Looking for a kid friendly area between Pittsburgh and Indiana (pa)? (Media: crime rates, home)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Johnny C

Um, no.

Oh! You're right! It's 1 HOUR and 11 minutes! Doesn't matter, it's a day trip anyway for the groundhog event.

[robrobrob]

Sarver would be another option. You would be fairly close to the Pittsburgh Mills Mall. Also, there is a Y in New Kensington which is fairly close.

[Sealtite]

Originally Posted by peabody12

I am relocating to western pa with my two young kids this summer. I will be attending IUP a year or so after we move, and will need to attend class on campus for two years at most (possibly less). I've been to Indiana before (about ten years ago) and I do not remember being impressed at all. From what I remember it was half college town - half rundown, depressed western pa town. I recall a Walmart, a crappy giant eagle and an extremely poor excuse for a mall. Maybe I'm forgetting something?

I'm very critical of western Pennsylvania as a whole, however my description of Indiana differs a little from yours. If I was in your unique position, I'd save myself the headache of the commute and just bite the bullet for a couple of years by living in town. It really isn't that bad there.

Yes the mall still sucks there to my knowledge, however there's been a little bit of improvement in the past decade. It's not a bad town overall. Keep in mind that the commute from any of the other places mentioned (Latrobe, Greensburg, Murrysville, etc) isn't gonna be a lot of fun during the winter months. Indiana county gets a lot of snow.

[Hopes]

On that note, I will say that it's unlikely she'll be pleased with anywhere else we mentioned. Western PA isn't Seattle. As long as there is a grocery store nearby to feed the family, convenience to shopping isn't worth an hour long commute when almost everything else can be bought on the internet. For a parent, an hour commute means two hours less spent with children. For a student, that's two hours less studying. For a student who is a parent, that's a big deal.

[Sealtite]

Yes, it wasn't until I became an adult and started traveling that I realized this area would be mortifying to a lot of people from elsewhere. I grew up in Indiana county, and while I realized it was "wrong", it was literally no big deal for high school girls to date men in their 30's and even 40's.

I'm only 35, however many of my former classmates are now grandparents. Rural western PA is very backward and weird.

[SorryIMovedBack]

Originally Posted by Sealtite

Yes, it wasn't until I became an adult and started traveling that I realized this area would be mortifying to a lot of people from elsewhere. I grew up in Indiana county, and while I realized it was "wrong", it was literally no big deal for high school girls to date men in their 30's and even 40's.

I'm only 35, however many of my former classmates are now grandparents. Rural western PA is very backward and weird.

Woot! Woot! to that! And I'm glad to hear someone else say it, for a change. Even my elderly mother concurs that these western PA small towns and little cities that used to be decent places to live in and raise a family have turned into rural slums after losing mining and manufacturing. No jobs =no money = moral and physical decay and rot. And the educated and ambitious leaving to pursue opportunities elsewhere.

The terrain is too isolated and hilly for a daily commute in winter. Either live where your job is, or in Indiana where your school is, but don't plan on long-distance commuting daily, especially in winter, because it will be expensive, grueling, and it will either wreck your vehicle or wear it out in no time.

Indiana, PA is pretty riddled with drugs and crime because it's a rural college town, and the city drug gangs purposely target small rural towns and sleepy college towns because 1) they do not have big-city police forces and 2) college kids are both a target market and a distribution system. But I have relatives in Indiana, and they have been able to live there without becoming crime victims.

[selltheburgh]

Originally Posted by SorryIMovedBack

Indiana, PA is pretty riddled with drugs and crime because it's a rural college town, and the city drug gangs purposely target small rural towns and sleepy college towns because 1) they do not have big-city police forces and 2) college kids are both a target market and a distribution system. But I have relatives in Indiana, and they have been able to live there without becoming crime victims.

Now I really have to laugh.

Yes, there are drugs there, but that's pretty much anywhere in America.

It is a town where you can leave your doors unlocked and not have any problems.

[SorryIMovedBack]

U.S. Census Quick Facts, Indiana (borough), Pennsylvania, from Indiana (borough) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau

Per capita money income in the past 12 months (2011 dollars), 2007-2011:
Indiana $14,614, PA state avg. $27,824

Median household income definition and source info, Median household income, 2007-2011:
Indiana $21,250, PA state avg. $51,651

Persons below poverty level, percent definition and source info,
Persons below poverty level, percent, 2007-2011:
Indiana 45.0%, PA stage avg. 12.6%

Age distribution:
Persons under 5 years, percent, 2010 2.5% (PA 5.7%)
Persons under 18 years, percent, 2010 8.4% (PA 22.0%)
Persons 65 years and over, percent, 2010 7.6% (PA 15.4%)
remainder, by subtraction: 81.5% between ages 19 and 64. Thus, it doesn't appear that the low incomes are due to a large populace of pensioners. You can decide whether or not to lock the doors. ;-D


As for kid-friendly, children and child-related services, much of it based on transfer payments from the government, are a huge part of the economy of the old Rust Belt towns on western PA. Welfare, WIC, counseling services, wrap-arounds, schools, sports, parks and recreation, small-town festivals, and on and on. Not much happens in these small towns that doesn't somehow revolve around raising children, especially for women. There are lot of SAHMs and also women with school-age or grown children who don't need to stay home but either the rural or the Catholic culture dictates that the man should work and the woman should not. I also advise reading this thread on here. specifically because it discussed the odd culture: what's wrong with women in PA

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by SorryIMovedBack

U.S. Census Quick Facts, Indiana (borough), Pennsylvania, from Indiana (borough) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau

Per capita money income in the past 12 months (2011 dollars), 2007-2011:
Indiana $14,614, PA state avg. $27,824

Median household income definition and source info, Median household income, 2007-2011:
Indiana $21,250, PA state avg. $51,651

Persons below poverty level, percent definition and source info,
Persons below poverty level, percent, 2007-2011:
Indiana 45.0%, PA stage avg. 12.6%

Age distribution:
Persons under 5 years, percent, 2010 2.5% (PA 5.7%)
Persons under 18 years, percent, 2010 8.4% (PA 22.0%)
Persons 65 years and over, percent, 2010 7.6% (PA 15.4%)
remainder, by subtraction: 81.5% between ages 19 and 64. Thus, it doesn't appear that the low incomes are due to a large populace of pensioners. You can decide whether or not to lock the doors. ;-D


As for kid-friendly, children and child-related services, much of it based on transfer payments from the government, are a huge part of the economy of the old Rust Belt towns on western PA. Welfare, WIC, counseling services, wrap-arounds, schools, sports, parks and recreation, small-town festivals, and on and on. Not much happens in these small towns that doesn't somehow revolve around raising children, especially for women. There are lot of SAHMs and also women with school-age or grown children who don't need to stay home but either the rural or the Catholic culture dictates that the man should work and the woman should not. I also advise reading this thread on here. specifically because it discussed the odd culture: what's wrong with women in PA

There was a discussion on this forum not long ago about college towns, I think California, PA, in particular. According to the Census Bureau, most college students should be counted at their college address, either on campus or off campus. Indiana Borough is relatively small and IUP is a large percentage of the population. While many college students also live in White Township, which surrounds the borough, I bet the numbers would be very different.

[Sealtite]

Originally Posted by SorryIMovedBack

Woot! Woot! to that! And I'm glad to hear someone else say it, for a change. Even my elderly mother concurs that these western PA small towns and little cities that used to be decent places to live in and raise a family have turned into rural slums after losing mining and manufacturing. No jobs =no money = moral and physical decay and rot. And the educated and ambitious leaving to pursue opportunities elsewhere.

Yes, but all things run in cycles. A lot of the talk of gentrification and urban redevelopment on these forums (pertaining to Pittsburgh) is centered around the city proper and it's immediate surroundings. While I don't necessarily disagree with most of these people's ideas (actually, I champion their relentlessness), I do think their ideas and efforts would be better served a little further out.

Most of the "small towns and little cities" of western Pennsylvania, while deeply depressed, could turn around with much less effort than places like Penn Hills, Braddock, etc. Places like Vandergrift, Latrobe, etc have surely seen better days....However they're not totally gone in terms of historical authenticity and overall potential. I'm really surprised that there's so much emphasis on the city of Pittsburgh when it comes to redevelopment and improvement, than there are to many of the other towns and small cities that surround it.