What is the best neighborhood in Indianapolis?

Question

The neighborhood with best schools, houses, people.
How is Carmel city? It's a nice place to live?

Answer 1

I really like the northside of Indianapolis, as it's very family friendly and also has great shopping, dining and entertainment options. Lots of nice parks and it's also a quick 20-minute drive to downtown, which is nice for nights out to see the Pacers or the Indians or visiting the zoo or one of the many nice museums. There is easy access to several malls and shopping areas, and it's easy to get to the highway to get around to all parts of the city.

There are some wonderful neighborhoods there as mentioned by the previous poster: Broad Ripple, Rocky Ripple, Meridian Kessler, Meridian Hills. You get a lot of the benefits of suburban living with the amenities of all that the city has to offer.

Housing prices in the area vary, from nice starter homes in the $80k range all the way up to multimillion dollar mansions. Taxes are very reasonable compared to other cities. The cost of living is also manageable.

Washington Township schools (on the far north side) are also excellent. They offer many special programs from gifted and talented magnet classes to the vocational training center at the JEL Career Center at North Central. Several of this year's presidential scholars (top scores on SATs in the country) attend North Central. Lawrence also has good schools, though parts of that area have gone downhill in the past several years and the town of Lawrence itself is a little seedy.

Carmel is a very nice place, though by Indy standards it's expensive and the taxes are much higher. I think that it's lost a lot of it's small town charm over the last 10 years due to overdevelopment and suburban sprawl. In some parts of Carmel, the traffic is bad, especially at rush hour. But they do have a good school system and it's very safe. Lots of upscale shopping and dining in the area. Close to the malls and many office parks. Not a bad place if you really want to be in the burbs.

Fishers (just east of carmel) is way too overdeveloped and the traffic up there is a nightmare and getting worse all the time. I wouldn't recommend it at all.

The east side of Indy is also on the decline and not a good place to raise a family anymore. Parts of the west side are ok but avoid the Speedway area.

Answer 2

Indianapolis has a multitude of neighborhoods. A few that I know about are:

Northside and Northeast tend to be trendier and larger homes. Meridian Hills, Broad Ripple, Castleton, Allisonville, northern Lawrence (still rural)

Ben Davis (SW) and Lawrence (NW) have excellent schools and are often in state finals for sports and music.

Southside beyond the city and the edge of the city are growing and new, including Southport.

Downtown areas are scattered. Around the State complex (West Street between Washington & Michigan) are very new. This area has been changing with the museum & parks being developed as well as the university (IUPUI).

A 'frontier' community is Fountain Square. Older homes that are being renovated and the neighborhoods are improving. The business area of Fountain Square has a lot of character, like the homes, and offer alot for the more urban minded.

Answer 3

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