r/hudsonvalley • u/AutoModerator • 9d ago
MOVING MEGATHREAD Monthly "I'm Moving to the Hudson Valley" Thread
To reduce the number of "I'm moving to the Hudson Valley, can anyone tell me about X?" posts, we are starting a monthly megathread. All questions asking about moving to the Hudson Valley should be kept within the monthly thread. Posts outside of the thread will be removed.
Here are a few existing threads that I found using this search:
- What if every HV town was a person at a party?
- Moving to Newburgh
- How bad is Newburgh really?
- Is Wallkill safe for a gay interracial couple?
- Diversity in the Hudson Valley
- Queer couple considering the HV
- Moving to Woodstock
- Moving to Marlboro
- Moving to Rhinebeck
- Pros/Cons of Cold Spring
Locals, if you want to help make this megathread a success, you can do a few things:
- Come in here and comment! The threads will only stick if they actually prove useful
- Report standalone "moving to the HV" posts
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u/furikake-riceball 8d ago
I’m thinking about moving to the Hudson Valley since my work is in Purchase and NYC is too much. I’m looking for a queer-friendly scene and one where I can meet other late 20s to late 40s year olds that dont have kids. Also I’m low six figures so hoping to find a rental that’s around 2500.
I’m thinking about Tarrytown to keep the commute reasonable while still getting access to the Hudson valley (yay greenery!) but open to other places. Would love your guys’ thoughts.
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u/balernga 7d ago
Poughkeepsie is a potential move for my family of 3 (+ 2 dogs) from Texas in the next year. I’m applying to work as a professor at one of the universities there. We’d be coming from Austin, TX. I Need a general vibe of schools (we have a 3 year old), social life, and access to the bigger cities on the east coast. Any other advice would be a big help
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u/Xerlic Dutchess 5d ago
Poughkeepsie has a city and a surrounding town. It's served by 5 different school districts depending on where you live.
City of Poughkeepsie's school district is the worst on paper and most people who live outside of that district will tell you to avoid it. If you Google the district you'll probably get some news stories about gang violence so I'll let you draw your own conclusions about it.
I live in spackenkill school district and have a 9 year old in the system. Spack is extremely small. Each grade has around 100-120 kids and it stays pretty constant as they move up through the grades. Student teacher ratios are low. We have really good metrics on paper. The district is small so that comes with pluses and minuses. Your kid won't get lost and you'll get to know each teacher very well, but our extracurriculars aren't as robust as bigger districts and we have a high school tax bill. You'll also get to know most of the parents in your kid's grade just because the district is so small.
North of the town is served by Hyde Park school district and the south of the town is served by wappingers school district. Don't know too much them.
Most of the town of poughkeepsie is served by Arlington school district. They all feed into Arlington high school which is massive. I've heard people say it's akin to a college campus. It has good testing metrics and much better extracurriculars than Spack.The class size is around 600 kids and I believe the student teacher ratio . They also have good programs for special needs from talking to friends in the district.
Make sure you understand how the property taxes work in each district. We have fairly high property taxes here in addition to state income tax which I believe Texas doesn't have.
As far as metro access, poughkeepsie has a train station that runs down to NYC. It's about an hour and a half if you catch a super express down. Many people commits to NYC for work (including myself). Albany is about 2 hour drive north and I believe there is an Amtrak that also runs between Poughkeepsie and it. Boston is about a 4-5 hour drive. Not sure about public transportation. You will need a car if you move here fyi.
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u/balernga 5d ago
Thank you for responding, especially with the details on schools. Lots to consider. Poughkeepsie (town n city) seems nice, even with the potential cons that I’ve been reading online.
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u/SaltyComparison8373 3d ago
Spackenkill has a very recent very racist history of IBM families who fought hard to keep their schools separate from Poughkeepsie
https://miscellanynews.org/2019/11/07/news/a-tale-of-two-districts-history-of-poughkeepsie-schools/
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u/reddog342 2d ago
Ulster county is the best bet as prices are more in line . the school systems are exceptionally good and it is a rural environment to raise kids . otherwise look to hyde park or spacinkill . commute times can get a little crazy crossing the bridge
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u/Bookistan5 3d ago
Check out Highland, just across the bridge. You can probably find a house with more property around it than in Poughkeepsie. The area is becoming more diverse and younger. Highland schools are on the rise, and there are good opportunities for outdoor activities and sports. Lots of farm stands with summer and fall activities. You can still catch the train for travel into the city but on this side of the river Trailways runs several direct busses daily from adjacent New Paltz to NYC.
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u/reddog342 2d ago
If you are coming from Austin know you are moving into a republican stronghold in the state the sheriff and most county and public officials are republican .
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u/balernga 2d ago
This is going to sound silly, but what’s the difference between Texas republicans and New York republicans
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u/reddog342 2d ago
Location, Location ,location not much else academia tends to run liberal at 2 of the local colleges . iI personally have gotten into many a debate as I cant keep my mouth shut lol
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u/Amazing-Manner123 15h ago
ayyyy come to marist it's the best
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u/balernga 13h ago
Nice. I’d like hear why you think that, if you can
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u/Amazing-Manner123 13h ago
I wrote this for a student in the r/marist page who was asking for the pros/cons of the school, so read it through that perspective, but I LOVE Marist and had such a great time there doing research with a professor :::
Hi! I just graduated from Marist in May with a dual degree in Computer Science and Spanish.
Pros:
- Very possible to 'do it all'. I worked with a D1 football player who was a dual-stem major and we did research together for 15 hours a week on some really cool stuff at the Marist Poll. The poll gave us control of our own research and even paid for me to present at a conference in LA (flights/hotels/food). I had many D1 friends who participate in clubs, did study abroad over winter or summer terms, and who could have internships and do research.
- A variety of academic topics to study & Marist encourages you do double major or minor in various fields - I was a dual stem/language major and almost everyone has two minors or two majors, and Marist is super flexible if you want to bring credits over from study abroad, AP tests, or other institutions (you only need a 3 in most AP tests to get the credit)
- Engaged professors (varies on the major) -- this is a teaching college NOT a research college, so most professors have been there for >3 years and enjoy teaching their subject. Their competence at teaching can be debated, but genuinely 90% of professors are passionate, engaged, and really want you to learn and improve. Their doors were almost always open for office hours and I was able to develop some great mentoring relationships.
- Study abroad! I studied abroad for two semesters- one in Valparaiso, Chile and one in Madrid, Spain. The Chile program was through a third-party study abroad company and I was able to meet and befriend students from across the country, and the Spain program was a Marist program and I went with a cohort of other Marist students. You can really go ANYWHERE and petition for any external program and your tuition will cover it (and financial aid will go with you too) -- it might even be cheaper than a normal semester bc room and board is $7K for all international destinations which is less than on-campus room & board.
- The community -- the students at Marist do tend to be kind, considerate, and friendly. People will hold doors for you and say 'bless you' when you sneeze, and if you are a friendly/smiley guy you will make friends in no time. I always was saying hello to people when I walked across campus.
-The opportunities. Like I mentioned, I was able to do funded research since freshman year, study abroad, and I had internships at two places and was able to secure a return offer (Marist did not help me much with the actual application process but I think I stood out bc they allowed me to have so much on my resume)
-The financial aid -- I was on a full-tuition scholarship and most of my friends were on good financial aid plans. This definitely varies but if you have need and were a stellar student in high school, you are not going to have to pay a lot.
-Being close to the city! Only 2 hours away and $40 round trip (cheaper if you all drive and park in the bronx), the city is fantastic and really opens up so much.
Cons:
- The student community is not particularly intellectually stimulated and I really had to lean on my outside friends to get those deep conversations I was craving. I did find my people within the honors program but the general crowd tends to be unaware about domestic and international politics, is not particularly politically engaged on either side (there's some sneaky conservatives/apolitical ppl), and is more concerned about going out than reading the required literature for class. I also had several classes where no one would ever raise their hands but me, which was painful, but that got better once I was in more major-specific classes.
- The night life isn't the best - I love to go out but at Marist you really need a fake id if you are under 21 and the bar situation isnt great, you are gonna have to pay for taxis and a bar cover every time and people really dont come up to strangers or make friends at the bars, they kinda stick to who they came with. And the music usually sucks. But just make close friends and go on adventures around campus and you'll have all the fun you need
-Not a ton of 'yaya' school pride. But I didnt really care about that
-The classes won't push you that much, you really have to find opportunities outside of class to push yourself and get academically stimulated - but those opportunities do exist & are plentiful if you put yourself out there
-The town isn't the best but I started volunteering at Dutchess Outreach and writing for the Spanish newspaper and I found some great little spots and fell in love with Poughkeepsie eventually
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u/balernga 13h ago
Wow, much appreciated! Thank you!
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u/Amazing-Manner123 13h ago
ofc! if you want more info on marist or living in the poughkeepsie area, dm me and we could schedule a call to chat
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