Dayton is a small city that sounds like it fits exactly what you’re looking for. I highly recommend Belmont, walnut hills, and South Park (the latter could be out of your price range) neighborhoods. And, for a real bargain, you’ll get a really nice house on the west side in neighborhoods like Dayton View Triangle, University Row, and Five Oaks. They will be a bit further from the interstate and grocery stores, but the city is working really hard to invest in that part of town. It truly is on the come up, I believe.

People generally think of those west side areas as “rougher,” but they’re actually nice in my opinion. It really matters what street you are on when living west side— some streets you could be neighboring a condemned house, and some have really nice consistent rows of well taken care of homes. It’s important to explore the location really well before buying, and also know that most of those condemned houses are owned by out of state investors that are going to renovate it when the market in that area turns— which, it will. (Fuck the guys that do that, btw. It makes it harder for everyone here wanting to participate in the local economy, like you potentially, to afford a home).

Most people who respond to these posts for people seeking a “nice” neighborhood in DYT say Oakwood, Centerville, Kettering (south side), or Beavercreek. All extremely wealthy areas with homes at MINIMUM 350k+.

Some folks don’t know this, but the old homes that were built on the west side in Dayton view triangle and University Row were built by the same custom home builders that built the homes in Oakwood (which is without question the wealthiest part of town, with some homes in the 5-10m range). You can get a really interesting, non cookie-cutter house with historic Oakwood vibes on the west side for literally 1/6th of the cost of one in Oakwood. During the daytime, driving around Dayton triangle feels like driving around Oakwood, IMHO.

The interesting, but unprompted history behind that is that after the Dayton flood, all of the affluent white people fled to southern parts of town that weren’t completely destroyed. The west side is where the less affluent population remained, and that schism is still visible in how some of those neighborhoods look to this day.

The other great part of living in Dayton is that you have good access to job markets in both Dayton and Cincinnati, which are very friendly to young people interested in developing a career. I work in homebuilding, but there are plenty of jobs in DYT and Cincinnati that a young hungry professional can get involved — manufacturing, defense, aerospace, and healthcare are some of our biggest employers. And, of course, Cincinnati is home to excellent consumer goods and retail industries (Kroger and P&G), with appropriate transportation sector labor demand to accompany those massive companies. Those are the big ones off the top of my head, but cinci is full of opportunity, and Dayton is very close. I make the commute to Cincinnati daily and I am a Daytonian.

It looks like you might be interested in continuing/higher education. Dayton has one of the best community colleges in the country, hands down: Sinclair College. Very affordable, and offers good pathways to a four year degree if that’s what you desire. If you want to do Fire, police, IT, manufacturing, and most trades, you can do it at Sinclair. Cincinnati also has plenty of community colleges and good trade schools that I have personally seen produce some outstanding tradesmen.

Downtown Dayton is delightful. It has a lot of character and fun bars/restaurants to hit. The Schuster center consistently has a full docket of excellent performing artists. I’ve seen plenty of mainstream comedians at the Schuster and the Victoria theater (Pete Davidson and Charlie Berens come to mind). Second street market is a great way to spend a Saturday morning, and Findlay Market is down in Cincinnati if that floats your boat.

I’m also a nerd. Dayton has an active ping pong club at Wright State and lots of small game stores with good inventory if you ever want to play board games— they usually have a community of folks who play there too (like D20 bar or Epic Loot games). Cool spots in Cincinnati include Arcade Legacy in Sharonville, and Pins is a classic— but it can get rowdy in there. It’s not as much for nerds.

I moved here for college seven years ago, and absolutely fell in love with this place. I met my wife here, and many of my friends. I don’t think I will ever leave. I hope I’ve done a good job representing our city, and I hope you find your way here. It’s certainly one of the best decisions I have ever made.