Philly vs DC - Help me decide (Philadelphia, York: transplants, house)

[eh20100]

I'm looking to relocate to Philadelphia or Washington, DC.

Any thoughts on Philly vs DC for:
1. Amount of house I can afford for $400-$500k? The Philly housing market looks less expensive than DC (although both are high nationally).
2. Culture, quality-of-life, friendly people
3. Kid-friendliness (including day-care or nanny prices)
4. Commute: I'd be commuting downtown in either city and don't mind taking public transportation, but would prefer <1hr each way
5. Taxes

Thanks!

[orrmobl]

For all of those, I would say Philly is better...the only things that DC has better would be public transportation ( the Metro is like a museum), cultural things like museums (duh), shows, etc...they are half a notch better but then again you could go to New York and get the experiences that set the bar anyway...As for traffic, I would take 95/476/76/676/202 over the beltway any day of the week...

[JerzBoy]

I think the Philly area gives you more bang for your buck. $400-500k will get you a decent home in the majority of the suburbs (both PA and NJ). Also - I know commuting to center city Philly will be much easier than commuting to DC. Home prices in the DC area are outrageous. Commute times are outrageous as well down there.

[billb7581]

What Jerzboy said. 400-500K will get you a lot more home up here.

DC is overpriced as hell

[CHIP72]

For what you are looking for (presumably a decent-sized house with a yard and a willingness to have up to 1 hour commute), I agree with everyone else that the Philadelphia area would probably fit what you are looking for much better than the Washington, DC area. Even transit-wise Philadelphia would probably fit what you want better than Washington. Though the Metro is significantly better (cleaner and more comprehensive) than the SEPTA/PATCO/NJ Transit heavy/light rail system, the SEPTA/NJ Transit regional (commuter) rail system is much, much better than the MARC/VRE system in the DC area. The SEPTA Regional Rail lines and the NJ Transit Atlantic City Line operate much more frequently, including off-peak, than 4 of the 5 commuter lines with the MARC and VRE (the exception being the MARC Penn Line). There are also many towns on the various SEPTA Regional Rail lines (and both the SEPTA Route 101 and NJ Transit RiverLINE) are built around the train stations/rail line, which isn't true for the most part with the MARC Penn Line (or most of the other MARC/VRE lines). You could live in one of these towns (many of which are nice towns), have a decent-sized (though not necessarily large) house, walk to the train station, and get into Center City Philadelphia within 1 hour.

The one area where DC might beat out Philly would be culture/quality of life/friendly people, but even there I would only put DC a little ahead of Philly when it comes to culture and perhaps quality of life. Neither DC nor Philly (nor any of the northeastern cities) are known for being particularly friendly, but if you involve yourself in various social groups, you and the people you'll meet will open up and you probably won't have issues in either metro area.

[leighland]

Originally Posted by CHIP72

The one area where DC might beat out Philly would be culture/quality of life/friendly people, but even there I would only put DC a little ahead of Philly when it comes to culture and perhaps quality of life. Neither DC nor Philly (nor any of the northeastern cities) are known for being particularly friendly, but if you involve yourself in various social groups, you and the people you'll meet will open up and you probably won't have issues in either metro area.

I find this very interesting because I'm in Philly (from San Diego), don't like Philly and will be moving to DC, specifically Northern Virginia in a year or two. My DH will be working from home so commute is not an issue. We want to go into DC for the Museums, the Mall, the Zoo etc.. via the Vienna stop from time to time. We want newer housing stock, more and newer shopping alternatives, and more transplants (not homeless but more open-minded people; those who have moved in from different states without family nearby). We also want a more exurban experience since we have kids. Philly is too faux intellectualism/Country clubby for us. We're more middle class. I look forward to some real comparisons besides a) you can buy a bigger house cheaper and B) SEPTA runs more often.

BTW, you should post this in the Northern Virginia and or Maryland forums. I'd be interested what they'd say too.

[CHIP72]

Leighland - it is possible the issues you're facing are related to living on the Main Line, which historically was (and to my knowledge still is) the money area in the Philadelphia suburbs.

I can't say this based on my own personal experience (which is limited in this regard), but many people have told me traffic in northern Virginia outside the more established areas is hell. Obviously that won't be as much an issue with you. There's no doubt the DC area has a much higher percentage of people from elsewhere than the Philadelphia area does (and I'll be joining the ranks soon!).

On a somewhat-related aside, I was in the San Diego area for the first time last summer, and I thought the housing there was genuinely ugly architecturally-speaking, at least in the areas east of downtown and in some of the eastern suburbs like El Cajon. I don't know if most housing in the San Diego area is like that or if the eastern part is just not as well off as other parts of the metro area.

[leighland]

Originally Posted by CHIP72

On a somewhat-related aside, I was in the San Diego area for the first time last summer, and I thought the housing there was genuinely ugly architecturally-speaking, at least in the areas east of downtown and in some of the eastern suburbs like El Cajon. I don't know if most housing in the San Diego area is like that or if the eastern part is just not as well off as other parts of the metro area.

Most of the housing is MidCentury ranch style, just like you saw -which I gotta say I like so to each his own . If you want to see the beautiful housing in SD, go to Rancho Santa Fe and La Jolla. Your eyes will pop out. FYI, East County, where El Cajon is, where I am from, is middle to lower middle class with some real rough parts - no offense taken BTW

[CHIP72]

Yeah, my comments weren't meant as a putdown, just an observation.

Like you said, to each his (or her) own.

[CHIP72]

Leighland - based on what you said above I think I can understand why you're not totally thrilled with the Philadelphia area, coming from the San Diego area. From my limited time in the San Diego area and much more extensive time in the Philadelphia area, I know comparing the two places would be like comparing Oscar and Felix from "The Odd Couple". I got the impression San Diego is a distinctly more friendly place and probably more positive place. Also, there is truth to the idea that California/San Diego is laid-back, at least compared to the East Coast. A good chunk of my impressions are from attending a couple of Phillies/Padres games at Petco Park in July 2007 (when I was shocked the Friars' fans didn't sell out the game where they retired Tony Gwynn's number and unveiled a statue of him, but that's another story). I won't even get into the weather or the demographic composition of the population differences.

If you are looking for a place in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic that has a genuine degree of similarity to San Diego, you won't find it. However, I think the DC area would probably be more to your liking; it is slightly more laid-back than Philadelphia (DC sports fans aren't nearly as nuts as Philly fans, unless you are talking about the Redskins; that is probably mostly offset by the traffic nightmares many people deal with on a daily basis) and it has a much higher transplant population, more like San Diego.

I don't know this for sure, but the Norfolk (Tidewater) area of SE Virginia might be the place on the Atlantic Coast that is the most like San Diego, just because of the large Navy presence in both cities. Again, I don't know that for sure though because I've been in the Tidewater area once, and that was part of "drive through and check things out quickly" roadtrip.