Atlanta and Philadelphia metro comparison (Cumming, Montgomery: car insurance, crime rate, townhome)

[athensvaasi]

If anyone has experience with living in both metro-Atlanta and metro-Philadelphia, could you provide a comparison. Positives and negatives. I am Asian, married with kids. Generally looking for issues related to quality of life, weather, traffic, diversity, etc. I have to decide soon about relocation plans. I have some experience with Atlanta (I live in Georgia), I am trying to understand the metro Philadelphia area, and see what advantages it can offer. Appreciate your input. Thanks.

[Calcbunny]

Hello:

I now live in Cumming GA, I left the Philadelphia area 2 months ago where I lived for 41 years. I grew up in Cherry Hill NJ, which is a suburb of Philly, there is a train, (safe and clean) for $4.90 round trip that will take you to center city. Cherry Hill has a nice asian community. I find the Philly area is more accepting of different races etc. Taxes are higher. Where in GA are you and where near Philly do you need to work so I can help you better?

The school choices in NJ are much better. Schools in the city of Philadelphia are not good. Jersey has awesome schools much better than GA. Taxes in NJ are higher double in my experience. You get a lot of snow in Philly and it gets cold and humid in the summer. The food is much better in and Philly and NJ. I highly recommend Cherry Hill East side. Easy commute to Philly, homes not too crazy, Excellent schools. Remember taxes are high in NJ. The beaches are excellent in NJ too. The traffic can have a few backups, but you will love it compared to Atlanta traffic. I appreciate the NJ traffic now that I live near Atlanta. I loved it in the Philly area. Rutgers University has a campus in Camden, which the train also goes to. I went there!

[Georgia]

I will go with Calbunny,
Lived in Mt. Laurel and Marlton for 10 years, was transfered to Chicago in 2002 then here in 2004.

Philly,
Ole road salt pretzels, Old Towne Pizza, and my beloved Eagles.

I too would live on the Jersey side.
Philly's crime rate per capita is less than the city of Atlanta but not by much.
It looks worse under plain numbers, but you have to remember Atlanta city has 500,000, Philly has 1.3 million.

Other aspects:
Philadelphia County/City has the highest car insurance rates in the nation
Philadelphia has a 6% add on income tax, bringing your total Pa income tax to 9-10%

South Jersey will provide diversity and a nice lifestyle at better pricing.

Good Luck

[athensvaasi]

The train from Cherry Hill to Center city -- is it a SEPTA train? Other than SEPTA, are there other major mass transit options?

I have heard a lot of NY/NJ folks who moved to Atlanta mention high property taxes in the northeast. Can you give me an idea, example on a 300-350K house in Cherry Hill area (what county is it?)

I have lived in various parts of GA (not Atlanta) for a while, and have family in Philly area. I am trying to find out positives/negatives to living in Atlanta (probably north fulton) vs Philly (either Cherry Hill area as you suggest, or Chester/Montgomery counties).

One thing of concern is the winter. I guess 4 seasons is nice. Do people generally enjoy the winter (though it is may be harsh), or dread it! What is your general impression following your move to Atlanta area.

I appreciate your input. Please provide any further info through this forum site, or send by Private Message, as you prefer. Thanks again!

[Calcbunny]

The train is Patco. Is 99.9% on time and very safe. It has a good rep, I took it for years an never had a problem even in Camden.

http://www.ridepatco.org/

I would guess $8,000 taxes for a home like that in Cherry Hill, but the schools are really good and you will be pleased. You can get a nice home for the money you are willing to spend. The homes are older as Cherry Hill peaked in the 80's, but is still nice. Cherry Hill is Camden County.

I can only tell you about NJ, but if you drove to Philly from Cherry Hill it would be a 20 minute drive. Another option is Mt Laurel, Burlington County taxes are lower but you will have a further drive to the train (approx 30 minutes if 295 backs up) Lenape Schools district is also a good choice (Mt Laurel, Marlton, Medford, Tabernacle) but the asian population is higher in Cherry Hill.

As for the weather, I really enjoy snow. Cold days do get old, but so do the Hot ones. Some Winters in Philly are mild, you never know what you are gonna get. Today in Cumming it was really nice. I would not discount Philly for the weather, you don't get hurricanes there, maybe a Nor'easter or 2. But you won't feel that near Philly. What I noticed about Philly vs Atlanta area is people self segregate here, In NJ it is a nice ethnic mix, friends of all colors, I think people are more accepting, and no bible thumpers in NJ at least not any that I saw. People here who thought they were being helpful told me about a bad area mall, well I went..it was a higher number of hispanic familes. Not a bad element to me, but too much segregation will do that to you. I miss the Flava of Philly. )

[Philagirl]

I have lived in the Philadelphia area for the past ten years. The Philly suburbs have pretty bad traffic, and SEPTA Regional Rail can run well some days, and be terribly delayed other days. PATCO (which goes to Jersey) is cleaner, cheaper, faster, and more reliable. The best public schools in the Philly suburbs are in VERY expensive neighborhoods -- houses often start at $500K -- and these are very old homes that often need gut renovations. It doesn't get that cold here (used to get more snow -- but that's global warming for you), and the seasons are nice.

Diversity is important to me as well, and I have to say, that unless you live in the Upper Darby area (where the schools are fairly poor) there is not much diversity at all in the Philly suburbs. Most of the schools are all white, and I know of plenty of Jewish and Asian kids who are teased at school.

I don't know much about Jersey -- from what others have said, that might be a better place to look than the PA Philly suburbs.

[Georgia]

I have an office in Chester County, Pa.
West Chester / Exton / area is nice, however, you will pay $400k+ for a townhome. Very expensive and very taxing due to the county always bailing out Chester city which is a very dangerous location.

Montgomery County is around the same if not a little higher in price.

Bucks County is less and a nice area but a traffic nighmare coming off the 202

Same for King of Prussia area if you don't mind the daily mess on the Sure Kill

My druthers is NJ over Philadelphia.

[capricorn]

Originally Posted by Philagirl

Diversity is important to me as well, and I have to say, that unless you live in the Upper Darby area (where the schools are fairly poor).

Hmmmm, I graduated from Upper Darby HS. I took a full slate of AP courses, two foreign languages, great visual arts courses, and had some sweet performing arts opportunities... and I went on to graduate from UPenn with a degree in physics, while other classmates went to Swarthmore, Princeton, Oberlin, Carnegie-Mellon and RISD.

[am2]

both great cities but Altanta's skyline blows Philly's away.

[darkone]

Originally Posted by am2

both great cities but Altanta's skyline blows Philly's away.

I'm not so sure about that .... I found Philly's to be a bit more intriguing, with the urban density, (real) bridges and river, but to each his own.