Small Towns in SW PA?? (Pittsburgh, Harrisburg: for sale, real estate, apartments)

[anewfancy]

I'd like to get off Long Island a few years from now and want to find somewhere small, with that friendly hometown feel. It would be wonderful to find somewhere that has a decent job market, and low cost housing/apartments. Anywhere like this in south-central or southwest PA?

[Mugglelover]

There are a lot of small towns in southwestern PA you may like. I live in Johnstown - it is in the Laurel Highlands (lots of mountains) and it is very pretty. For the most part, crime is low in this area.

[openless]

i was going to suggest bedford. its along route 30 and i-76, and i-70 easy access to the highway. it's in a small valley surrounded by mountains. lots of hiking, biking, fishing and such. it has trucking companies, medical, lots of local retail jobs to support you or a small family. good luck take care.

[Stacy Wilt]

Hi! I live in Perry County, PA which is south central. This is as rural as it gets. I live in a very little town called Blain. If you blinkto hard, you might miss us, but the scenery is too pretty. menonite and Amish live around here so watch for the horse and buggies. Taxes and crime are low, but you must drive to Mechanicsburg, Harrisburg, or Carlisle for any big jobs for the most part. Blain is a town that we all know each other. We know whose kids are whose and we watch out for each other. We have everything you may need except a doctor in our basic one road town. We have a grocery store, antique store, elementary school, 2 parks, pizza shop, restaurant, post office, library, bank, gas station and car repair shop, hardware store, flower shop/nursery, hair dresser, and 4 churches. My house was built in 1841 and used to be the doctor's office until his passing. Just an idea for you. Housing market values are inexpensive here. A house down the street just sold for $122,500. That included 3 BR, 1 1/2 bath two story house. I'm not sure of the square footage, but over 1500 for sure. My house is 2654 sq.ft. without the basement. Houses around here are large and old. Good luck.

[TrayyBall]

Uniontown (a 10-15 minute drive from the University Of West Virginia)
Greensburg
Washington
Connellsville
Latrobe

[Shenandoah]

Zelienople has that 'small town' feel, nice homey, nice neighborhood, with friendly smiling faces, historic areas, state parks in the area for hiking, swimming, boating, good schools, as well as a nice main street for strolling along on a summer day, or evening, with restaurants, coffee shoppes with a Saturday evening solo guitarist, 3-4 banks, a theatre, town park, and festivals. Proximity to shopping in Cranberry is about 10 miles, downtown Pittsburgh is about 30 miles, outlet shopping in Grove City Shoppes is about 20 miles.

There are houses for rent in nice neighborhoods, as well as townhouses and apartments, as well as property for sale. It's just a generally very nice small town!

It's located about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh on rt 19, off of I-79.

blessings, Shen

[Shenandoah]

Oh, I forgot to mention the job market in the area - depending on what you're looking for, the job market is excellent and just a short drive away in Cranberry, Warrendale, Wexford, Butler, or commute into Pittsburgh, again, depending on what you're looking for jobwise, but Cranberry/Warrendale has a very large variety of companies based there in the different Office Parks, such as Cranberry Woods and Warrendale.

blessings, Shen

[sarasum]

I grew up in SW PA but now live in NJ. Many of the small towns that were once bustling are now becoming depressed and deserted; however, it varies so much from place to place.

The cost of housing is extremely good (compared to the NY/NJ market). You can find a nice, big home for under $200,000 with very low property taxes.(I have relatives who feel $3000 a year is too much - I only wish NJ taxes were that low!) I'm not sure how the job market is though. SW PA is somewhat rural. I mean you have smaller cities but outside of that, it's so laid back. The Greensburg area is nice. My sister lives in Hempfield township and really loves it there. Uniontown is nice as well.

Many of the towns north of Pittsburgh are also nice as Shenandoah mentioned. The job market is much better up there. I used to work in Cranberry years ago and felt it was a nice area.

The only thing that you may or may not like is that compared to areas near NYC, SW PA is not as diverse. Overall, though, people are very friendly and you will definitely get the friendly hometown feel.

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

I would suggest Mount Pleasant. That town impresses me every time I drive through, it seems to have a cool little downtown area. And you are only a half hour drive from one of myt favorite places, Ohiopyle.

[momix5]

All those towns mentioned in SW Pa look so nice. The real estate is really reasonable for what you would get.