Can anyone share about living in Hartford CT?

I am considering a job in downtown, but I could live in the suburbs and commut to work everyday. As I have a family, I would consider to buy house in the suburb, but in good school district.

I have heard that Hartford downtown may not be very safe, but should that affect my decision to move to the city with the new job. I am living in the mid-west and I really dont have to give up my current job in case moving to Hartford is not worth.

Thanks

Yes. Living in and around Hartford downtown and Hartford in general is not as safe esp. if you have a family. However, there are cities nearby with good neighborhood and good school district (20-30 min drive depending upon where you end up living), West Hartford, Newington, Wethersfield, Rocky Hill to name few.
From my experience CT is expensive (as is North East in general), so you might want to take that into consideration.

Hello SKH, that was very helpful info. I read online that downtown and close by areas are not safe. Is the downtown also beat up type (i have hard time believing that, but many people wrote online that after 4,5 PM, the downtown stores are closed - am surprised). And yes, i will come with my family. If we decide to move there, probably buying a house within 30 mins driving to downtown might be the option to go. Looks like most houses there are older ones, and few are new construction. Sure, they seem to have larger property size, and are damn expensive. Considering that we would come from mid-west area, those houses are expensive (and taxes also), and i better be prepared to pay over 400 K for the house.

Once again, thank you very much SKH

No worries. There are part of downtown that are sketchy but overall is not that bad. and you are right, the houses here are pretty old and expensive.
Good luck.

For about 400k you may get a decent new Townhouse ! For a good single family house it will cost somewhere around 650-750k... East coast is expensive. You'll get some 1970s house for 400k !

Thanks Racheeta. That is helpful.
Well, going for over 500K is tuft. As I am ok to some commut distance, I might have to go a bit outskirt to get houses in that 400K range. And school district gotta be good as my daughter is starting school. Now, moving into older houses - my wife is NOT going to like it. houses here in mid-west tend to be newer and bigger (cant afford that in the north-east).