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Economy - GA Georgia is growing at a faster %, but PA is definitely growing strong, despite its abundance of small rural once manufacturing towns that are struggling.
Education, K-12 - PA (consistently ranked a Top 10 public education state, and typically Top 5).
Education, colleges and universities - PA (UPenn (3rd best business school in the world.), Carneige (best robotics program in the USA right now), Lehigh, Temple, Villanova, Pitt, Drexel, Bucknell, Lafayette, Penn State..... I can keep going)
Infrastructure (road conditions, public transit, bridges, water/energy sustainability/supply, etc.) - GA - has better roads. PA - has better Transit. SEPTA is a solid transit system and Pittsburgh has a solid system for its size.
Housing (quality of architecture, selection of old and new, urban, suburban and rural, etc.) - PA better and more interesting architecture
Cost of living - GA - Definitely less expensive than PA. PA housing has definitely increased, even within its smaller cities.
Major cities - PA - PHL and PIT are top notch cities with true urban walkable cores.
Suburbs - PA. Philadelphia suburbs are top 3 in the nation hands down, and Pittsburgh suburbs are also gorgeous given the unique hilly topography and 3 rivers.
Small cities and rural areas - Tie
General state culture, events and activities - Tie
Cuisine - PA
Outdoor recreation - GA
Scenery - PA
Climate - PA - This is 100% personal preference. I prefer 4 seasons to long humid summers.
Geographic position (proximity to out-of-state opportunities and recreation; importance in surrounding region) - PA. It is called the Keystone State - given its prominence in early US history, but also in relation to its geographic location.
GA is a fine state and doing well. But Pennsylvania still outranks it. 20 years can this change? I am not sure. Philadelphia and Southeast Pennsylvania are on a MAJOR upswing and really it is just getting started.
Pittsburgh is going through a big tech boom. No the city is not growing at a crazy pace. But the jobs it is attracting are well paying tech/med jobs.
With the continue rise in COL for NYC/DC/BOS you are only going to see net migration increase into Pennsylvania, especially its Eastern and Central cities like
Philadelphia
Lehigh Valley
Lancaster/Harrisburg/York - Susquehanna Valley
State College
You will start to see a population increase for Pittsburgh.
Georgia is a fine place. But PA definitely still outranks it.
What do you prefer about Georgia’s suburbs? The Philly burbs are outstanding, along with Pittsburgh’s. The Lehigh Valley and South Central have a lot of new suburban development if that’s what you prefer.
If you are comparing suburban development, there are countless suburbs in Atlanta that have all of the suburban development you could ever want. There are also a lot of very nice and affordable suburbs in GA. Not to mention, cities such as Athens, Savannah, Augusta,etc. all have extremely nice suburbs that are also affordable. Along the coasts you also have "suburbs" such as Tybee Island that offer great access to the beach and amenities.
Education, colleges and universities - PA (UPenn (3rd best business school in the world.), Carneige (best robotics program in the USA right now), Lehigh, Temple, Villanova, Pitt, Drexel, Bucknell, Lafayette, Penn State..... I can keep going)
While I agree that PA has the better universities, you really don't recognize that GA also has a great collection of universities. You make it sound as if GA has any universities of note. In GA you have Emory, GT (on par with or even better than CMU in STEM), UGA, SCAD, GSU, and the HBCUs of Morehouse, Spellman, etc. While I definitely agree that PA has better universities, I don't think it is as onesided as you might think.
What do you prefer about Georgia’s suburbs? The Philly burbs are outstanding, along with Pittsburgh’s. The Lehigh Valley and South Central have a lot of new suburban development if that’s what you prefer.
Possibly for affordability? For quality, I Atlanta is not on Philadelphia's level for suburbs, especially when you factor in the walk-able villages and varying levels of architecture and housing styles, most of the Atlanta burbs (while nice), look no different than other newer city.
And since this is a statewide comparison, PA also has Pittsburgh, the Lehigh Valley and areas around Harrisburg and Lancaster that are beautiful, so its not even a competition, but its City Data, therefore biases and pride get in the way of facts and reality.
Possibly for affordability? For quality, I Atlanta is not on Philadelphia's level for suburbs, especially when you factor in the walk-able villages and varying levels of architecture and housing styles, most of the Atlanta burbs (while nice), look no different than other newer city.
And since this is a statewide comparison, PA also has Pittsburgh, the Lehigh Valley and areas around Harrisburg and Lancaster that are beautiful, so its not even a competition, but its City Data, therefore biases and pride get in the way of facts and reality.
Atlanta's suburbs have developed really amazing town centers in the past 10 years...and they are starting to become pretty walkable. GA also has "suburbs" in the mountains that are clustered with cute downtowns and such. GA also has an advantage in the beach department.
Possibly for affordability? For quality, I Atlanta is not on Philadelphia's level for suburbs, especially when you factor in the walk-able villages and varying levels of architecture and housing styles, most of the Atlanta burbs (while nice), look no different than other newer city.
And since this is a statewide comparison, PA also has Pittsburgh, the Lehigh Valley and areas around Harrisburg and Lancaster that are beautiful, so its not even a competition, but its City Data, therefore biases and pride get in the way of facts and reality.
Yeah I was thinking affordability would really be the only draw over Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has many historic suburbs with walkable cores AND the sprawlier new development (if for some reason that’s your thing ). I can’t speak with certainty, but my guess is South Central and LHV burbs are about as affordable as Atlanta burbs.
While I agree that PA has the better universities, you really don't recognize that GA also has a great collection of universities. You make it sound as if GA has any universities of note. In GA you have Emory, GT (on par with or even better than CMU in STEM), UGA, SCAD, GSU, and the HBCUs of Morehouse, Spellman, etc. While I definitely agree that PA has better universities, I don't think it is as onesided as you might think.
That whole comment sounded suspect. I believe that PA has a better higher education status, but it’s only because UPenn outranks Emory. But in the grand scheme of things, Emory+Tech+UGA is a loaded gun and I have no doubt Pennsylvania (or any other northern state for that matter) wouldn’t think twice about confiscating said gun if they could.
2020 GDP for ATL is 452 billion Philly is 504 billion.. If we project the growth rate of last 10 years, both population wise and economy wise Atlanta will be bigger in 10 to 20 years..
Last edited by NorthAtlanta; 11-19-2019 at 10:12 PM..
Philly cheats as its metro is spread across 4 states in densely populated areas. Atlanta has no such areas to reach from.
Au contraire, the New York metropolitan area encroaches on the Philadelphia metropolitan area from the northeast, and there's only so much room to the southwest before you reach the Baltimore metropolitan area. In fact, the Philadelphia metropolitan area has about the same population as the Atlanta metropolitan area in a smaller land area.
Atlanta can spread its metropolitan area like a weed, and it has. Be that as it may, when I'm in Dawson County, or Haralson County, or Meriwether County, or Jasper County, I don't exactly feel the hustle and bustle of Atlanta, even though all those counties are in the metropolitan area. Even the slightly bigger towns like Carrollton, Griffin and Covington strike me as kind of sleepy compared to what you'd expect when you hear "Atlanta," or "Hotlanta," even.
That whole comment sounded suspect. I believe that PA has a better higher education status, but it’s only because UPenn outranks Emory. But in the grand scheme of things, Emory+Tech+UGA is a loaded gun and I have no doubt Pennsylvania (or any other northern state for that matter) wouldn’t think twice about confiscating said gun if they could.
So UPenn is the only reason PA outranks Georgia?.....
PA has dozens of other excellent institutions scattered across the state. (Carnegie Mellon and Villanova to name a few), plus a high concentration of liberal arts schools, notably Swarthmore ranked #2 in the nation.
Georgia has many excellent universities, (not a slouch), but lets just call this topic a win for PA, its not really debatable.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthAtlanta
I think Atlanta and Philly are very close when it comes to economies.
2020 GDP for ATL is 452 billion Philly is 504 billion.. If we project the growth rate of last 10 years, both population wise and economy wise Atlanta will be bigger in 10 to 20 years..
If each economy maintained their relative growth it would take around 18 years for Atlanta to surpass Philadelphia, that is very far away and too far to make any sort of judgement call.
The gap is still size-able, and from a per capita basis and county by county breakdown, Philadelphia is more economically powerful.
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). I can’t speak with certainty, but my guess is South Central and LHV burbs are about as affordable as Atlanta burbs.
