Is PA "naturally safe" (except for cities and urban areas)? (Philadelphia: violent crime, buyers)

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by RetireinPA

Yep. Biggest danger is from lions and bears with the occasional coyote. Unless you are a car. The deer. the #@$@# deer. Rodents.


but seriously, I would never lock my place up north, cept all the 'neighbors' are campers from the pitt area and thefts are up like 3000% since 1990.

I love the outdoors, but how likely are you to encounter a snake in PA? When I lived in NJ I would never see a snake, not even a garter snake except for my own backyard, lol. I only saw snakes in 2020 when I was hiking in one area. Never throughout my childhood, have I ever seen snakes in NJ.

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by RetireinPA

PS, SE pa is essentially delaware - pointless unless you push on to amish country. Then its tourism central. live a little. go wester and norther.

Yeah I would not want to live in Amish country or in the tourist parts of PA, but I do love the Lancaster area at the same time and looks liveable. How are the semi-rural areas outside the Philli burb?

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by jtab4994

OP, you once stated you were looking for someplace with a "western Morris County (NJ) vibe". Seems like you are looking for a wealthy exurb in SEPA. Have you looked into Forks Township in Northampton County? Not sure if that's considered SEPA but it's in the 610 area code. Lots of McMansions, the township athletic center is sprawling, and it has a "wealthy and safe" vibe. At least it did when my kids played sports down there.

I am not looking for a wealthy area. I am looking for somewhere that can be as safe as NJ, but not wealthy to that extent. I just want to live somewhere safe that is not wealthy and that will remain safe even when covid, economic crashes, and political issues hit the area.

[Tweb66]

Police defunding is nothing more than one of the worst PR moves in history. Sans a few oddballs in like Seattle, there has never been a serious attempt to defund the police. In additional to Berks, Lehigh probably works too. Both are fairly swing/moderate politically speaking, though the Lehigh County housing market is especially overheated. There was a time when people from the Philly area moved to LV for lower cost of living, and uhhh, the housing prices really aren't that much different anymore. Still, Lehigh County is a rare midsized rust belt metro that is doing well.

[RetireinPA]

Originally Posted by moshywilly

I love the outdoors, but how likely are you to encounter a snake in PA? When I lived in NJ I would never see a snake, not even a garter snake except for my own backyard, lol. I only saw snakes in 2020 when I was hiking in one area. Never throughout my childhood, have I ever seen snakes in NJ.

you will most likely see little garter snake ish snakes. If its big, its likely a black snake. they love mice rats and baby rabbits so you see those where structures and overgrown fields exist. we used to hunt copperheads by flipping rocks near the 'cricks'. Rattlers are possible, but really only in the ANF or the NW forests. my son and wife almost ran a big fat one over on the timberline trails on atvs a few years back, how they didnt see it i will never know. but overall it really depends on your property and what hideouts they have on it. double plus if you have old barns or smoke houses etc. if you are in big time suburbia - prolly never. my place up north - every time we dig in the flower gardens.


gonna see more spiders. wolf spiders! named so because of a) how they look b) what they eat :-)

[RetireinPA]

Originally Posted by moshywilly

Nowhere is perfectly safe in terms of humanity (not counting wild animal drama lol), but I just want to live somewhere that is just as safe as NJ where nothing bad happens whenever people do become poor, or whenever any political issue comes up, and a place that would still remain safe even if police defunding (or little police) happens. All we needed was a few cops in my NJ suburb, otherwise it was safe by its nature. Of course in PA, you do not have the weather like California, so PA is not going to overpopulation (PA is not NJ either), homeless people, but yes, people do drugs everywhere. I don't mind kiddy crimes though. That is something you cannot get away from.

philly has as much a problem as NY, chicago and baltimore at present so anywhere within the boundaries I would never go. At the same time my wife is from baltimore and scared crapless of mckeesport.


Most PA people joke that philly is 'west jersey' cuz we have an idea that NJ is lawlessness. The only member of my family that ever lived in jersey was my sister, 20 years ago near freehold? and we like southern NJ, wildwood, the crest, cape may etc. we camp there every time I can snag a reservation.


lancaster as about as east as I would ever go but you have to put up with everyone in the summer. My stomping grounds are essentially harrisburg east (but hanover area aint bad)


I make no bones that I like the hills, rivers and lakes of western pa


if you can take the distance, check out the carlisle area. I spent a lot of time lifetime there cuz of the car/truck shows, in fact I was a vendor at 1 for the last 25 years, hanging that up last summer. It always impressed me that 100K people can descend on the fairgrounds for a 3 day weekend and you could hear yourself think and the complete absence of trash afterwards. taxes are ok, lots of stuff around and the cumberland valley schools pretty darn good. carlisle is across the river and a few miles west of harrisburg

[RetireinPA]

Originally Posted by moshywilly

I love the outdoors,

Im keying on this.



if you really love the outdoors, I mean outdoors, not just a large grassy suburban parks - west and north. there are places in pa where you wont see anyone for a while - what population we did have, moved. its the future and every place has power, gas and phone (even internet, my place north has faster internet than here in pitt suburbia) but you get lions, coys and bears to make it interesting. and deer. @#$@#$@# deer.

[bridge12]

Originally Posted by moshywilly

I love the outdoors, but how likely are you to encounter a snake in PA? When I lived in NJ I would never see a snake, not even a garter snake except for my own backyard, lol. I only saw snakes in 2020 when I was hiking in one area. Never throughout my childhood, have I ever seen snakes in NJ.

I saw a gigantic northern water snake (looked like it just enjoyed a tasty meal!) laying across a hiking trail in suburban South Jersey (Timber Creek park) last fall. I was surprised!

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by moshywilly

I love the outdoors, but how likely are you to encounter a snake in PA? When I lived in NJ I would never see a snake, not even a garter snake except for my own backyard, lol. I only saw snakes in 2020 when I was hiking in one area. Never throughout my childhood, have I ever seen snakes in NJ.

It's pretty rare. Walking, hiking, camping, backpacking, I've only seen a few. I'm in my 60s.

[North Beach Person]

Rattlesnakes are quite common in the central part of PA in the mountains and somewhat common elsewhere.
https://www.fishandboat.com/Resource...attlesnake.pdf
Article with range map:
https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/new...esurgence.html

I would occasionally run into them in McKean, Jefferson and Clarion Counties.


Range of copperheads in PA with map:
https://www.fishandboat.com/Resource...copperhead.pdf