Pulaski

Be careful with that thought, when you may find yourself to be the only one walking, even in the more walkable areas.

Per your original post, if you can afford $2,500 for rent, you could easily afford $1,500 rent + second car.

WEBlue

I think the key to finding a town like that is to leave enough time to look around thoroughly, because it may take a looong time to find the right combo of good school, good house, and good walkability.

My husband & I no longer have to worry about schools because our kids are grown up, but we definitely wanted a walkable area. The first one took several months of hunting to find, and we rented a house there, then discovered some problems (sky-high property taxes for one, and the town turned out to have more "iffy" areas than we liked). So we were on the hunt again for several more months till we found our present house.

Walkable towns are out there in America, but they do take serious searching to find.

HartleyHare

Everything you have listed above is possible where I am living. The only other point I would make is that children get 10 weeks off in the summer and this is when it's really hot. Even if I could drive, I would struggle to keep my daughter occupied for the whole 10 weeks. She's not at all interested in going off to a summer camp, and TBH the cost of some of them are sky high. We have nowhere near the facilities and transportation links that we had living in NW London. With this in mind, I will be returning to the UK with her for at least 5 weeks next summer to visit family and friends.

kins

You can do all that in the town where I live, and lots of people do. I do need a car for the long summer holiday though. There's loads of beautiful beaches, countryside and stuff for kids to do but I need a car to get to most of it.

NewJerseyGirl

Maplewood and South Orange are on the same train line as Madison to NYC too. They have a shorter NYC commute. Both have rental properties to fit your price range. There are schools, shops, tons of parks to walk to but leisure centers (if you want an indoor pool) is an alien concept in this area, although there are private places to join with those type of facilities. In Summit there are pools at a big YMCA and The Connection in downtown. We belong to Lifetime in Florham Park for their pool. Others belong to JCC In West Orange. There are outdoor pools open in the summer months in each town, and many options for kids sports in town. I know the area well so happy to answer any Qs.