For people looking for a place to live that’s budget-friendly and near a major city, a bedroom community may be the ideal choice. It was for Susan French Gennace, a writer who grew up in Lehigh Valley, PA—a bedroom community of both Philadelphia and New York City.
“When I got a job in New York, I couldn’t afford to actually live there, so I made the commute,” she recalls.
Many people just like Gennace work for city-based companies and then head home to bedroom communities, usually within an hour’s drive, because they enjoy either the residential environment or the lower cost of housing—or both.
Simply put, “bedroom community” is used to describe a suburb or exurb populated primarily by professionals who commute to work in the city.
Characteristics of a bedroom community
Houses in these communities generally offer more space and a lower cost of living. Because there’s less hustle and bustle, people are seemingly more relaxed.
The challenge with bedroom communities, however, is that they can be a significant distance away from urban centers. So even though you get plenty of benefits, you may still have a lengthy work commute.
“Longer commutes and more traffic mean you have to leave earlier in the morning to avoid rush-hour traffic and you get home later at night—just in time to go to bed and wake up to do it all over again,” Gennace says.
Unlike large cities, bedroom communities often have limited options for entertainment, dining out, public transportation, employment opportunities, shopping, and schools.
“Residents who move to bedroom communities typically consist of couples with children where one or both parents travel to the city for their jobs,” says Dave Hyman, a Re/Max real estate agent based in Encinitas, CA. “Rather than apartments or condos, people in bedroom communities tend to live in single-family homes.”
Is a bedroom community for you?
Where you choose to live and work is obviously a personal choice, for which you must weigh both the pros and the cons. For some young adults, bedroom communities only emphasize what they’re missing.
“They are a reminder that you are somewhat close to where all the fun and action is, but far enough away that visiting the city is still a special occasion,” Gennace says. “Some people might complain how boring they are and count down the days until they can finally leave them.”
But for many working professionals, the cons of bedroom communities are minor compared to the following perks:
- Affordability: Housing costs and taxes on property, food, and sales tend to be lower.
- Less noise: Noise from automobile traffic, emergency vehicles, and construction projects is replaced by relative peace and quiet.
- More privacy: Crowding is not a problem as homes tend to be more spread out, keeping nosy neighbors at bay.
- Lower crime rates: Let’s be clear: Crime happens everywhere. But in bedroom communities, a smaller population means fewer people are behind bars.
Source: realtor.com