Lehigh Valley/Philadelphia demarcation line? (Allentown, Reading: 2013, income, living in)

[JohnZ963]

To me, it feels like the Lehigh Valley starts on the southern edge of Quakertown and the townships with Quakertown mailing addresses (Richland, etc.)

[Kefir King]

A Metropolitan area is defined mainly by it's capability as a JOB ENGINE. Thus New York with its immense financial industry attracts daily commuters from 3 states.
Washington DC is also an immense job engine called the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and draws workers 100 miles a day.

But Philadelphia is no such job engine. I have been a long time away from the ABE area but I saw NOBODY doing a daily commute to his job in Phillly. The job engine in the Lehigh Valley was the Lehigh Valley with Beth Steel, Mack Truck, Western Electric (AT&T), clothing manufacturing (a LONG time ago) colleges and universities.

The demise of many of these jobs has caused the LV to slide into the economic dark ages but STILL jobs in Philly have not taken up that slack.

So no, any concept of a "Greater Philadelphia" extending beyond Doylestown (as Julian said) seems silly.

[toobusytoday]

How can you SEE who commutes to Philadelphia? Not them I'm disagreeing, but the visual is not there. Lehigh Valley's job engines are our hospitals, Air Products and PPL.

Lehigh Valley Association of REALTORS® Consumer - LVAR Consumers - About the Lehigh Valley

The steel closed quite a while ago so hopefully those workers have re-trained, retired or moved.

As all of us that live here have said, we're A-ok with not being part of any other metro area.

[Jonnno]

So many people have moved into the LV recently from metro NY and northern NJ that whatever ties the LV has to Philadelphia have been weakened in my opinion. To me the LV is a separate entity with some ties to Phila (mainly sports related and TV channels) but not many more than it has with NY/NJ. For example, there is much better public transportation service between the LV and NYC than between the LV and Phila. If people in the LV want a big city experience they are more apt to go to NYC than Phila.

To me the Phila metro ends around Montgomeryville / Landsdale / Doylestown with everything between there and the LV being kind of a no mans land beonging to neither Phila nor the LV.

[mancat100]

Don't all of the "official" people/agencies consider ALL of Bucks and Montgomery counties to be part of The Philadelphia metro?

[Jonnno]

Agreed. I think demographers and government agencies tend to follow county lines when mapping metro areas because it is convenient but it is hard for me to think of northern Bucks Co. (i.e. Quakertown) as part of greater Philadelphia

[julian17033]

I know several people who live in Quakertown who commute to the Lehigh Valley for work.

During the holidays most of them went to the Lehigh Valley Mall and other stores on Mac Arther instead of driving all the way down to Philly.

Like has been said before Quakertown is in a no mans land concerning claiming itself belonging to Philly or the LV.

I would think if you could poll the residents of Quakertown I bet you would see the majority of them having to work out of town working in the LV due to distance and size.

[loose cannon]

Who gives a hoot! This territorial nonsense is something I do not subscribe to. This is the way it is. 60 miles from Philly, 90 miles from NYC. Enjoy your area and keep an eye on your closeby neighbors.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by Jonnno

Agreed. I think demographers and government agencies tend to follow county lines when mapping metro areas because it is convenient but it is hard for me to think of northern Bucks Co. (i.e. Quakertown) as part of greater Philadelphia

I made it to Ambler/Horsham to Quakertown in 20 minutes. Eventhough Quakertown/Philadelphia may appear distant and opposite I would assume that Quakertown has a very close association with its Bucks County neighbors to the south. Which puts its in the Philadelphia metropolitan zone imo.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by julian17033

I know several people who live in Quakertown who commute to the Lehigh Valley for work.

During the holidays most of them went to the Lehigh Valley Mall and other stores on Mac Arther instead of driving all the way down to Philly.

Like has been said before Quakertown is in a no mans land concerning claiming itself belonging to Philly or the LV.

I would think if you could poll the residents of Quakertown I bet you would see the majority of them having to work out of town working in the LV due to distance and size.

The Philadephia area has a much greater force of energy though, gravitational pull if you will. Its 6x- 7x the size of the LV. By that fact alone I would say Quakertown area gets sucked into the Philadelphia metro.