Best areas to live in for young adults (Philadelphia, Chester: apartment, rent)

[LemonCurd]

Hello,

I am looking for help narrowing down the best areas in PA to relocate to. My son who is a freshman in college is concerned about making new friends so I would prefer an area with a large population of young adults. Thank you.

When are you moving? December 2019
Where are you coming from? New Jersey
Why are you moving? Work/School
Where will you be working? Center City
Have you been here yet? Yes

Will you buy or rent? Rent
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend? NA
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend? Townhouse, house, condo. Rent up to $1600
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up? No preference

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Single one child
Do you prefer public or private schools? NA
Do you have pets? No
Do you want or need a yard? No
Are you keeping a car? Yes
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? Combination of both

What do you want to be closest to?
Work - Not necessarily
Shopping -Yes
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.) - Yes
Nightlife - Yes
Train or subway stations -Yes

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? Diverse

Phillies, Pirates or Mets? - Mets

[Flyers Girl]

Ask one of the admins to move this to the Philly forum. You'll get more responses there.

You say your son is a freshman in college. Will he be making the move with you or just be there when he's on break from school?

[toobusytoday]

I've moved this thread to the Philly forum from the general PA one. I assume that by saying, "Center Cithy", you mean Philadelphia.

[NewtownBucks]

If your son is in college, he should be looking to make friends with the other kids in his college regardless of where you live.

[MarketStEl]

In what college is your son enrolled? Isn't he making friends there?

If you're looking for a neighborhood where he might find interesting and fun things to do when he's back home, then my candidates would be:

Manayunk
Fishtown
East Passyunk (East Passyunk Crossing and Passyunk Square)
Old City
Washington Square West
University City
Cecil B. Moore/Temple University

in about that order.

Your $1600 should get you a decent apartment in any of these neighborhoods, though you might find the pickings slim in Old City and Wash West.

[skintreesnail]

^^ ++

[rowhomecity]

I think the big question here is, whether your son is living with you full time while he is attending college, and if so then that adversely affects what neighborhoods to recommend.

$1600 definitely is a decent budget but goes further in some neighborhoods than others.

[LemonCurd]

Thank you for the replies and for moving this thread to the correct forum.

My son is attending Penn State-Abington for 2 years, then he is moving to University Park. He is currently living in on campus housing and will be living in off-campus housing next and while at University Park. He is moving with me and will be residing at home during breaks. My preferences are suburban area with a walkable downtown and parks.

[LemonCurd]

Thank you for the replies and for moving this thread to the correct forum.

My son is attending Penn State-Abington for 2 years, then he is moving to University Park. He is currently living in on campus housing and will be living in off-campus housing next and while at University Park. He is moving with me and will be residing at home during breaks. I would prefer more of a suburban area with a walkable downtown and parks. I will be working in Center City I don't necessarily want to live there.

[Patmcpsu]

I recommend a slower paced area that's right for you, but not far from the nightlife (Uber is a great thing to get to/from distant bars without driving):

• Manayunk, University City and West Chester have bars that cater to broke college students
• Media and the Main Line towns have bars that are more upscale but not prohibitively expensive
• Center City Philadelphia obviously has tons of bars. Most of them are too expensive for college kids, but dive bars do exist. As a college kid, I would never go out of my way to drink in Philadelphia; the cheap places are too spread-out and it felt like it would be easier to get into trouble there. It is a fun change of pace though.

For that reason, I recommend the following:

• Manayunk - I wouldn't call it suburban and there aren't many parks immediately in the area (the canal towpath could be considered a park though) but Fairmount Park and Wissahickon Creek are a short drive. Manayunk gets students from St Joe's and Villanova on the weekends, along with twenty-somethings who like to pretend they're still in college.
• Bala Cynwyd (right across the river from Manayunk) - more suburban and greener; it would be more your speed and still has lots of kids and some bars. Geographically closer to Saint Joe's and Villanova, but the kids usually opt to party in Manayunk instead. Rent would push your budget though.
• East Falls is a good compromise that's close to Manayunk too, but more densely populated than Bala Cynwyd.
• Wallingford - Suburban area with access to Media and Swarthmore and it has train access into Philadelphia. Rent would be pushing your budget though.
• West Chester - suburban college town, but your commute would probably be too long at that point. Aside from location, it would have been perfect.

At the end of the day, I wouldn't worry too much about your son; he'll make friends at school and probably not have enough opportunities during breaks to make new friends. If he's like I was in PSU, I would arrange meetups with college friends during break anyway. There's a running gag among PSU students how half the students are "from just outside Philadelphia".