Moving to Philly - Choosing a neighborhood (Chester, Washington: apartment, city hall)

[Dkaiber]

Hi!

I'm a 23 year old post-grad moving to Philly next November for a job opportunity. I'm currently looking for roomates in their 20s (21 to 30 - students or young professionnals). I'll be working on Market St. (West Philly). I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out which area would be good to look for an apt... (?) Here is a little more about me and what I'm looking for:

1. An area where I can easily go out, have drinks and meet people to party (since I dont know anyone in Philly)
2. A place relatively safe and not too expensive

I did a little research and the place that came out of it are:

- University City (between 38th and the Schuylkill river)
- South Philly (East of Broad St. and North of Washington Ave.)
- City Center (Rittenhouse square, city hall etc..)

Thanks in advance for your help!

Dorian

[FindingZen]

All of the above! It really depends on your specific budget as the definition of "expensive" is a personal thing.

University City would be the "obvious" choice due to close proximity to your employer. There's also decent nightlife on and near the 40th Street corridor between Chestnut and Spruce where you'll be mingling with a lot of Penn and Drexel students. If you're looking at apartment rentals east of 38th Street, then either a) you can afford to live in many Center City neighborhoods or b) you should consider looking beyond student off-campus housing and go west of 43rd to 48th between Locust and Chester.

The general boundary of South Philly you're considering is fine. You may even want to consider extending it down to Snyder. Look at rentals near the Passyunk Avenue corridor. You'll see a mix of younger professionals, same-sex couples, Hispanic and Asian immigrants and long-term Italian residents. If you don't mind a short-to-healthy walk to the Broad Street (subway) Line, you could take that northbound to the free transfer at City Hall and head west on the Market-Frankford Blue Line (aka the "El") to your job.

While UC and South Philly are fine, Center City is indeed the hub of nightlife and culture of the city. Being only two square miles between Spring Garden Ave. to South St. and river to river, you're never too far from anything that downtown has to offer. So any CC neighborhood would be a good choice to live in, notwithstanding personal taste and budget. You may also find Northern Liberties - near the waterfront and just above Old City in what is technically North Philly - to be appealing as it's the "hottest" of the hot spots as of late. However, convenience to those amenities can come at a steep rental price. The good news is that it's pretty easy to get downtown from South Philly and University City.