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Hi all! We recently moved to the Philly area and are renting while we look for a house. My spouse works in NE Philly (by the small NE Philly airport) and I'm considering a job at the University of Pennsylvania. I'm wondering where people who know the area would suggest living (in the suburbs) if we need to commute to those two places? We'd both like to keep our commutes to within a half hour if we can. We're willing to drive or take public transportation, whichever is easiest and quickest. We just don't want to waste away tons of time in traffic every day.
We have two young children, so living somewhere with a great public school district is crucial. We'd like to live somewhere with a strong community feel, many family-oriented amenities (pools, parks, etc.), and a nice walkable downtown if possible. We're looking to spend around $450k on a house. And we'd be willing to consider PA or NJ--whichever gets us what we're looking for.
Please let me know what you think fits this bill. Thanks!
It's kind of hard to split that commute equally, it would tend to be biased one way or the other. Cherry Hill area suburbs like Cherry Hill, Haddonfield, Haddon Twp., Voorhees, etc. would afford easy access to PATCO if the UPenn commuter wanted to take public transit (though you would have to switch to SEPTA in Philly). It would also be an easier drive for the UPenn commuter as you could take Walt Whitman to I76 and then get off at University Ave and be right there. Getting to the NE would be harder as you would need to take 130 or 73 up the Tacony Bridge and then get to work from there. Total drive for UPenn would be around 30-45 minutes depending on origin and traffic. The train would probably take around 45 minutes. The person going to the NE would be looking at around 45+.
Biasing to the Moorestown area, Moorestown, Cinnaminson, Mt. Laurel, Marlton would drop the commute time to the NE by say 15 minutes, but add that to the UPenn trip.
Either area has a lot of what you are looking for, you just need to pick which person is going to have the longer commute. Personally if transit can work for the UPenn person, I would bias to the Cherry Hill area do to the ease of getting to PATCO and that the trip to the NE isn't too bad. If you go with the Moorestown area, the trip to UPenn becomes a lot tougher as it would require multiple transit changes RiverLine to PATCO to SEPTA and the drive going that way is much tougher.
Thanks for your thoughts on the commute! I see the PATCO stops in Haddonfield. Is that the station you'd have to use from any of these towns we're talking about? Or is there another(s) stop closer to some of the other towns you've mentioned? And how's parking at the PATCO stations?
And how would you compare the public schools in these areas? I heard Burlington County schools are better than Camden County. Is that a fair analysis?
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Originally Posted by ta_harvey
Thanks for your thoughts on the commute! I see the PATCO stops in Haddonfield. Is that the station you'd have to use from any of these towns we're talking about? Or is there another(s) stop closer to some of the other towns you've mentioned? And how's parking at the PATCO stations?
And how would you compare the public schools in these areas? I heard Burlington County schools are better than Camden County. Is that a fair analysis?
I lived in Cherry Hill & used the Westmont station because there is more parking space there.
Schools are town by town, for the most part. There are good, bad, & indifferent in both counties, so I don't agree with you on your analysis of the schools.
No, that is not a fair analysis. Schools in NJ are not by county, they are by school district which usually coincides with townships or boroughs. Haddonfield has its own school district, Cherry Hill has its own, etc.
Your best bet if one person works in NE Phila and one in University City is to live in PA suburbs near NE Phila and take SEPTA regional rail to UPenn. While I don't know which suburbs are better in that area, some might be Jenkintown, Huntingdon Valley, etc. Living in NJ would require expensive $5 toll (or $2 toll on Tacony-Palmyra Bridge) and PATCO requires an annoying transfer to SEPTA to get to UPenn (although the drive to UPenn from S. Jersey is not bad). If you live far enough north in South Jersey to make it a reasonable commute to NE Philadelphia, the commute to UPenn is bad though (I am talking from Cinnaminson, Delran, etc... too far to Univ. City for my tastes)
No, that is not a fair analysis. Schools in NJ are not by county, they are by school district which usually coincides with townships or boroughs. Haddonfield has its own school district, Cherry Hill has its own, etc.
Your best bet if one person works in NE Phila and one in University City is to live in PA suburbs near NE Phila and take SEPTA regional rail to UPenn. While I don't know which suburbs are better in that area, some might be Jenkintown, Huntingdon Valley, etc. Living in NJ would require expensive $5 toll (or $2 toll on Tacony-Palmyra Bridge) and PATCO requires an annoying transfer to SEPTA to get to UPenn (although the drive to UPenn from S. Jersey is not bad). If you live far enough north in South Jersey to make it a reasonable commute to NE Philadelphia, the commute to UPenn is bad though (I am talking from Cinnaminson, Delran, etc... too far to Univ. City for my tastes)
I think that's the best suggestion overall. I also don't know enough to recommend specific towns, but basing near the NE airport in general and then using regional rail to get to UPenn is the best (and cheapest) commute situation.
On PATCO, there are multiple stops all along the route from Camden to Lindenwold, of which Haddonfield is just one. There is also a stop in Collingswood and one in Westmont and then a major hub at Woodcrest (right off 295 in Cherry Hill), a smaller station at Ashland in Voorhees and then another major hub in Lindenwold on the Voorhees border. Which is best all depends on where you are coming from.
As for the schools, there is a mix and as others said it goes town by town. There are districts in Camden County that are just as good and in some cases better than districts in Burlington County. For instance, some of the best school districts in Camden County are Cherry Hill, Haddon Twp., Haddonfield and Voorhees. These stack up well against districts in Burlington County like Cinnaminson, Moorestown, Malrton, Mt. Laurel and Medford.
Don't even consider the schools in Philly. The catholic schools are broke and closing, the Philly schools are like Afghanistan and the charter schools are ok but you won't find near the sports, activity and safety that you would find in NJ schools. If you have kids, then the taxes in NJ DO pay off.
There are suburban school districts in Bucks County, you know.
It just doesn't make sense for the OP to live in NJ when the commute would be easier and cheaper from Bensalem and surrounding areas, unless they found a house they really liked in NJ or whatever.
All true but the commute from Haddonfield or Collingswood would be easier than the horrible trip down I-95 south or the expressway everyday. The PATCO runs every 6 minutes in the morning.
I'm from Philly and think their burbs are great but the commute into the city is not always predictable.
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