New Haven

[updated september 2024]

SO, roomiematch.com's New Haven roommate rundown:

Since 1701, New Haven has been home to Yale University. If you live here, you will never struggle to remember that.

New Haven is also frequently referred to as the cultural capital of Connecticut. But that's what Yale told them to say.

A whole whack of US presidents went to Yale, along with even more in Congress. If you're not also attending Yale, this probably won't affect you much, other than forever hearing about it.

New Haven is covered in historical sites, many officially registered. Lighthouse Point Park, a public beach and historic place in and of itself, is also home to two lighthouses plus a carousel, all three also historical!

Officially!

Most of the rest of their economy is human service too - home to a lot of other schools, health care, religion, and pharmaceuticals.

New Haven's downtown is more walkable than most, with many working and living downtown so they can walk easily between. Pedestrian commuting, yay! Lots of walkable retail and casual dining, with over 100 food trucks and carts clustering at a few popular points for lunch.

Which is typical of . . . a much larger city? Topographically, New Haven is a lot more bucolic than most where you can walk to so much that's functionally different within so few blocks.

You can also bicycle along the shorelines of several local beaches nearby, weather permitting.

New Haven Green offers free music concerts, especially in summer. Also, free wifi!

Along with other recent downtown vitalization efforts, 360 State Street apartments is now the largest residential building in Connecticut. It's a 300-foot skyscraper of apartment homes.

If you're not into Yale and/or the pedestrian-friendly and mega-historical spaces surrounding it . . . you may be treating New Haven as your commuter town? But it's encouraged.

Because there are too many commuter trains to mention?

As often as you could reasonably require you can board trains to NYC, Boston, D.C., Providence, Newark, Philadelphia, and Baltimore . . . and farther on to Norfolk . . . and even farther to Vermont.

New Haven could be your somewhat less expensive NE residential roommate hub . . . but from which you could spoke outward to several more expensive cities and several similarly-priced ones.

All without really needing a car for much, at least in New Haven, if you live near enough to catch a ride or walk to the various stations.

Hope you're a history buff!

The rest of the New Haven roommate lowdown:

• New Haven is a port on New Haven Harbor, on the northern shore of Long Island Sound, about 60 miles northeast of New York City.
• population of about 130,000 New Haveners in the actual city, about 860,000 in Greater New Haven
• New Haven is known as the first planned city in the American Colonies, founded in 1638.
• home to Albertus Magnus College, Gateway Community College, Quinnipiac College, Southern Connecticut State University, University of New Haven, Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University, University of Bridgeport, and Yale University
• summers are warm and humid, but winters are milder than surrounding areas due to the Long Island Sound - snow happens, but usually more like snow showers than heavy snow drifts
• New Haven and Bridgeport are known for property crime, but in recent years it's usually car-related . . . always lock your car doors and never leave anything of value visible inside.
• There is some bus transit . . . but most in New Haven use transit to go elsewhere. If you don't like walking in cold weather, they do have bus routes around downtown.
• East Rock Park, Sleeping Giant State Park, West Rock State Park are all nearby with many miles of hiking and biking, along with scenic views galore.
• Invented New Haven-style apizza (say uh-BEETZ) which might be a cousin to regular pizza or in a different family entirely, depending on who you ask. It's thin crust scorched to bitterness in a brick oven, then topped with higher quality ingredients than typical on most American pizzas. The New England clam variety is extra popular.

After you're settled down, you and your roommates should experience New Haven's:

• Farmington Canal Trail: "Rail trail" or former canal and railroad, now a scenic recreational trail for residents, proposed to expand many miles and well into the future
• Morris Steinert Collection of Musical Instruments: Possibly still closed for renovation, but you can always view the online gallery of amazing musical expression through time.
• Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library: Yale's rare books and manuscripts, from ancient papyri to born-digital material. There's an original copy of a Gutenberg Bible. The marble walls inside are extra glowing. No registration required for individual tours, but if you and your roommates want to tour as a group, you might have to let them know then let them lead you. (Don't be drunk or otherwise unruly. Snacking is not allowed during tours.) You can also register for their reading room, even if you do not and never have attended Yale. Their hours open to the public can vary as they host many private events, so confirm before going.
• Yale University Art Gallery: 186,088 objects! Special focus on Ancient Art, American Decorative Arts, Photography, and Numismatics (coins, paper currency, and medals). Free and open to the public from Tuesday through Sunday. There's a free app with the floor plan and other informational stuff, or you and your roommates could also register in advance for a guided tour.
• Louis' Lunch: They claim to have invented the "classic hamburger sandwich" that's made with five cuts of meat, then served between white toast with only cheese, onion, and tomato allowed as toppings. They don't think you can properly experience their hand-rolled burgers grilled to perfection with ketchup and mustard all over them! The Lassen family "holds firm on their desire not to offer any condiments." So if you want a special sauce or fries find the nearest McD? But probably try this first, if you and your roommates are already nearby.
• The Devil's Gear Bike & Board: Community bike shop where you can buy gear and accessories and/or have yours repaired or tuned-up as expected. This one supports their community by sponsoring various local organizations trying to move everyone forward, including promoting free community (you and your roommates are invited!) bike rides.

Here's the city of New Haven's official .gov for all their city services.

Notes

1.   The non-traditional roommate rent average for this city we've experienced over the last 3 years. We can't predict future rental availability, because we're neither in control of any rental market nor psychic, sorry!

But in most cities most of the time, the recent and relatively recent past are the best predictors.


2.   This idea came from smartasset.com's ranking of what a roommate saves you in 50 cities. They ranked where roommates will save you the most money, based on the average cost of a 1BR as opposed to a 2BR ÷ 2. Unsurprisingly, the more expensive the city, the more you can save, but the savings are significant in all larger metros. So we got the data for the rest of our cities from Zumper too.

This is really the minimum you could save, as you could live with more than one roommate, split more services, share food or other supplies, etc. More sharing tends to lead to more savings too, as per our roommate roadmap.

As per the rest of the description at the top of this page, we're calling this "traditional" roommate rent.


3.   From zumper.com.


4.   Directly quoted from the Trust for Public Land's parkland rating system.

"The ParkScore index awards each city up to 100 points for acreage based on the average of two equally weighted measures: median park size and parkland as a percentage of city area. Factoring park acreage into each city’s ParkScore rating helps account for the importance of larger “destination parks” that serve many users who live farther than ten minutes’ walking distance."

While each city's rundown already includes their individual ParkScore, nature lovers might like to see all roommate cities ranked for parkland.


5.   Directly quoted from Walk Score's Cities and Neighborhoods Ranking. They've ranked "more than 2,800 cities and over 10,000 neighborhoods so you can find a walkable home or apartment."

While each city's rundown already includes their individual Walk Score, dedicated pedestrians might like to see all roommate cities ranked for walkability.


6.   From various lists here on our own best roommate cities.


7.   From hoodmaps.com: a collaborative map where residents use tags describing social situations you're likely to find. Other users can thumb up or down, so the largest tags have been thumbed up the most.