It’s a nice place to grow up, but like me, they will probably want to move away after school. IPS schools aren’t too bad, but definately look into a few of them, as they aren’t equal. The township schools are generally better, but you should also look at the International school and Park Tudor (expensive).

Winters are usually mild, compared to places like Chicago. We rarely have more than a few inches of snow, and only a handful of times per year.

I would look for a place near Broad Ripple or one of the nicer parts of downtown (north College or Washington), but if you want to live outside of the city, there’s Carmel and Fishers (north), and Greenwood (south). Personally, I think those suburbs are very boring…

Broad Ripple and Massachusetts Ave are the fun, liberal, artsy areas, and Castleton and The Circle (downtown) are the real commercial parts.

Hi Kate,

I think Indianapolis would be a good city to raise your kids in. There are a ton of activities for kids to get involved in. I believe soccer is the new trend around here for kids, as there are soccer fields going up all over the place. I think that there is pretty much something here for any kid no matter what their interests are.

As far as living, depending on what kind of work you do and where you work would depend on where to live. I think that anything outside of Interstate 465 would be a good bet. Indianapolis is growing so fast that it seems as if the city cant keep up with road expansions. I would stay away from having to travel to work on State road 37 north and south, 67 on the north side and stay as far from Interstate 69 as you can, it seems as if everyday there are accidents or traffic backups or something that makes that interstate creep, I would also stay away from US 31 and 421 on the north side, again growth problems. So depending on where you work Greenwood, New Palestine, Greenfield, Plainfield, Avon, Mooresville, Camby, Southport, or Homecroft any of those would be good areas to live. As far as schools go I believe that the schools outside of Marion county are best, some of the Marion County township schools arent bad, they all bus kids in from the inner city, which kinda makes the schools have a bit more problems than they would if you didnt have 2 different cultures combining. I cant exactly figure out how to say that the right way, I know it sounds as if I am racist, which I am not, I just feel that it isnt exactly a good idea. I would definatley stay away from the city schools, I hear the education isnt that great, and the fact there is a police force of about a hundred officers dedicated just to city schools would make me not want to send my kids there. I really hope that you dont take this the wrong way, but this is just my opinion of the Marion County school system.

Now I dont think the winters are that bad around here, I complain about them, but I’m sure they could be worse. Snowfall isn’t that bad, a heavy snow around here is usually around 5 – 6 inches and a normal snow is an inch or two. The street department is very good about getting snow removed, it usually takes about 12 – 24 hours to get it all cleaned off depending on the amount of snow. City doesnt clean of neighborhood streets or smaller side streets, most neighborhoods have contracts with private contractors, and most neighborhoods are bad when it snows, but as much as the weather changes it is usualy all gone in about a week. Another thing about Indy weather is it never stays the same, it could be January and it could be warm enough to wear shorts and then negative 20 degrees the next day. I guess you could say that the weather here is predictibly unpredictible. Now that I tell you all this we are going to get a 3 foot snow and it will be here for a month. :)

Hope this helps, If there are anymore questions I can answer feel free to ask, or if you can give me more details about what kind of area you are lookin to live in, I would be happy to assist.

Personally I think IPS schools are horrible! I can’t believe people send their kids there… they are too crowded and the teachers just don’t have enough time or available resources to help all the kids. Not to mention that so many school districts keep growing so fast that the kids have to switch schools almost every other year. I am planning on home schooling… so take that into consideration about how I feel about schools in general. If I were going to send my kids to public school it would be in the north side of town or something private.

I grew up in Fortville, IN (northeast of Indianapolis) I would raise a family there too and maybe send my kids to public school there… would have to think about it. It is a growing small town. Other nice towns close to the city (that I would like to live) Carmel, Noblesville, Westfield, Fishers – these are nice rich kind of neighborhoods all bad commute to the city (about 1 hr, I-69 and 465 is a major intersection of traffic halt for about 2 hrs or longer) Zionsville, Lebanon, Pendleton, Ingals, Greenfield, maybe Beechgrove… those are some of the places my husband and I have looked at buying a home. Nice commuting time usually not a problem with traffic. We finally settled on the NWside (pike township) of town in a condo (eventually we will do the home thing).

AS for broadripple… I lived there strait out of high school wonderful place for a college age students… don’t really think it is really for kids atmosphere – to many clubs – very artsy (liberal) school though. Might be a good place if you have teens.

I think the winters are bearable. We have plenty of teams (in the city) that get up to make the roads drivable and most of the time we don’t have to many snow days. The further from the city you get though… well then is is all up to that city etc.

Winter aren’t bad. It comes and goes. I live in Chicago now, so Indy winters are a breeze. There isn’t any major water or mountain to create freaky winter storms. But they do get hit sometimes. The weather changes very quickly so if you hate it one day, it will probably be completely different the next.

I grew up on the North side so my preferences are on that part of the city. I lived in the Lawrence Township area and the schools were/are good. I wouldn’t suggest living anywhere that is part of the IPS system. Lawrence isn’t IPS. There are excellent private schools though. Washington Township has good schools and a diverse selection of home prices. North Central is a great high school. Indy as a whole is alot like a suburb, but if you really want to be outside the city you might like Zionsville. Carmel is the most notorious of the Indianapolis suburbs, but they do have great schools. Noblesville is great. For school info, check out http://imaps.indygov.org/schools/default.asp

There are alot of museums and other civic things to do in Indy. It is the 11th largest city in the county! I had a great childhood but was dying to get away when I was in my 20’s. Both my brother and sister are still there and love it. They don’t have plans or desires to move.

If you need help finding a place, my brother is a local realtor. He has lived there all of his life. If anything, the biggest realty company in Indy, isn’t a national company. Check out Tucker Real Estate. They are huge in Indy. I worked for Century 21 in Indy when I was in high school and Tucker was always the company to beat. My brother is with Tucker.

Anyway, there are so many cool parts if Indianapolis. Broad Ripple is a cool area with boutiques, hair salons and restaurant and clubs (I grew up there). It is an IPS area. So not so great for public school. There are several amazing private schools right there though. Park Tudor is a great private school. Many of the teachers there have their docturate.

Email me with any questions. I lived there for 27 years and my entire family is still there.

Hi Kate,

I just got my new issue of Indianapolis Monthly in the mail yesterday and it talks about places in Indy to live. If you can get your hands on a copy of it (I could even send you mine when I’m done with it) it might help you as well!

I grew up in coastal Virginia – my dad was in the Navy. I don’t really remember much but that the weather there didn’t bother me as much as it does here. The humidity is what kills me. In the summers it can get to be in the 90s with 90% humidity except it isn’t raining. The winters aren’t that bad. It’s rarely cold enough to warrant anything but a coat and, especially this past winter, it’s been incredibly mild with just two big snows. One was Christmas Eve and the other was a couple of days ago. The snow has already melted and it will be in the 50s all next week. Other than some slow-moving traffic it wasn’t a big deal at all.

I finished high school in Plainfield, a suburb about 15 minutes west of downtown Indy. Having been a Navy brat and moving a lot, as well as going to diverse schools, I wasn’t necessarily prepared to settle in a town where everyone had known one another since kindergarten. The kids were very inclusive and kind of cruel. On the other hand, things have changed a lot since I was in high school (I graduated in 1993).

I currently live in the Broad Ripple area – what used to be the cool place to hang out for punks and skaters, but is now more of a yuppie haven. There are some fun, but expensive, shops, and a lot of restaurants and bars, but if you can afford it, most of the outlying streets are nice. The closer you are to the actual Broad Ripple Avenue (63rd Street), though, the more college kids and twenty-somethings throwing beer bottles, puking, and parking in your yard.

Indianapolis is a pretty spread-out city but is easy to navigate. Traffic is never as bad as it is in, say, Chicago, and the city is built around downtown. Unlike towns with lakes or coasts running at angles, all the numbered streets run straight east and west, while all the named streets run north and south.

There are a lot of little historic neighborhoods that are finally getting a facelift. The unfortunate thing is that, in the process of rebuilding, condos and high-rises are being thrown up at ridiculous prices. There are at least four going in downtown that start around $350k. This raises the prices of places surrounding and makes it difficult for middle- to lower-income families to find a safe, inexpensive place to live. Which creates more problems in the affordable apartments.

I don’t know what area I would recommend. The suburbs have good schools – Carmel, Fishers, Avon, Plainfield, Brownsburg. But it’s been my experience that some of them focus too much attention on sports and not enough on art. Indiana is the amateur sports capital of the US, I guess.

For people who want to live in the Broad Ripple/Meridian Kessler (Meridian Street runs north and south through the center of the city and homes run upwards of a million dollars on the north side), private schools such as Park Tudor and Bishop Chatard seem to suit their needs, but at a price. The public Broad Ripple High School has very few local students because their parents bus all of them to private schools, or up to one called North Central, which, from what I understand, is a very good public high school. But that hurts Broad Ripple because there isn’t much diversity.

I guess I’m being sort of negative about everything. I would say, overall, Indianapolis isn’t a bad place to raise kids. I don’t have any, though I’m at the age when many of my friends are starting to. Most people seem to want to move away and experience something different as soon as they leave high school or college (there are several good universities in Indiana), but a lot of them also end up moving back. My husband and I have been discussing moving somewhere like Seattle or western Washington state, Portland, etc… but we know we’ll never be able to afford to buy a home there like we can in Indy.

I don’t think this is a town full of rednecks and hillbillies, though, which is a reputation Indiana seems to have. Some people would tell you to avoid the west and south side, however. I would say it’s definitely a “red” state, conservative, but not completely intolerant of change or anything that’s different.

A lot of things depend on where you have lived in the past and if you want to send your children to public schools. If you aren’t afraid of the city, you might try anything north of 40th street on Meridian, Pennsylvania, Delaware. Old stately home reside there. If you want yuppie you might try the Broad Ripple area. I live in the Meridian/Kessler area. There are mansions (Eli Lilly) and small 3 bedroom ranches. I like the mix. Washington Township has a good school district. Anything north (82nd street and beyond) is likely to be fairly new. That would include the Castleton area. Suburbs like Carmel, Carmel Clay, Zionsville are upscale high rent suburbs. Eagle Creek (west) and Geist(east) are upscale suburbs on the water. All of these area have a smattering of Blacks. Downtown has a building boom. Within the mile square of center city there is also lots of rehab and building by whites (mainly). Check the ISTEP scores online for the school district. No matter where you end up you will have to be wary of the schools. Some of the neighborhood schools are excellent and some of the surburan schools let our children tread water. Schools: Washington Township, Lawrence Township, Indpls, Warren, Carmel. The best thing you can do is get a good real estate agent that is not afraid of the city (value) and is not just looking for a big commission(suburbs).