron-Canton is no comparison to Hopkins. Unless the person is commuting back and forth to a city that is easy from CAK, I wouldn't recommend it as an alternative to Hopkins in terms of where to live in Cleveland. Furthermore, if UA leaves Hopkins, Southwest would drop all their legacy AirTran flights from CAK in a second and move all operations to CLE to jump on that opportunity, as its a much larger and higher yielding market.

 

To the OP, i'd second the recommendation above for western lakewood--just 20 minutes from CLE, or West Park, which is closer to the airport, and though in city, feels more suburban than that part of Lakewood.

A 3br in western Lakewood is going to be a bit more than a comparable place in New Olmstead, like the above link, and definitely more than Berea. If you have time to devote to a rigorous search you can find a good deal in Lakewood, but keep in mind it is one of the best areas in Greater Cleveland. Very safe, I see lots of people out walking around at all hours - amazing sense of community.

What are people's thoughts on North Ridgeville?  We found a house we love there and it is only 24 minutes to the airport, which is definitely doable.  Better than the 45 he travels to work now for sure.  North Ridgeville looks like it's safe from what we can tell and the schools seem to be good as well.

N. Ridgeville is pretty far. 24 minutes is more like 40 minutes in bad weather here. I recommend Middleburg Heights or Strongsville (disclosure - I live in Middleburg). Many of the rentals in Berea are heavily occupied by students because of Baldwin-Wallace college. MH is like 5 minutes from the airport. North Royalton also has a lot of apartments, it's a nice community.

 

Berea has an excellent school district. If you could find a house for rent there instead of an apartment, that might be the way to go. I know that 2bath can be hard to find, we are currently looking for the same.

Your best bet is western Lakewood around rocky river dr or West Park. 

My dad commuted to the airport fom North Ridgeville for 28 years - so it is doable. North Ridgeville is way too rural for my tastes (I grew up there) but that's all a matter of lifestyle preferences. It depends if you want the kind of neighborhood where you can walk to lots of places and quickly get downtown, or  if you have to drive most everywhere as a trade-off for the space and open-ness. It also now depends on how quickly you can get on I-480.

 

Growing up in an airline family, and working at the airport for almost three years myself, I remember that most airline/airport workers live in a belt from North Ridgeville in the west, to Middleburg Hts/Parma in the east, and stretching down into Strongsville/Brunswick.

 

I lived in central Lakewood (directly north of the airport), and there won't be a huge difference in commuting time to the airport compared to those other places.

I will also note that I am one of the few women on the board, and am also married with a child. I have been living in apartments in Cleveland since 1992, with the exception of a period of time I lived in LA, and almost exclusively on the W and SW sides of towns, so if I can help, let me know. I have physically been in a ton of apartments in these areas since I move every few years so I may be able to answer questions about specific apartments if you have them.

 

3 bed/2 bath are tough to find. There are a few at my complex and there is always a waiting list for them.

North Ridgeville is only rural in a "catch it while you still can" sort of way.  Given the rate at which they are throwing up cheaply built vinyl sided homes and strip malls, there's less and less every day.  Ditto Avon.  Granted, a lot of people are looking for that.  No offense if you are too, newtocleveland, but I wouldn't move there for the rural charm as it won't last.

What are people's thoughts on North Ridgeville?  We found a house we love there and it is only 24 minutes to the airport, which is definitely doable.  Better than the 45 he travels to work now for sure.  North Ridgeville looks like it's safe from what we can tell and the schools seem to be good as well.

Have you actually been to this house that you love?  Some parts of North Ridgeville are fine, others not so much.  It would never be on my list as far as schools go.  Also, I have to agree with the comment about bad weather making the commute longer. Snow removal in Lorain County is not nearly as aggressive as in Cuyahoga County.