Living in and around Cincinnati

Opinions of Downtown Cincinnati living seem to be split. There’s a lot of discussion about it being difficult to park and shop, and there’s disagreement on whether the downtown scene is truly vibrant. Wanting to live in Cincinnati proper requires a peek at the Mount Adams neighborhood, which has been compared to a small version of San Francisco. The neighborhood overlooks the Ohio River, and offers nightlife, restaurants and culture, and is close to downtown. Some describe the neighborhood as feeling old-world European. The neighborhood is surrounded by a park named Eden, which should give you some idea of how this place is regarded.

Hyde Park was named for New York's famous neighborhood of swells (which in turn was named for London's equally famous neighborhood of swells). Many decades later, Hyde Park remains one of Cincinnati’s most prestigious addresses. Centrally located, it's a good neighborhood for walking and jogging. Right nearby is the botanical palace of the Krohn Conservatory. It's also close to the Cincinnati Art Museum, and downtown is about four miles away.

The suburban village of Glendale is Ohio’s only village listed as a National Historic Landmark, so designated as the first planned railroad commuter town in the U.S. Originally a place for railroad workers to live, it evolved into a neighborhood of note for wealthy businessmen.

Indian Hill is legally known as "The City of The Village of Indian Hill." Once the village’s population passed 5,000, they were legally obliged to become a city—hence the desire to legally insert the word “village” into their name. Originally an agricultural community, some ambitious, 1920s businessmen began building mansions and country estates. Wealthy folks still find the town desirable today. (That's the kind of thing that can happen when The Robb Report deems a town the “best place to raise a family.")

Cincinnati’s sprawl has seen an explosion of outlying housing and commerce activities. North of the I-275 beltway, traffic can be a challenge. In this respect, Cincinnati has changed.

Montgomery is an idyllic little town that was once a coach stop on the Cincinnati-Zanesville Road stagecoach route. After decades of being a sleepy little hamlet, in the 1960s it became a desirable bedroom community for affluent Cincinnatians looking to move to the ‘burbs. Fanciers of Montgomery love it and some have even referred to it as a real-life Mayberry. Evendale is another small town that was once home to abolitionist and Underground Railroad facilitator John Van Zandt. One big difference in Evendale (pronounced “even-dale,” as in you can’t even pronounce it like “Dale Evans”) is that the town also happens to be home to Formica and GE Aviation.

The suburb of Blue Ash gets its name from Carpenter's Run Baptist Church, built there in the late 1700s out of blue ash logs. Today, Blue Ash has a reputation as a close-knit community whose population of 12,000 swells by almost 500% during the day due to the great number of corporate headquarters and office parks in the community. For a time in the 1800s, Loveland was known as the Little Switzerland of the Miami Valley, with wealthy Cincinnatians having summer homes there. Formerly a busy railroad town, Loveland is now a major stop along the Little Miami Scenic Trail—the third longest paved trail in the US at almost 75 miles.

Kenwood is a small community that has the distinction of being a major shopping destination. Mason has turned into one of the most affluent suburbs of Cincinnati, with CNN and Money Magazine both designating it as one of the best place to live in the U.S. Mason’s community center, at almost 200,000 square feet, is one of the state’s largest public recreation facilities.

Delhi Township is a quirky place that in many ways seems like your typical American suburb. You'll find big-box stores, fast food and outlet malls. You'll also find rolling hills and a rural landscape--and a lot of roads named things like Glenway Avenue, Glenway Cross and Glencrossing Way. This is a market basket of socioeconomic strata, from poor to middle-class to wealthy. West Chester is a burgeoning, upper-middle-class suburb that feels more small-town than city-fied--despite being surprisingly cosmopolitan. It's even home to one of the Cincinnati area's largest mosques. There's also the Ronald Reagan Voice of Freedom Park with rolling hills and a lake. And let's not forget the world’s largest indoor train display at (yes) EnterTRAINment Junction.