a nice town to move to in pennsylvania ? (Scranton, Bethlehem: best town, school district)

[kilashee]

Hi all , looking for a nice town to move to in pa . Not too small , places to shop and eat , nice people , affordable housing and some nice scenery , trees , mountains etc , simpley put , WHAT IS THE BEST TOWN IN PENNSYLVANIA ?
thanks
Dominic

[dugdogmaster]

Originally Posted by kilashee

Hi all , looking for a nice town to move to in pa . Not too small , places to shop and eat , nice people , affordable housing and some nice scenery , trees , mountains etc , simpley put , WHAT IS THE BEST TOWN IN PENNSYLVANIA ?
thanks
Dominic

http://www.city-data.com/forum/penns...-towns-pa.html

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by kilashee

Hi all , looking for a nice town to move to in pa . Not too small , places to shop and eat , nice people , affordable housing and some nice scenery , trees , mountains etc , simpley put , WHAT IS THE BEST TOWN IN PENNSYLVANIA ?
thanks
Dominic

This is entirely subjective, but here's my list of favorite smaller towns in our Commonwealth (pop. 2,000-10,000):

Lewisburg, Union County
Wellsboro, Tioga County
Honesdale, Wayne County
Jim Thorpe, Carbon County
Tunkhannock, Wyoming County
West Pittston, Luzerne County
Milford, Pike County
Waverly, Lackawanna County
Bloomsburg, Columbia County
New Hope, Bucks County
Doylestown, Bucks County
West Chester, Chester County
Lititz, Lancaster County
Montrose, Susquehanna County
Towanda, Bradford County
Carlisle, Cumberland County
Ligonier, Westmoreland County
Bellefonte, Centre County

Honorable mentions for larger towns and cities go to:

State College, Centre County
Bethlehem, Northampton County
Scranton, Lackawanna County

I have taken photo tours of most of the communities that were listed in Northeastern and North Central Pennsylvania. Please feel free to do a search for them to get a better "picture" of what to expect from each community.

[KristyLiz]

I lived in three different areas of PA - Northeast (Luzerne county), South (Montgomery county) and now we're in the Lehigh Valley.

I was happy in all three places, but my least favorite was Luzerne county - not a whole lot happening up there and a glaring lack of diversity.

Montg. county is fabulous, but expensive!

So far, the Lehigh valley is great on all accounts.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by KristyLiz

I lived in three different areas of PA - Northeast (Luzerne county), South (Montgomery county) and now we're in the Lehigh Valley.

I was happy in all three places, but my least favorite was Luzerne county - not a whole lot happening up there and a glaring lack of diversity.

Montg. county is fabulous, but expensive!

So far, the Lehigh valley is great on all accounts.

To be fair Luzerne County is now gaining Hispanics at the fastest rate out of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania. Not a day goes by at work where I don't bump into someone who speaks a different language, whether it be the more common Spanish or even the more obscure Ukrainian. I think the real problem here in Luzerne County isn't the "lack" of diversity, it's the lack of tolerance. I attended the funeral of my partner's aunt yesterday, and the entire time I just felt like I was on display.

The Lehigh Valley is great with everything except for outrageous traffic (Route 22 p*sses me off) and the unchecked sprawl (it's okay to like living in the suburbs, as long as you don't pave over EVERYTHING IN SIGHT!) Montgomery County is becoming increasingly cost prohibitive.

[toobusytoday]

ScranBarre,
You've got to be kidding about our traffic here in the Lehigh Valley. We lived in Chester County for four years and Delaware County for six years and both of those areas (ten plus year ago) were much worse then anything I've encountered up here. Just try going on I-95 on a Friday afternoon in either direction in the summer. The Blue route starts backing up two or three exits north of I-95, clogged from everyone trying to get to the beaches.

Sprawl too can be compared. Yes, there's new sprawl here but in Delaware and Chester counties there has been sprawl for twenty, even thirty years. We lived in Montgomery county for a short while also and that's also old sprawl. Frankly, I think the sprawl is older then you ScranBarre. It's like the inner and outer rings of sprawl down there.

It's not as bad where I live here Southern Lehigh School district because our taxes are higher and the supervisors are actively trying to discourage reckless developing but anything that was okay'd in years past is now being built. To save open space, communities dangle carrot -- themorningcall.com You cannot stop legal growth, but planned growth is the next best thing.

So, my favorite town is Coopersburg, PA.

[Retired Law 08]

check out clarks summit....

[Dylan D]

elk county but in the st.marys area.

[Lion11]

State College, Pa meets you're requirements well, especially in the nice scenery catagory. Will even be featered in the September issue of National Geographic Adventure as one of the "fifty next great adventure towns." It was the only PA town to be selected.

Centre Daily Local News - State College and Centre County | Centre Daily (broken link)

[Dawne]

I'll add Selinsgrove (Snyder County) to the mix.