Relocation research guide

General Relocation & Moving Resources

For general information on household moving, including planning, packing, settling in and supporting children during a move, look for books in call number 648.9 or check the Discovery Place catalog for subject heading "Moving, Household."

If you are planning to move abroad, look for books in call number 910.202 or check the catalog for the subject heading "Americans Employment." This subject and its subheadings cover books about living and working in other countries. Travel books frequently provide information about culture, climate, local economy and other important matters for Americans moving abroad. Check the catalog for subject "[Country] Description and Travel," e.g. "Japan Description and Travel."

  • Associates of the American Foreign Service Worldwide (AAFSW)
    Created for U. S. Foreign Service "spouses, employees and retirees," this web site contains many articles of interest to anyone moving abroad. The section entitled "Articles and Advice" covers topics such as preparing for a move, language training, family life, pets, financial planning and health and safety concerns. There are also web sites discussing first-hand travel experiences, as well as a reading list.
  • Moving
    Moving? Make it go more smoothly with tips that range from how to research the schools and communities you will be living in to how to organize the move, buy a house and estimate how much the move will cost. Hosted on the official web site of The National Association of REALTORS.
  • Real Estate Resources from Money Magazine
    Money Magazine's online real estate department features the annual "Best Places to Live" survey (see below), plus mortgage information and cost of living calculators. Links are at the bottom and across the top of the web page.
  • Transitions Abroad
    Hosted by Transitions Abroad, publisher of a magazine and books on international travel and living abroad, this web site has a large collection of articles and web sites on living, working, studying and traveling abroad. Topics include housing, education, children, pets, health, finances, volunteer work and more.

Guides to Information about Cities & Places

  • America's Top-Rated Cities. Revised periodically. [R 317.3 AME]
    An informative statistical survey of 80 large cities, this four-volume set provides business and living environment information. A companion volume, America's Top-Rated Smaller Cities (R 317.3 AME), covers selected cities under 100,000 population, and The Comparative Guide to American Suburbs (R 307.74 COM) profiles over 2,000 communities in 50 metropolitan areas.
  • Cities Ranked and Rated: Your Guide to the Best Places to Live in the U. S. & Canada. 2004. [R 917.3 CIT (also circulating)]
    This source provides statistics and comparative rankings for over 400 U. S. and 30 Canadian cities. It describes quality of life factors, including costs of living, transportation, jobs, education, climate, crime, the arts, health care and education.
  • Melissa Data's Free Lookups
    Over 30 free databases provide information helpful when relocating. From school district maps and average home sale prices by zip code, to listings of radio and TV stations, non-profit organizations and crime statistics. It's a treasure trove of one-stop statistical shopping.
  • Money Magazine: The Best Places to Live
    This annual comparative listing ranks over 300 U. S. cities on weather, crime, housing, education, economy, health, transportation and quality of life. Read about the top-rated places or find a profile of any reviewed city.
  • Moving & Relocation Sourcebook and Directory. 2005-2006. [R 307.764 MOV]
    This large directory of information for major cities nationwide includes government agencies, online resources, education, transportation, attractions, media and other resources of interest.
  • Public Records Online
    "The Public Records Online Directory is a Portal of official state web sites and those Tax Assessors' and Recorders' offices that have developed web sites for the retrieval of available public records over the internet." Want to see how much houses are selling for in a neighborhood you may move to? Look here for a link to the local government's tax assessor/auditor's web site to see. Not every county has online records, but you should at least find a phone number for the office.
  • REALTOR.com
    Official site of the National Association of REALTORS, this is one of the best nationwide real estate web sites available with over 2.5 million listings for sale or rent. Search by area, price range, size and other features. Includes information on how to buy and sell property, home and garden tips, as well as how to locate information on neighborhoods. This is a commercial site, so there are quite a few advertisements.
  • Yahoo! Real Estate: Neighborhood Information
    Get a profile of any neighborhood in the United States, with comparisons to national averages on demographic, cost-of-living, housing, weather and crime rate characteristics.

Salary & Cost of Living Comparisons

  • Cityrating.com: Cost of Living
    A service similar to The Salary Calculator (below), this tool provides comparative salary figures, plus regional consumer price index and average salary figures for the selected locations.
  • The Salary Calculator
    A service of Homestore.com and the National Association of REALTORS, this interactive tool uses data from the Center for Mobility Resources to compare the general cost of living between any two U. S. cities in its database and quotes salaries with equivalent buying power for the two cities.

Schools & School Districts

  • Patterson's Elementary Education. Revised annually. [R 372 PAT]
    Patterson's American Education. Revised annually. [R 370 PAT]
    Peterson's Private Secondary Schools. Revised annually. [R 373.3 PET]
    Private Independent Schools. Revised annually. [R 373 PRI]
    These annual directories provide access to schools nationwide. The Patterson's volumes cover public, private and Catholic elementary (Patterson's Elementary Education) and secondary (Patterson's American Education) schools. Brief listings include contact information and enrollment figures. Private Independent Schools offers extensive descriptions of 1,200 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools and Peterson's Private Secondary Schools describes 1,400 schools.
  • Comparative Guide to American Elementary and Secondary Schools. 2005. [R 371.01 COM (OWL)]
    This guide to public school districts includes some useful information not found in the other sources listed here, including librarian/student ratio, guidance counselor/student ratio, racial mix and socio-economic status indicator.
  • Finding Ohio School Web Sites from OPLIN
    The Ohio Public Library Information Network offers alphabetical and by-county links to public and non-public schools statewide. Only schools and districts with web sites are listed.
  • National Public School District Locator
    The National Center for Education Statistics provides this searchable database of all public school districts. Listings include contact information, enrollment and student/teacher ratio.
  • Ohio Department of Education
    Under the "Ohio's Education System" link, find state and local report cards on Ohio schools, advice on how to prepare for statewide assessment tests, as well as a wealth of information on education in Ohio.
  • School Match: School Research, Data and Consulting Services
    Search by metropolitan area, zip code or name to find brief information about any public school, or select schools within a region based on performance. School Match also offers a fee-based detailed report on any school system in its database.
  • The School Report
    Request a free report for any school system in the country. You will be asked to provide your contact information. Reports include a personnel directory and statistical profile of district size, programs and performance.

Finding Community Information Online

  • U. S. City & Town Official Web Sites
    A local or regional chamber of commerce has much to offer the new resident, including information on available businesses and services. This site is a directory of "reliable and stable [online] sources of city and town information. Namely city sites, chamber of commerce sites, convention and visitor's bureau sites, etc. Stable sites usually will have obtained their own .com, .org, .net, .info, .us, [or] .gov" domain name. Also includes information for Canada. Browsable by state or province.
  • Yahoo! Get Local
    Directories of pertinent web sites by state, region, county or metropolitan area, and city or town for nearly any location in the U. S. From the State Guide, select Cities and then the particular city where you'd like to find links to community information. There are also links to maps, weather, classified ads, Yellow Pages listings and more. Similar directories for international locations are available through the Yahoo! directory.

The local newspaper is frequently a community's best source of apartment and home listings and employment advertising. Local newspapers, radio and TV stations will also acquaint you with the events, news and culture of your new community. The following sources will help you to locate media throughout the U. S. and worldwide.

  • Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media. Revised annually. [R 071.3 GAL]
    Use this five-volume directory to locate newspapers, radio and television stations and other media for cities and communities nationwide. Listings include contact information, a description of format or coverage and subscription rates if applicable.
  • NewsDirectory.com
    A convenient directory of newspapers and magazines worldwide. Search by title, or browse by country (and state, for the U. S.) to find a local newspaper. Only papers with an online edition are listed, and links go directly to the paper's web site.
  • Newslink
    This site links to online newspapers nationwide and worldwide. Coverage of United States newspapers is more extensive here than in NewsDirectory.com (above), and there is excellent coverage of over 2,000 non-U. S. newspapers. Business, campus and alternative newspapers are also included.

Central Ohio community resources

If you are new to the Columbus metropolitan area, or are moving from one local community to another, the following web sites may be very helpful.

Columbus

Worthington

Dublin

Delaware

Westerville

Upper Arlington

revised 10/06