Relocating and need help! LeHigh County vs. Bucks County (Philadelphia: school districts, income)

[Jmarieturner]

Originally Posted by blazerj

My suggestion is to look within the following school districts (these are not ordered, but all are districts are solid). In addition, they are all close to 78 to get to EWR or Bridgewater.

Nazareth Area: Wegmans, Target, Wall-Mart complex is great. There is also a Lowe's Best Buy within 5 minutes and the Lehigh Valley Mall is 10-15 minutes away. The shopping by airport road is great.

Okay- Nazareth. I've heard good things about the schools and we saw some houses we liked online, but then we saw all these mines all around? Is there better areas to be in? How does the feel compare to Southern Lehigh School District areas?

This stuff is great guys- you are really helping us a ton!

[blazerj]

I just moved to Lower Nazareth from Center Valley. I think both areas are nice and you can't really go wrong. Maybe it just comes down to which area has the house that you want to live in.

In terms of school district ratings, I believe Southern Lehigh is ranked a bit higher, but from my research, they seem about equal. Actually, I think all of the non-urban districts in the Lehigh Valley are all about equal (people like to place one above others, but it's just nitpicking).

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by Jmarieturner

Okay- Nazareth. I've heard good things about the schools and we saw some houses we liked online, but then we saw all these mines all around? Is there better areas to be in? How does the feel compare to Southern Lehigh School District areas?

This stuff is great guys- you are really helping us a ton!

There are six municipalities that send their kids to Nazareth Area School District.

Median value-owner occupied homes (2006-2010)
The boroughs of Nazareth, Stockertown, Tatamy.
$192,200 Nazareth
$214,900 Stockertown
$227,000 Tatamy

Townships of Upper Nazareth, Lower Nazareth, and Bushkill.
$289,600 Bushkill (2,927 homes in 2010)
$256,600 Upper Nazareth (2,025 homes in 2010)
$319,300 Lower Nazareth (2,079 homes in 2010)

Lower Nazareth is the most prosperous partly because it has the best access to roads, stores, and the airports. Many of the homes in Bethlehem Township near the country club are also very nice, but they are not part of the Nazareth Area School District.

The school districts can be confusing since the high schools are so close. Easton High School is across the Street from Wilson High School. Another 3 miles down the road is Notre Dame High School. Only 2 miles further is Freedom High School (the Bethlehem Township High School as one of two in the Bethlehem Area School District). Nazareth High school and Middle school are in the borough of Nazareth.

Lower Nazareth has maybe 5 restaurants, including the landmark Newburgh Inn (1750), but it's primarily an affluent bedroom community where you drive to another municipality nearly every time you get in a car.

However, the nicest homes are "executive style" (large and new and almost always colonials). In Saucon Valley you will find those homes, but also find the executive homes but mixed in you will find the homes of the very wealthy often with more architectural distinction.

The best known resident of Nazareth has always been Mario Andretti and his family (he lives in Bushkill).


The homes of the rich in Nazareth seem more inspired by the rococo period.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/BasilikaOttobeurenHauptschiff02.JPG


The homes of the rich in Saucon Valley are more subdued.
Mod cut - removed copyrighted graphics

[Jmarieturner]

Originally Posted by blazerj

I just moved to Lower Nazareth from Center Valley. I think both areas are nice and you can't really go wrong. Maybe it just comes down to which area has the house that you want to live in.

In terms of school district ratings, I believe Southern Lehigh is ranked a bit higher, but from my research, they seem about equal. Actually, I think all of the non-urban districts in the Lehigh Valley are all about equal (people like to place one above others, but it's just nitpicking).

When you were mentioning amenities and stores in Nazareth, you said Target and Wegmans, etc. but it looks like those are actually in Easton, is that right? Is that a bad area? It seems that I remember something about the High School there being bad and others had mentioned I should stay away from Easton.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by Jmarieturner

When you were mentioning amenities and stores in Nazareth, you said Target and Wegmans, etc. but it looks like those are actually in Easton, is that right? Is that a bad area? It seems that I remember something about the High School there being bad and others had mentioned I should stay away from Easton.

The three cities are Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton and they all have a core dominated by high levels of poverty, and violent crime. Of the three cities, Bethlehem's tough districts are the least violent. Like anywhere else, the city name lends itself to a postal area that is about three times the population of the city. An Easton address may easily refer to a region much bigger than the city.

The zip codes 18040, 18042, 18043, 18044, 18045 are all labelled "Easton". Wegman's is in the 18045 zip code. This is the primary upscale shopping district in Northampton County, so it is certainly not dangerous. Most of the shopping is in Lehigh County.

Lower Nazareth Commons is in the upper part of the map (with an arrow pointing to it).
Lower Nazareth Commons | Easton Retail Space for Rent and Restaurant Space for Lease

Despite having an Easton zip code, the shopping center is actually in Lower Nazareth Township, and defines the beginning of the Nazareth Area School District (NASD). You must look for houses to the West of that shopping district to be in the NASD. But you can see from the aerial shot that that region is dominated by undeveloped land. The housing is mostly new upscale developments. People enter route 33 by the shopping district resulting in that section of route 33 being one of the busier main arteries in the county.

Both Wilson and Easton High Schools are near the Kmart on opposite sides of the road. Notre Dame High School (A Catholic School) is under the sign that is marked Barne's and Noble (under the sign, not where the sign is pointing).

[Jmarieturner]

Originally Posted by PacoMartin

Despite having an Easton zip code, the shopping center is actually in Lower Nazareth Township, and defines the beginning of the Nazareth Area School District (NASD). You must look for houses to the West of that shopping district to be in the NASD. But you can see from the aerial shot that that region is dominated by undeveloped land. The housing is mostly new upscale developments. People enter route 33 by the shopping district resulting in that section of route 33 being one of the busier main arteries.

Gotcha. Being a CA girl living in TX- I am totally new to the idea of a township. It's a little confusing to sort out overlapping school districts/townships/cities.

Is the area near route 33 bad enough to avoid the surrounding area? Did I read something about the road being especially dangerous?

[Blueinterceptor]

Hello, I have read about your plight and will offer my 2 cents. I have been looking into moving into Pa as well. I have been researching this move for about 7 months now. I looked at areas in Easton,Nazareth, macungie and upper saucon.
Easton has some shady parts to it, Nazareth looked better. Macungie and upper saucon are about the same. The crime stats for upper saucon and macungie are at a 12 crimes per 100000 people. The national average is 100. Rape and murder are non existent. Median income is about 90000 where the pa average is much less. The schools are rated as top notch. The people living in the 2 communities I looked at work in the lehigh valley medical center. They are medical professionals.
I looked Wikipedia and several other info sources to guide my decision. I have decided to build a new house in the area and it will have public water, sewer and natural gas service. My house price will be about 450k if I don't go crazy on options.
Good luck in your search.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by Jmarieturner

Gotcha. Being a CA girl living in TX- I am totally new to the idea of a township. It's a little confusing to sort out overlapping school districts/townships/cities.

Is the area near route 33 bad enough to avoid the surrounding area? Did I read something about the road being especially dangerous?

Pennsylvania is the "Holy Roman Empire" of local governments. It has far more municipal governments than any other state in the USA (by a large percentage).

That one section of road is very busy with an average annual daily traffic rating of 56900.

56900 Route 33 Nazareth Commons Shopping Center (route 248) to route 22 (constructed 1972)
44500 Route 33 From route 22 to Interstate 78 (constructed 2002)
33200 Route 33 North of Nazareth Commons to Monroe County (constructed 1964-1969)
45700-38800 Route 22 from route 33 to NJ border (constructed 1952-1954)
66100-67700 Route 22 from route 33 to Airport Road (constructed 1952-1954)
81800-86300 Route 22 from Airport Road to Lehigh Mall (constructed 1952-1954)
53800 Interstate 78 from route 33 to NJ border
59700 Interstate 78 from route 33 to Lehigh County

The busiest route in the county is route 22 from Airport rd crossing the bridge over Lehigh River to the shopping malls in Whitehall. The road is seriously stressed, and will require massive work including modifying bridges overpasses and adding an extra line. I wouldn't put this stretch on my commute without inviting trouble.

[scottyarndt]

I'd stay out of the lower east part of Nazareth and all of Tatamy and Stockertown. This area, mainly Tatamy, has a history of sink holes. Going north of Nazareth into Bushkill township you could find some nice homes. It is part of the Nazareth school district and easy access to RT33. It is also in Northampton county which has a great community college. I would highly recommend that school to any planning on sending their kids to college.

Plainfield Township and into Wind Gap and Pen Argyl to the northeast of Nazareth may offer some good real estate value with homes less expensive than, but not as fancy as some in Bushkill township.

Or going west of Allentown in to the parkland school district. It is part of Lehigh county which has a good high school vocational technical program located on Lehigh county community college campus.

All areas mentioned are good. A lot would depend on your social economic ranking and which class you feel comfortable in.

[blazerj]

Originally Posted by Jmarieturner

When you were mentioning amenities and stores in Nazareth, you said Target and Wegmans, etc. but it looks like those are actually in Easton, is that right? Is that a bad area? It seems that I remember something about the High School there being bad and others had mentioned I should stay away from Easton.

Sorry for the super late reply, but we choose to stay out of the easton area school district, although that area of easton is really nice. The shopping is in easton, but that is a very suburban area which was built up relatively recently.