From Chicago, Decide Between Dallas and Philly (King of Prussia, Washington: apartments, city hall)

[Masteryoda305]

Considering two jobs, one in Dallas and one in Philly.
Both about the same pay after income, Philly wage taxes.
Cost of living calculations seem like a wash as rents in downtown dallas are very expensive.

When are you moving?
Sept-Oct

Where are you coming from?
Wicker Park, Chicago, IL

Why are you moving?
New Job

Where will you be working?
Independence Mall, next to the Mint

Have you been here yet?
i have visited old city, but my wife never has

Will you buy or rent?
want to rent first, explore the city, but want something safe.
Looking for something with nice fixtures, prefer a townhouse. 1700 or less with 2 bed/bath


Are you married or single? Do you have children?
just married, no kids

Do you prefer public or private schools?
dont care at the moment

Do you have pets?
no

Do you want or need a yard?
no

Are you keeping a car?
Need parking spots for 2 cars, as my wife and I suspect her job (orthodontic assistant) will be outside the city

Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet?
Both. We want to sleep when we can but be close to the night life.

What do you want to be closest to? (In order, most to least)
Train or subway station
Shopping
Nightlife
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.)
Work


want to live with people of a similar age

Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi

[RightonWalnut]

Choosing between Dallas and Philly is like choosing between night and day... literally two completely different cities.

I think you will find though that Chicago and Philly share many similarities.

With $1700 a month I don't think you'll have any problems finding a good place in Center City. $1700 a month will get you more than good. In fact, you can probably find a good place for like $1400 a month and spend the extra money on parking.

Since you will be working at the Independence Mall area, it makes sense that you should live in Society Hill and or Washington Square West. Very quiet, gorgeous, tree lined neighborhoods yet it is close to all the amenities you are looking for.

You will find that Center City is relatively small only being a couple miles big and you can walk practically anywhere you want to go.

In Society Hill, you will be a few blocks from huge night life spots in Center City such as Old City, South Street and Washington Square West as well as walking distance from Rittenhouse.

There is shopping all throughout Center City including, but not limited to, South Street, Old City, Macy's (right next to city hall) and all of Walnut from Broad to 19th has high end shopping. Most people in the metro head out to the King of Prussia mall as a shopping destination. It is about a 30 minute drive give or take from Center City.

You will find restaurants/food/pharmacies/ etc. everywhere because Philly has a really strong food truck and corner store culture where you will find Food Trucks on basically every major street and a corner store and practically every corner.

Grocery Stores are scattered all throughout Center City as well. The ones I frequent most are the Superfresh and Whole Foods at 10th and South Street. I find it most convenient because both have parking garages on top of them.

One question, do you prefer walk up (townhouse, rowhome, etc.) or high rise?

In a high rise I would think it would be easier to find a place to park two cars since they all have parking garages.

Hope this helped.

[FindingZen]

What s/he said with an additional suggestion of Fitler Square as a quiet Center City neighborhood that is close enough to active areas.

[drive carephilly]

Parking for two cars is a tall order. There's no real reason to have two cars if you're not going to be driving to work. (there's really no reason to have one car here). Unless your new job has already promised free parking I would not expect it. There's no requirement in this city for office buildings to have parking. The expectation is that you take the bus or train. There's also no reason your lady can't find work in the city. I can think of 6 orthodontists offices within as many blocks of my house. There are even more in Center City.

Anyway, what Summers said is mostly good advice. To Society Hill and Wash West I would also add Old City (north of Market St). Old City south of Market can get rowdy on the weekends but north of Market is fairly tame.

Just north of Old City is Northern Liberties - you might also find places of interest (and off-street parking). Just south of Society Hill/Wash West is Queen Village/Bella Vista.

This is all if you want to be a 5-20 minute walk to work.

You can really live anywhere between Girard and Washington and be able to get work in ~20 minutes by bus or subway. To that I would even add Pennsport and Passyunk Square. I commuted from Passyunk Square to 5th & Chestnut for 4 years. It's a 10 minute bike ride or a 20 minute subway ride.

Don't expect hi-rise apts. to come with parking. Most hi-rise apartments are in older buildings that don't have parking and the newer buildings that do have parking have expensive rents and the parking doesn't come with the unit - it's extra.

If you're really that into your cars Collingswood, NJ might be a good idea. It's a 12 minute subway ride to 8th & Market and off street parking is common.

[Pine to Vine]

Choosing between the jobs and cities is your first big decision. As to the jobs, I can't say. As a relatively recent transplant from Houston, a city with many similarities to Dallas, I can offer you some points to consider:

Do you want a dense, vibrant, walkable downtown offering work, living and entertainment options? Do you want the ability to live in the city with minimal (or no) use of a car? Do you want an environment with lots of brick and old style charm? Do you want easy access to other major cities, the Atlantic beaches, historic small towns and rolling countryside? Do you want four distinct seasons? Do you want nearly all of your neighbors to be fairly liberal? Do you like the Eagles? If so, choose Philly.

Do you want a glistening downtown filled with office towers, with little housing and the entertainment located in various nodes across a wide geographic area? Do you mind using a car to attend to every errand? Do you like shiny and new architecture and strip malls with easy parking? Do you want easy access to lakes and woods? Do you want a very hot summer of 6 months or so and fairly pleasant winters? Do you want a mix of conservative and liberal political views among your neighbors? Do you like the Cowboys? If so, choose Dallas.

[Masteryoda305]

Originally Posted by drive carephilly

Parking for two cars is a tall order. There's no real reason to have two cars if you're not going to be driving to work.

If you're really that into your cars Collingswood, NJ might be a good idea. It's a 12 minute subway ride to 8th & Market and off street parking is common.

Thank you for the advice! I figured it would be. I don't need a car in Chicago and parking is a pain but possible. We're lucky to live in in a nice part of the city with plenty of street parking.

We (at the moment) don't want to sell our cars. What are some other examples of suburbs that are easily from south jersey?

[Masteryoda305]

Originally Posted by jm02

Do you want a dense, vibrant, walkable downtown offering work, living and entertainment options? Do you want the ability to live in the city with minimal (or no) use of a car? Do you want an environment with lots of brick and old style charm? Do you want easy access to other major cities, the Atlantic beaches, historic small towns and rolling countryside? Do you want four distinct seasons? Do you want nearly all of your neighbors to be fairly liberal? Do you like the Eagles? If so, choose Philly.

Do you want a glistening downtown filled with office towers, with little housing and the entertainment located in various nodes across a wide geographic area? Do you mind using a car to attend to every errand? Do you like shiny and new architecture and strip malls with easy parking? Do you want easy access to lakes and woods? Do you want a very hot summer of 6 months or so and fairly pleasant winters? Do you want a mix of conservative and liberal political views among your neighbors? Do you like the Cowboys? If so, choose Dallas.

It's a really tough decision. The things you mention are spot on. I grew up in the tri-state area, so being connected again to the eastern seaboard sounds wonderful. My wife, however, is from south Florida, which is much closer to the southern car culture and lack of seasons. Chicago has been nice because you can largely have it all, except you get 6 months of brutal winter instead of brutal summer. cars and non-car.

The biggest thing on her mind for Philly is the safety aspect. Everyone she speaks to is frightening her that living in the city is dangerous. So I'm guessing southern NJ might be the best, like the previous poster.

[drive carephilly]

Originally Posted by Masteryoda305

Thank you for the advice! I figured it would be. I don't need a car in Chicago and parking is a pain but possible. We're lucky to live in in a nice part of the city with plenty of street parking.

We (at the moment) don't want to sell our cars. What are some other examples of suburbs that are easily from south jersey?

If you want to be close to the train then Collingswood, Westmont and Haddonfield are cool towns. Haddonfield would be the South Jersey version of Oak Park. Just beyond that Woodcrest is just a huge park & ride off the interstate - you'd have to drive to the station. Ashland is decidedly suburban but there are plenty of houses and apartments within walking distance of the station.

If you don't care about the train then look at a map, you'll find Route 73 on the north, Route 42 on the south and 295 on the east. Anywhere in between those highways (except Camden or Pennsauken) is good in my book and will keep you close enough to the city and suburban shopping so that you won't feel like you're constantly in your car. Not that there's anything wrong with places outside of those boundaries but the further east past 295 you get the longer your commute is going to get. ditto if you go too far north. Route 42 is equally miserable during rush hour - particularly from the interchange with 295 will south past where it merges with Route 55.

If you're working the 9-5 the drive is not fun from anywhere. All traffic gets funneled to 3 bridges. Just as a point of comparison - the train from Haddonfield takes 15 minutes to get to 8th & Market. Driving with no traffic would take you 20 minutes at a minimum (at midnight maybe) and more like 45 minutes during the rush.

here's a map South Jersey - Google Maps since you don't have kids and you're not looking at schools and you're not planning on buying yet green is all good in my book. red is mostly ghetto with a few blue-collar neighborhoods around the periphery.

[drive carephilly]

Originally Posted by Masteryoda305

The biggest thing on her mind for Philly is the safety aspect. Everyone she speaks to is frightening her that living in the city is dangerous. So I'm guessing southern NJ might be the best, like the previous poster.

Totally ridiculous.

You live in Chicago.

[Masteryoda305]

Originally Posted by drive carephilly

Totally ridiculous.

You live in Chicago.

Thank you for the previous suggestion, this is super helpful.

Chicago is super segregated, everything read in the news happens on the south side.
We live in a old Italian American north side neighborhood that's been gentrified by hipsters. She feels super safe.

I'm open to hear about areas of Philly that are feel similarly safe, but she feels like the south jersey suburban life with easy access to city center is probably the best option.