Read This First Before You Move to Westchester County

Are you thinking of moving from New York City to Westchester County? Read this first before you make the big move to Westchester County! Westchester is a big county in New York with over 40 cities, villages, and towns.

How do you decide which town in Westchester to move to? Here are the criteria to consider before making the move from NYC to Westchester County.

Where Should You Move to in Westchester County?

You will need to narrow down which towns in Westchester County are best for you. Below are some criteria to consider for your move from NYC to Westchester County.

How Long is the Commute from Westchester to NYC?

The commute from Westchester to NYC is probably the number one criteria for deciding which Westchester County town to move to. Are you looking for a 35-minute one-way commute from Westchester to NYC? If so you may want to consider Bronxville, Pelham or Scarsdale.

Are you ok with a 1 hour commute to NYC? Then that opens up more towns for you in Westchester County. You can consider Chappaqua, Rye, Pound Ridge, and Armonk. It will be easy to narrow down your home search in Westchester if you base your search on how long the commute is from Westchester to NYC.

Rye Metro North Train station — Rye Metro North train station

Remember when you are calculating commute times from Westchester to NYC, you should add in the time it takes for you to drive from your home to the Metro-North train station parking lot, add in the time it takes to walk from your parking spot to the train platform, add in the time it takes for you to wait for a train to come and add in how long does it takes to get from Grand Central to your office- all this should be added to your total commute time so you get the full door to door total.

You should also know that there are waitlists to get a parking permit (some waitlists are years long) at some of the more popular Westchester County Metro-North train stations. This may affect your commute times (at least in the short term).

Check out our other move to Westchester County guides:

New York Suburbs with Shortest Commute to NYC

Top 5 Westchester Towns with Shortest Commute and Best Schools

Know Your Budget

Before you start house hunting in Westchester County, it’s smart to know your budget. Knowing your budget will help you to narrow down which towns in Westchester to move to since there is a wide range of home prices from town to town.

If you are planning to calculate your budget based on how much down payment you have saved up, don’t. The down payment is just one factor when determining how much you can afford. You need to look at your finances from a holistic view, the best way to do this is to get a mortgage pre-approval.

Your mortgage lender will base your pre-approval on your income, assets and liabilities, credit score, and debt to income ratio- this will help determine your budget. Once you know your budget, you can narrow your home search in Westchester County based on your budget.

When determining your budget, don’t forget to take into account the property tax on the homes you are looking at in Westchester. Westchester County property taxes are known to be high, so definitely add that to your expenses when figuring out where to live in Westchester.

Use our Westchester Cost of Living Calculator to get an idea of how much it costs to live in Westchester County. Our Westchester Cost of Living Calculator will calculate your mortgage expense, property taxes, commuting expenses, transportation expenses, childcare expenses and home maintenance expenses.

It’s expensive to live in Westchester County. For a family of four, it will definitely cost you more than $10,000 a month to live in Westchester County.

Just to give you an idea, it costs over $17,000 a month for a family of four to live in Bronxville while it costs over $13,000 for a family of four to live in Armonk and it costs over $11,000 for a family of four to live in New Rochelle!

You Might be Interested in these Westchester County articles:

Westchester Towns with Lowest Home Prices and Best Schools

How Much Does it Cost to Live in Westchester County? Westchester Cost of Living Calculator

Decide Which Westchester School District is Right For You

The school district plays a big role when it comes to deciding the best places to live in Westchester County. Westchester County is known for having good schools. Every year, families move from NYC to Westchester so they can enroll their kids in a Westchester County school.

I suggest you do your research to find the Westchester school district that is the right fit for your family. Ask friends and colleagues for their opinion on Westchester schools.

Read our interviews of Westchester locals for their take on Westchester schools. Check school rankings on Niche.com or GreatSchools.org to find out which school districts in Westchester County are right for your kids.

Go visit and tour the schools, call and make an appointment to get a school tour. Sometimes these school tours are conducted by volunteer moms which will give you a sense if the school is a good fit for your child.

Make sure the school is in session when you do the tour so you can see the classrooms in action. Once you have narrowed down the Westchester school districts, you can then focus your home search within these school districts.

A word of advice, when looking at homes in Westchester County, double-check to confirm the school district that home is districted to. Westchester can be confusing with PO addresses.

For example, a home with a Scarsdale zip code does not automatically mean it is districted to the Scarsdale School District. The Scarsdale home might have a Scarsdale zip code (Scarsdale PO) but it is not located within the Village of Scarsdale so it’s not zoned for the Scarsdale School District.

Before you put in an offer to buy a home in Westchester County, do your research and confirm the school district zoning for the home you are thinking of buying in Westchester.

Confused? We explained it: What is the difference between Scarsdale and Scarsdale PO?

Decide If You Want to Send Your Child to a Private School or Public School in Westchester County

Many families move to Westchester for the public schools, however, Westchester County is also home to the best private schools in the country.

For example, Rye Country Day School which is located in Westchester County is ranked in the top 10 private schools in the United States*.

If you are thinking of sending your child to private school instead of public school, then your criteria for finding homes in Westchester will not be the same as a family who is looking to send their child to public schools.

Finding a home in a top Westchester school district may not be as important for you since you are sending your child to a private school. You will probably want to live close to your Westchester private school. And you may want to live in a Westchester town that provides school bus transportation to private schools. You may also want to live in a Westchester town where a higher percentage of kids go to private schools.

Some families who are sending their child to a Westchester private school may decide to move further up north to Greenwich, Connecticut because property taxes are significantly lower in Connecticut.

After all, there is no need to be paying high Westchester County property taxes if you are not taking advantage of the public school system in Westchester!

*Niche.com

Can’t decide between Public schools or Private schools? We asked local moms for their input: Public Schools vs. Private Schools

Find Out If Your Westchester School District Provides School Bus Transportation

Don’t assume that your Westchester school district will provide school bus transportation. For some families moving to Westchester County, having school bus transportation is an important criteria when deciding where to move to in Westchester County.

Not all Westchester towns provide school bus transportation, by New York State law, cities in New York are not required to provide school bus transportation to residents.

The decision to provide school bus transportation is dependent on the specific city. Some cities in Westchester County provide school bus transportation while others do not.

Non-city municipalities in Westchester County are required by law to provide school bus transportation. Do your research to confirm that the home you are thinking of buying in Westchester County is in a school district with school bus transportation.

If you plan to send your kids to private school, you can also look into municipalities in Westchester County that provide school bus transportation to private schools in Westchester.

You May Be Interested in: Which Westchester School Districts Provide School Bus Transportation?

Know Where the School Bus Pick-Up Point Is At

Don’t assume the school bus will pick your kids up right in front of your house. More often than not, the school bus pick-up will be at the end of the block so you will have to walk (or drive when it’s cold) to the school bus pick-up point.

It can be a major inconvenience to have the school bus pick up a block away, especially if there are younger siblings at home.

It’s a pain to have to wake up a napping baby when you have to bring the baby with you to pick up your older child from the school bus stop (Imagine waking a napping baby everyday!)

Do your research, and find out exactly where the school bus pick-up point is for the home you are buying in Westchester County. Who knows, the school bus pick-up point may become a tiebreaker when deciding between two homes in Westchester County!

Is Your Westchester Town Walkable?

There are some towns in Westchester County that are walkable and there are some towns in Westchester County where everything is spread out so you will need a car to go anywhere. If you are moving from NYC to Westchester County, you may want to move to a Westchester town that is walkable.

Maybe you don’t know how to drive? Or your driving skills are rusty? You may feel more comfortable living in a home where you can get by without a car because you are within walking distance of the train station, school, to shops, and restaurants.

If so, you may want to consider living in a town that is walkable. Examples of walkable towns in Westchester county are Bronxville, White Plains or Larchmont.

Or maybe, you may want to live in a home that is within walking distance of the train stations and the main downtown area where the shops and restaurants are located. Usually, your real estate agent should be able to help you find homes that are walkable if that is something you are looking for.

Are there more Stay at Home Moms or Working Moms in your Westchester Town?

Are you or your spouse a stay-at-home mom or a stay-at-home dad? If you are a stay-at-home mom, you may prefer to live in a Westchester town where there are more stay-at-home moms.

You may not think it’s a big deal but when you do playdates, if you live in a town predominantly comprised of working moms, you may end up doing playdates with nannies and au pairs. While if you live in a town with many stay-at-home moms, then your playdates will be with other stay-at-home moms.

The school dynamic will also be different depending on the stay-at-home mom/working mom situation of your Westchester town. If your child goes to school where there are more stay-at-home moms, school committee meetings will probably be held in the weekday mornings while if your child goes to school where there are more working moms, then school committee meetings will most likely be held in the evenings after work.

Of all the criteria on this list, this is not a top reason for selecting which Westchester County town to move to. However, you should still take it into consideration because whether you like it or not, the dynamic of stay-at-home moms and working moms may affect your social life in your new town.

Is Your Westchester Town Transient?

If you plan to settle down in Westchester County, then you want to live in a town that is less transient. You want to find a Westchester town where the residents are more permanent and live in their homes for many years.

Usually, the towns where there are a lot of rental homes will tend to be more transient. Do your research, and find out which Westchester town has more owner-occupied homes and fewer rentals.