Money Mag-3 Philly burbs in top 15 Best Places to Live (Philadelphia: high crime, home)

[rainrock]

Top 100 places to live in the usa.


Best Places to Live 2007 - Money Magazine

9.Nether Providence (Delaware County)
12.West Goshen (Chester County)
15.Horsham (Montgomery County)

I personally prefer their bigger better neighbors Media-West Chester and Doylestown but all 3 of Money Magazines picks are nice communities nonetheless.

[Duderino]

Suburban Philadelphia was well represented. Not surprised, though -- we have some gorgeous towns and communities in this area.

[rainrock]

If you gave me a list of 50 towns in the Philadelphia suburbs I personally would have ranked those 3 somewhere in the mid to late 20's. How they arbitrarily came up with Nether Providence-West Goshen-Horsham as 3 of the top 15 towns in the usa is pretty wild.

[Icy Tea]

I was surprised to see Emmaus make the top 100 list, which is some good news for the Allentown area.

[L.K.]

This was very interesting for me.I spent countless hours researching areas to live for our move to Pa.We decided on Doylestown for the town,schools,commute to NJ.Where did we move from?-Middleton,Wi.Not surprised to find that the #1 place to live,it was wonderful!But so far[it's been 5 weeks] we like Doylestown also.Things are different,but the reason we moved is quality of family life,and that we got! People here have been very nice,for the most part.We had no fewer than 10 neighbors come over to welcome us/bring us baskets of goodies and information about the area.So far,so good!

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by L.K.

This was very interesting for me.I spent countless hours researching areas to live for our move to Pa.We decided on Doylestown for the town,schools,commute to NJ.Where did we move from?-Middleton,Wi.Not surprised to find that the #1 place to live,it was wonderful!But so far[it's been 5 weeks] we like Doylestown also.Things are different,but the reason we moved is quality of family life,and that we got! People here have been very nice,for the most part.We had no fewer than 10 neighbors come over to welcome us/bring us baskets of goodies and information about the area.So far,so good!

Middleton Wi. #1. Nice going.

Good luck in Doylestown.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by Duderino

Suburban Philadelphia was well represented. Not surprised, though -- we have some gorgeous towns and communities in this area.

Yes. Philadelphia area as a whole seems to get overlooked. When I'm out of town- people ask where I'm from- when I telll them Philadephia I get this odd almost sympathetic look from them. Its my perception that most outsiders think the Philadlephia area is just a rundown,dying-rust belt area. Lets face it the ride up up I-95 through Chester + SW Philly isn't a good one. Nor is the ride down 95 through North Philly.The train lines go through some really decrepid areas of Philly as well.Add in the murder spike. You can see where the causual tourist going from DC to NY wouldn't be impressed with their sites but thats only 5% of the total area.


The good news is that causes Center City and the suburbs to be affordable hidden gems.If Nether Providence were 6 miles west of NYC,LA,SF,Bos or DC the average home would cost $900,000 instead of $300,000.

[toobusytoday]

According to the Morning Call, this is the first year that Money magazine looked at towns under 15,000 and more then 7500. That makes a difference - most of our Lehigh Valley towns wouldn't even qualify to be considered and this is the first time Emmaus could be in the running. Yay for Emmaus!

Money magazine ranks Emmaus as the 87th best place to live in America... -- themorningcall.com

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by rainrock

Yes. Philadelphia area as a whole seems to get overlooked. When I'm out of town- people ask where I'm from- when I telll them Philadephia I get this odd almost sympathetic look from them. Its my perception that most outsiders think the Philadlephia area is just a rundown,dying-rust belt area. Lets face it the ride up up I-95 through Chester + SW Philly isn't a good one. Nor is the ride down 95 through North Philly.The train lines go through some really decrepid areas of Philly as well.Add in the murder spike. You can see where the causual tourist going from DC to NY wouldn't be impressed with their sites but thats only 5% of the total area.


The good news is that causes Center City and the suburbs to be affordable hidden gems.If Nether Providence were 6 miles west of NYC,LA,SF,Bos or DC the average home would cost $900,000 instead of $300,000.

I agree with you completely, and the overall perception of Philly is largely unfair. I just got back from a weekend in NYC, and while Manhattan is mostly well-kept, upscale, and very vibrant, I saw plenty of blight in Brooklyn -- and that's not even considered the most downtrodden area. I'm a student in DC, and I can attest to the fact that blight exists there, too. Outside of the Northwestern quadrant, there's ghettos galore. I feel as though New York and Washington are just ahead of the curve in terms of investment and gentrification, and the lower cost-of-living will continue to create a positive trend for Philly. 10 to 15 years ago, NYC and DC were in the exact same boat as Philadelphia -- high crime/murder rates and lots of blight -- but both cities took action to clean up their act and attract urban professionals with higher incomes. Although Philly has a long road ahead, I think the gentrification trend is just beginning.

[Icy Tea]

Montgomery County is a top 20 county in the nation for personal income. That's pretty impressive, ranking it with counties like Westchester NY. Making it more impressive is you have cities in it like Pottstown and Norristown which are not affluent. There are some truly rich people living in Montgomery County. I read that a firm's CEO moved his headquarters from CC Philly to Montgomery County just to be nearer to his mansion and to save a few million in wage taxes. Now that's using the old noodle.