Jobs in PA??? (Philadelphia, Allentown, Bethlehem: house prices, job market, safe neighborhoods)

[evelina420]

My fiance and I are both in our mid-to-late 20s and currently living in New York City. We're tired of city life and want to settle down in a nice, cozy town where we can raise kids and be surrounded by nature.
Pennsylvania seems great and the prices are affordable --- what are the best areas with house prices not higher than $350k/. We are looking for safe neighborhood, good schools.
Also, how do Pennsylvanians make money??? It seems that there are no good paying jobs in PA especially for someone like me - I'm in Marketing and my fiance is in banking...
Is this out of our reach or is this somethign feasable?
We're worried living in PA and commuting to work to NYC will be too time consuming and tiring but on the other hand no good jobs in PA....
Looking for real opinions of peopel who actually live that lifestyle...

[danwxman]

Originally Posted by evelina420

My fiance and I are both in our mid-to-late 20s and currently living in New York City. We're tired of city life and want to settle down in a nice, cozy town where we can raise kids and be surrounded by nature.
Pennsylvania seems great and the prices are affordable --- what are the best areas with house prices not higher than $350k/. We are looking for safe neighborhood, good schools.
Also, how do Pennsylvanians make money??? It seems that there are no good paying jobs in PA especially for someone like me - I'm in Marketing and my fiance is in banking...
Is this out of our reach or is this somethign feasable?
We're worried living in PA and commuting to work to NYC will be too time consuming and tiring but on the other hand no good jobs in PA....
Looking for real opinions of peopel who actually live that lifestyle...

I would recommend the Philadelphia suburbs, but for that price range you have very limited options. The Harrisburg or York area may be a good bet for you. The vast majority of the housing is under 350K and the job market is pretty much the strongest in the state. There are a few advertising/marketing firms in the Harrisburg area that I know of. Lots of safe neighborhoods and good schools around here. Harrisburg is going to be less of a culture shock then York, I know of several families that have moved here from NYC. One of my good friends moved here from Brooklyn.

[toobusytoday]

I guess I'm kind of stumped by the question. Certainly Pennsylvania has as many banks as New York, don't we?? Some of my best friends work at banks... There's going to be advertising firms in any city. Actually, my neighbor has his own advertising business and is doing well. It can't really be that long that you got your first jobs and now you have a few years of experience behind you. Evelina, if you and your fiance are in your mid to late twenties, you can't be out of college for very many years - this is the time in your life to stretch yourselves and go for it. It's not like you're fifty years old and going through a mid-life crisis.

Freshen up your resumes and use your vacation time to visit PA. Use your spare time to research places on the internet. There really is a ton of information available about schools, housing, employment etc., if you just spend some time sifting through the fluff.

There are many houses available in Lehigh county for $350,000. I believe that Lehigh county is the fastest growing county in the state. Allentown and Bethlehem are good cities to start with and they are surrounded by great small towns to live in if you are serious about getting out of the city. We're just an hour and a half from Manhattan. Come visit.

[rainrock]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

There are many houses available in Lehigh county for $350,000. I believe that Lehigh county is the fastest growing county in the state. Allentown and Bethlehem are good cities to start with and they are surrounded by great small towns to live in if you are serious about getting out of the city. We're just an hour and a half from Manhattan. Come visit.

Lehigh County has excellent growth but technically Pike County is the fastest growing county in the state, growing at 25.7% between 2000-2006. keep in mind though that Pike County only has 60,000 residents.

Its neighbor Monroe County(150,000) grew at 19.5% in the same time frame.

Chester County(600,000) was next at 11.2%

Northampton 9.1%

Lehigh 7.5%

Berks 7.4%

[evelina420]

Thank you all for replying. I just want to clarify that we are not necessarily looking to move to another city-type area or even suburban area in PA. We vacation in PA somewhat often and just love the open space, nature and slower pace of life. Wouldn't mind living int he middle of a forest either lol... our only concern is being able to find decent paying jobs so we can live comfortably, safety & a good school district (grammar school) because we plan on having kids soon.
How is public transportation in PA? Buses, trains? Any plans on improving, extending those??

[sandyshore]

there are tons of jobs in Bucks County, all paying really well.....marketing, sales, banking, tons over there. I had a joke job in a call center for $85,000 a year doing marketing and sales, not that great for NY money but thats great for PA money

[Marodi]

Originally Posted by evelina420

My fiance and I are both in our mid-to-late 20s and currently living in New York City. We're tired of city life and want to settle down in a nice, cozy town where we can raise kids and be surrounded by nature.
Pennsylvania seems great and the prices are affordable --- what are the best areas with house prices not higher than $350k/. We are looking for safe neighborhood, good schools.
Also, how do Pennsylvanians make money??? It seems that there are no good paying jobs in PA especially for someone like me - I'm in Marketing and my fiance is in banking...
Is this out of our reach or is this somethign feasable?
We're worried living in PA and commuting to work to NYC will be too time consuming and tiring but on the other hand no good jobs in PA....
Looking for real opinions of peopel who actually live that lifestyle...

Well, cost of living is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than in NYC.

[toobusytoday]

evelina, You can't have a semi-rural experience and have public transportation. We gotta keep the city slickers out somehow.

The elementary schools are not the problem in most areas. You can look at the scores in even the city schools at the elementary level and they will look good. I think it might be easier to respond to questions if you can sort of figure out an area of PA. I'm still not sure why you think finding a job would be any harder in PA then it was finding one in NY. It's not like we're that much different. You might not get NYC salaries but you won't be paying NYC prices either.

Pennsylvania is a pretty big state. We lived in upstate NY for four long winters, and it was much more rural then where we live here in PA.

[toobusytoday]

Too late to edit, but I just re-read my post, and I feel I came off not very nice. I do wish you the best and hope you can find it here in PA. There really are jobs here and it's a great place to live.

[danwxman]

I should mention, in terms of public transportation it is just non-existent in rural Pennsylvania. Harrisburg and Lancaster have a pretty decent bus system and near hourly high-speed Amtrak service to Philadelphia. York is getting there with its bus system, and State College has an okay bus service but it pretty much entirely revolves around the college.