POLL: Are You Generally Content Living in NEPA? (Philadelphia, Scranton: environment, income)

[ScranBarre]

I got the idea for this poll after seeing a similar thread on the Wisconsin forum. I'm curious to know if you are more or less "happy" living here in NEPA, and whether or not you are a native or newcomer to the region. Whether you are generally content or miserable living in NEPA, please provide your reasons for feeling as you do. I just think it would be interesting to see how many folks like living here and how many folks are clawing to get out.

[ScranBarre]

I should also note that by "transplant," you should consider yourselves in this category if you were not a homegrown native of NEPA, even if you've lived here for the past 10, 20, or even 30 years or more.

[ScranBarre]

I'll start by saying that I am a lifelong native of NEPA, having spent the first 21 years of my life in Greater Pittston. I'm not at all content living in the municipality of Pittston Township per se, but overall I love the NEPA region. I love being within a three hour radius to New York City, Philadelphia, Atlantic City, Finger Lakes, Catskills, Harrisburg, Lancaster, State College, and various other points of interest. Our metropolitan area was recently named the 59th-safest in the nation, and other than a seemingly disproportionate number of cases of child and animal abuse, that is a ranking I am very proud of. Our four distinct seasons are truly something wonderful; people can take the incessant 80-degree weather and sunshine in the Sunbelt and shove it! People around here, while generally not friendly initially, really do warm up to you and treat you as family after a while. I love the fact that you can live in the heart of Scranton and be 15 minutes away from nature or live in a semi-rural area and be 15 minutes away from the city. I appreciate our relatively-low housing prices. I'm excited about the future of NEPA---Wall Street West, Commonwealth Medical College, the commuter train to NYC, the new science museum, the new law school, downtown revitalization initiatives in both Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, etc. I am floored by how interested and active our residents are in the political process. I love being able to visit Norman Rockwell towns like Tunkhannock, Honesdale, Jim Thorpe, and Lewisburg within a short drive. It is truly an honor to be home to roughly a dozen-and-a-half institutions of higher learning. Our hospitals are excellent.

Overall, I love living in NEPA. The narrow-mindedness and urban sprawl are turn-offs for me, but by and large the region gets a whopping B+ in my book.

[nocturnal rooster]

I hated it. Wages were terrible and everything was so expensive

[ontheroad]

What do you consider NEPA?

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by nocturnal rooster

I hated it. Wages were terrible and everything was so expensive

Really? I'm not going to attack you (or anyone else) for your honest opinions, as this is exactly the type of feedback I was hoping to elicit from folks, but what exactly was "expensive" about living here? Gasoline prices here are much higher than the state and national averages, and the residential property tax burden here is much higher than in many other parts of the country, but our housing prices are in-line with the rest of the nation---dirt cheap when compared to our neighbors in NJ, NY, and SEPA (and now even the increasingly-expensive Lehigh Valley as well). I find most local expenses to be in the "average" or "below-average" range.

As far as wages are concerned, I mentioned this in my new demographics thread (which apparently put everyone to sleep!), but wages are so supressed around here because the workforce is largely unskilled. A much, much lower percentage of our adults have educations beyond high school than the rest of the state and nation, so high-paying companies will be reluctant to come here for that reason. I'm not trying to sound snobbish at all here, but a lot of studies reinforce my claims that someone with a Bachelor's Degree earns much more over the course of their lifetimes than someone with only a high school diploma. Someone with a Ph.D. earns much more than someone with only a Bachelor's Degree over the course of their lifetimes. Studies have shown that if a region wants to increase its median household income, it must increase the skill level of its workforce to attract those higher-paying jobs. This is why so many of my friends are high-tailing it out of NEPA after college---the opportunities just aren't here for that very reason. This is why when you open up the Sunday "social" sections of local papers and read about newlywed couples, you'll see roughly 75% of the college graduate couples listed moving to NY, NJ, SEPA, MD, DC, VA, etc. The ones staying here don't have educations beyond high school, and therefore don't expect high wages. This isn't the NEPA of our parents when you could get a job at a local factory right after high school and live on easy street with $18/hr. wages and benefits (as we've seen with Techneglas and countless others that have shuttered their doors and left thousands of employees in distress). Now if you want to earn a wage like that, you'll more often than not have to go to college. Until locals can see a correlation existing between educational level and average salaries, NEPA won't be able to attract many high-paying jobs.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

What do you consider NEPA?

The following counties:

Bradford
Carbon
Columbia
Lackawanna
Luzerne
Monroe
Montour
Northumberland
Pike
Schuylkill
Sullivan
Susquehanna
Wayne (Where I think you live)
Wyoming

More or less it's the WNEP coverage area to the east of I-180. Just lop off Union, Snyder, Clinton, Centre, Lycoming, and Tioga Counties, as these are really bedrock Central PA. Heck, even Northumberland and Montour Counties are a bit of a stretch, but I've decided to include them.

[ontheroad]

Thanks for the explanation, SWB.

Yes, I live on the Wayne County border with Sullivan County.

It is very hard to relate to most of what is discussed here as after 3 months I still haven't gotten to Scranton (but I will soon, and not on a snowy day).

Thus far, I like it. I has some challenges here in rural Wayne, but sooner or later I'll overcome them.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by ScrantonWilkesBarre

The following counties:

Bradford
Carbon
Columbia
Lackawanna
Luzerne
Monroe
Montour
Northumberland
Pike
Schuylkill
Sullivan
Susquehanna
Wayne (Where I think you live)
Wyoming

More or less it's the WNEP coverage area to the east of I-180. Just lop off Union, Snyder, Clinton, Centre, Lycoming, and Tioga Counties, as these are really bedrock Central PA. Heck, even Northumberland and Montour Counties are a bit of a stretch, but I've decided to include them.

Major towns in this area include (but are not limited to):

Honesdale, Hawley, Waymart, Lake Ariel, Greentown, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton, Pittston, Nanticoke, Kingston, Dunmore, Clarks Summit, Carbondale, Tunkhannock, Montrose, Moscow, Towanda, Wyalusing, Dallas, Mountain Top, Milford, Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg, Mt. Pocono, Tobyhanna, Blakeslee, Brodheadsville, Tannersville, Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Weatherly, Lake Harmony, Albrightsville, Nesquehoning, Pottsville, Tamaqua, Minersville, Shenandoah, Mahanoy City, Frackville, Schuylkill Haven, McAdoo, Bloomsburg, Berwick, Benton, Catawissa, Laporte, Dushore, Eagle's Mere, Troy, Canton, Sayre, Athens, Mt. Carmel, Shamokin, Milton, Danville, Meshoppen, Archbald, Old Forge, Ashley, Nescopeck, White Haven, Bear Creek, Factoryville, Dalton...man there's a lot of towns around here!

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

Thanks for the explanation, SWB.

Yes, I live on the Wayne County border with Sullivan County.

It is very hard to relate to most of what is discussed here as after 3 months I still haven't gotten to Scranton (but I will soon, and not on a snowy day).

Thus far, I like it. I has some challenges here in rural Wayne, but sooner or later I'll overcome them.

NEPA is a geographically vast area. Scranton serves as the cultural hub for the region (Philharmonic, minor-league sports, airport, theater, malls, concerts, etc.), but if you have no need for "city" things like that, then it really isn't worth the roughly hour-long drive from where you live (unless you're genuinely curious about it). The beauty of NEPA is this sheer diversity in environments. I live in a typical cookie-cutter suburb about ten minutes from a city with some historic neighborhoods with grand old Victorians and Tudors. Ten minutes to my east will take me to the rural hinterlands between Thornhurst, PA and Dupont, PA, where you'll be lucky to see one other car every two or three minutes.

I've actually done photo tours of Callicoon, NY and Narrowsburg, NY, both of which are in your neck of the woods. I tried snapping some photos while driving through Damascus as well, but that didn't work too well with a jacked-up pick-up truck on my rear bumper. You live in a beautiful part of the state for sure. I can see why so many artists are starting to call that area home.

How much snow did you receive up there? I heard that Equinunk had 7 inches. We only had just under 3 inches at my home. This storm was a "dud" to me; it was supposed to be an all-day ice event, but it's been dry here now for nearly twelve hours. I see a very heavy band of precipitation is coming in from Western PA as we speak, but with temperatures in the upper-20s and rising, it might just be up and over the freezing mark by the time it gets here, making it plain old rain. I was hoping for a compressed schedule at my school in the morning, but I truly do doubt it now. Oh well! At least I still have Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters to look forward to soon!