A convenient apartment location can make your life a lot easier. Consider each of these factors when you’re deciding where to live, and you’re likely to choose a neighborhood that meets your needs.

Business or pleasure?
Depending on your occupation, proximity to work can be the most important factor in choosing where to live. If you plan to work for the same company for a while, an apartment close to your office is a smart choice. A short commute means less stress, and less money spent on gas and car maintenance.

On the other hand, if work is just the way you pay the bills or if you’re likely to switch jobs, you might want your home base to be closer to your social life. You might be happier living close to the rock climbing club you go to every night.

Hitting the books
For most students, the priority is school. Class schedules are less consistent than work schedules, so there will be gaps of activity on many weekdays. Living close to campus provides the opportunity to go home and study, grab a quick meal, or just decompress on the couch whenever you want.

Students who choose a neighborhood far from school are forced to stay on campus for long stretches between classes. And leaving a book or an important paper at home is frustrating when you can’t make a quick trip back to get it.

Friends and family
If you spend most of your free time with the same group of friends or family members, moving closer to them would probably make life easier. Why drive across town several times a week when you could save time and gas just walking?

It helps to have people you trust close by in case of emergency. If you like to travel, it’s nice to know someone is there to feed your cat and keep an eye on things for you. And if you have young nieces or nephews, living near them means you’ll get to see them more often. If family time is a priority, proximity to your kin should be a major factor in choosing your apartment location.

Traffic concerns
Before you choose an apartment location, take some time to drive through your prospective neighborhood during peak traffic times so you’ll know what you’re in for if you move there. You just might find that traffic patterns make it possible for you to drive against traffic to and from work, turning an out-of-the-way apartment community into a very convenient location. However, you may also find that traffic is such a bear during rush hour that it takes 15 minutes to make a left hand turn into your apartment community. No matter how close that apartment community is located to all of your usual haunts, it could be frustrating if traffic limits access to your apartment when you really need to get in and out.

General convenience
Keep in mind that the best place to live might not be the closest to any specific place, but the most convenient to everything in general. Consider every place you go in a typical week. If you took a city map and circled all those spots, would they have anything in common? Sometimes a particular highway or subway station is the common factor, in which case the most convenient location for you is an apartment near that area.

Don’t neglect the importance of convenient shopping areas either. You’ll need to eat, have your clothes dry cleaned, and go to the doctor at some point, so choose a neighborhood that’s close to all the shops and services you use on a regular basis. If you scope out a neighborhood and the nearest grocery store is 20 minutes away, you might want to look for a more convenient location.

The key thing to remember when you choose an apartment location is that the most convenient spot for you may not be the most convenient spot for someone else. Consider your own special habits and needs, and you’ll pinpoint the best neighborhood.