Berks County Anyone? What's it like (Allentown, Reading: best schools, quality of life, living in)

[TristansMommy]

Hi.. I've been away from these boards for awhile, but I'm back again doing my research.

So.. can anyone tell me about Berks County? What's it like, where are the best schools in the county etc. I'm from LI originally and we're looking for a new place to settle. Cost of living is way too high here.

And speaking of.. what can you tell me about cost of living and quality of life.

Thanks everyone for your help in advance.

[KevinE]

There are a few nice towns: Kutztown, Oley, Wernersville ... and well that's about it. Reading is a ghetto and it's surrounding suburbs are getting a large influx of Hispanics. Though Reading does have the best restaurants in the county.

Hamburg, Fleetwood at their core are run down blue collar towns. Womelsdorf , Topton and Robesonia lack amenities.

Sprawl is all over the county and the roads are strained as a result.

What else ... The diners are pretty terrible for the most part.

[jmlgal]

DO you know anything about Barto and its surrounding areas? Is the area safe etc.?

[Joe84323]

Barto is like a little farmy town. You're safe from everything but manure.

[scottrpriester]

Originally Posted by KevinE

There are a few nice towns: Kutztown, Oley, Wernersville ...

If you are mentioning Wernersville, wouldn't West Lawn also be in that area? If so, I totally fell in love with that community.

[NYMD67]

We just moved to the area a few months ago. My husband's job took us here and I have to admit that I was a little hesitant about being near the Reading area, having only been told negative things on this board.
It is true,that Reading isn't exactly a place I would spend a lot of time, but there are things to offer in the city itself and certainly there are really nice suburbs.

After doing much research, we are now living in a very nice area in Sinking Spring and we are in the Wilson School District. I think if you do research you will find that this is one of the BEST if not the BEST in Berks county.
We are close to shopping,and all the conveniences you could want, except for a good mall!
The mall here is fine to do "everyday" type shopping,but King Of Prussia is the closest large mall to the area.
We are close to Hershey,Lancaster,outlet shopping,etc....
The area seems extremely family oriented and again,although Reading itself is not a great place, I don't think it is any different than any other city of it's size.
There is crime-yes,but overall, the area is a nice place to be.

We found this website; schoolmatters.com to be helpful to us when looking at school districts but hopefully there will be others on this thread that will have other positive things to say as well.
Other decent school districts here would be; Wyomissing and Govenor Mifflin.

Good Luck to you & your family.

[CosmicWizard]

Consider the Boyertown area. B-town is a small town located along the Berks-Montgomery border. It's any easy drive to either Pottstown or Reading for more expansive shopping options, and even Allentown in Lehigh county is only about 45 minutes away. B-town is also one of the better school districts in Berks. If you have a son who plays baseball, he'll love being part of Boyertowns winning baseball tradition. If he plays other sports, he may not like if as much.