Advice on PA Move (Philadelphia, Allentown: homes, school districts, college)

[jad454]

Hi...Very new to the board....Just found it...I am looking for advice on moving to Pa from Long Island. I am married with one child and looking for a nicer place to raise my family. My wife and I recently visited the Harrisburgh area (suburbs) and fell in love with the homes and people there. We were in the Boiling Springs area and we're interested in places similiar to that. We are not dead set on the Harrisburgh region, I was just using that as an example since its the only part of the state I have visited. Sorry. I am a Network Engineer by trade and need to know where the best oppurtunities are for someone in the Computer industry. Please keep in mind I have a child so schools are very important to us as well as quality of life and an over all good community. Sorry so long. Thanks!

[CaptainObvious]

Tons of places to choose from...I'd find the job first, and go house-hunting later. It can be quite difficult the other way around.

Having said that, I have always been partial to the I-81 and PA-283 corridors...from Harrisburg to Chambersburg and from Harrisburg to Lancaster respectively. The Boiling Springs area is quite nice and is close to the area I am talking about. Again, I think the job should come first, but I'll throw some towns out there for you to check out...

Mechanicsburg, Carlisle, Shippensburg, Chambersburg, Gettysburg, Hershey, Elizabethtown,, Lancaster, Lititz. I've lived all over the great state of PA and those are some of my favorite areas.

The area the previous poster speaks of- Easton- and that whole area near the Northeast Extension of the Turnpike- has some nice areas around, but is probably less like Boiling Springs than the areas I mentioned. It is a bit more industrial and less rural in places.

Captain

[toobusytoday]

Ahem, The Olympus Center is not in Bethlehem, it's in Center Valley , about five minutes from Allentown, about 15 minutes from Bethlehem.

Other techy companies are Lutron in Coopersburg and Agere and Lucent. Here is a link to the top 25 companies in the Lehigh Valley: LVAR - Top 25 Lehigh Valley Employers

[llzpa]

Mechanicsburg is about 10-15 minutes outside of Boiling Springs. Mechanicsburg has two school districts, Cumberland Valley and Mechanicsburg School Districts. I can't speak for Mechanicsburg School District, but Cumberland Valley is very good. The Mechanicsburg area is growing and there are a lot of new stores, etc. going in. The other great thing about the Mechanicsburg area is that it is only about 10-15 minutes to get to Harrisburg and about an hour and half to Philadelphia and Baltimore. I have lived here for about 31 years minus college in the Baltimore area. I came back to this area after college and it has been a wonderful place to raise a family. As for jobs...check out PennLive.com: Everything Local. It is the website for the Patriot News, the local newspaper. Please let me know if you have any questions.

[p.a.gal]

I agree with the poster who said find the job first, then a place to live. I grew up in Carlisle and had a parent who taught at the Boiling Springs High school for 20 or so years; I graduated from Carlisle and my ex graduated from BSHS so am familiar with both. Carlisle is the "city" to Boiling Springs--both are lovely with good schools and not as many issues as urban areas. You will find a wide variety of folks in each school district from children of professionals (not much choice in private schools so most do attend public) to what we unkindly referred to as hicks or redneck greasers and plenty of those in-between. You probably can't go wrong choosing either school district.

[jad454]

Thank You very much for the replies. I definitely plan on getting a job before the big move. We really love PA and at this point we're trying to get an idea if it is financially possible for us to live there.
Again thanks so much for the replies.