What's Up in Eastern PA???? (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: transplants, crime rate, how much)

[1rosyrosu]

My husband and I fit the bill entirely. We both come from NY, haved moved to and haved lived in Bergen County NJ for 7 years and are now retired. We are considering moving to an active adult 55 plus community somewhere in eastern PA. As like most other NY/NJers, we would like to stay close to the NJ/PA area.

It seems like PA, in general, has a pretty high crime rate. We both like the trees and birds and all that stuff. Since we're not getting any younger, good hospitals are important to us too. We've also heard that Allentown, Bethlehem and Lehigh Valley, in general are fairly depressed areas. Please let me know your comments on any of the issues I brought up above. Please let me know if I forgot to bring up other issues. ANY info you can give us would be extremely helpful!!!!!!!!!!

[Dawne]

Compared to NY and NJ, PA's crime rate is nonexistent!! Seriously, the big cities - Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, W-B/Scranton, Reading, etc. - will skew the overall PA results. Just like not all of NY is like NYC or not all of NJ is like [insert city with high crime here], all of PA is not high crime. I live in central PA but am familiar with the ABE (Allentown/Bethlehem/Easton) areas. Back in Billy Joel's heyday they were depressed, but there is a revitalization boom through the Commonwealth. You'll have to visit different areas, find one you like and contact a realtor there, who can give you local, more personalized information. It's a big decision as to where to settle in your retirement, so I wish you luck. There are many nice places to live in PA, and I hope you find the one that's just right for you.

[peterryan]

The lehigh Valley has a number of excellent 55+ communities...more being developed every year. The health care is excellent, proximity to services (ie. food, entertainment, shopping, outdoors, etc.) is better than excellent, and, having lived here most of my 47 years, relatively safe...I've never locked a door. There are numerous colleges and universities in the area offering cultural activities as well as classes for seniors. There exists a thriving arts community....hope this helps.

[bamboosmom]

Yes, there are some areas of NEPA that have problems, just like any place else.

Monroe County has alot of congestion and alot of folks from NY/NJ are there.
If you go an hour 1/2 north of there, you will find peace and tranquility.


You really need to go and look around for yourself then you can make a better decision.

[mathjak107]

we are looking into golden oaks in white haven, carbon county .. very nice 55+

[jackooboy]

Lancaster County PA... 18 safest MSA in the U.S. Good hospitals and active 55+ living communities.

[1rosyrosu]

Thank you all for your replies. You've put me a little more at ease with my thoughts on PA. To be honest, most of my bad vibes re PA came from reading other people's thoughts on PA. In fact, I've read some that say it can be very difficult for NY/NJers to make friends in NE PA because this area is becoming what New Jersey is to New Yorkers and the natives are resenting it badly. It was said that the natives are blaming the 'transplants' for raising taxes, house prices, etc.

Another issue is, (and please don't think I split a wire) another issue is tornadoes. My research shows that this area in PA can be pretty prone to tornadoes. In NY or NJ, I've never been ----- let's say the closest I've been to a tornado has been on TV. Pretty sheltered I know but that's the way it was. I can't imagine how these poor people in Florida are living from year to year knowing that the next hurricane can come knocking at their door or rather knocking their door (amongst other things) down.

You've all mentioned that we must go and look for ourselves and we do plan to do this. I, for one, need to get my retirement officially over and done with for starters and then we plan to start the exploration.

Since we are seriously thinking about moving to PA, I thought I'd do some paper searching, so to speak, before we actually got in the car.

For starters, I'm going to look up Golden Oaks (Thanks Mathjak107) and thanks too Jackooboy for mentioning that Lancaster has good hospitals. It's also great to know that you can still leave your doors open in some places. I also will definitely look into the 'revitalization' of ABE as I recently spoke to someone who used to live in this area. She's the person who said this area was quite depressed when she lived here -- which wasn't too long ago.

Thank you all again so much for your replies. If any additional info comes to your mind or if anyone else has ANYTHING to add, I will keep looking in this forum and I will be more than happy to consider anyone's thoughts or opinions.

[1rosyrosu]

Hi folks. I made a boo boo with my last post. I called it What's up in NE Pa. I wanted to say, What's up in Eastern Pa. What I really should have said is, We're thinking of retiring to PA --- Help!!!!!

[atmilling]

Does anyone know anything about Schnabels Woods just outside of Quakertown? It is a 180 day community. We live in Mexico in the winter and it sounds great but we don't know anything about it but what the say on the web site. Could someone fill us in. We are both early 60s and artists who love nature.
ATM

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by 1rosyrosu

My husband and I fit the bill entirely. We both come from NY, haved moved to and haved lived in Bergen County NJ for 7 years and are now retired. We are considering moving to an active adult 55 plus community somewhere in eastern PA. As like most other NY/NJers, we would like to stay close to the NJ/PA area.

It seems like PA, in general, has a pretty high crime rate. We both like the trees and birds and all that stuff. Since we're not getting any younger, good hospitals are important to us too. We've also heard that Allentown, Bethlehem and Lehigh Valley, in general are fairly depressed areas. Please let me know your comments on any of the issues I brought up above. Please let me know if I forgot to bring up other issues. ANY info you can give us would be extremely helpful!!!!!!!!!!

It's important to understand that, like many other states, PA has drastically different types of areas in which to reside in terms of the rural/suburban/urban. That will be a huge factor in crime rates, and there has already been mention of the fact that the larger cities skew the crime rate. (The same could probably said for NJ when accounting for, say, Newark and Camden). The Lehigh Valley (Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton area) has definitely been revived over the past decade with tons of new development for both housing and business. Also, speaking of good hospitals, the Lehigh Valley Hospital is regarded as top-notch. Philadelphia & Lancaster areas both have excellent hospitals, as well. It really all depends on how much you're willing to put out for housing costs and your desired proximity to New Jersey. Hope that helps!