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Just to sum it up,, All in all and to make this simple!
City : Philly due to its a Million city/ history/ density and a much bigger city and feel, just on another level that Atlanta is not on.
Metro: Tie for the most part, but Atlanta is closing in fast. You get more options as far as state wise being Philly is a Tri State Area so you have more to pick from but I think Atlanta has more modern and nicer suburbs to choose from IMO...
Food: Philly wins this on the Phillies and Hoagies alone,,, sorry!
Most accurate and concise post. And from someone from Atlanta
Maybe you should give me a list of Atlanta suburbs for me to Street View. My wager going in is that more of them will look like downtown Overland Park, Kan., which is a small-farm-town downtown currently getting an urbanity retrofit worthy of Kansas' second-largest city, than they will like Ardmore, Pa.
Fantastic overview offering context as always. It's why the Ardmores of the world are such treasures; the stock of truly walkable suburbs with viable Main Streets and transit access to the urban core are simply absent from the vast majority of the US.
No one's going to criticize anyone for seeing the appeal of a living in a brand new McMansion neighborhood, but those types of areas aren't winning any points on sense of community, vibrancy and organic charm.
I never said Philly suburbs were not .I was defending the Atlanta metro as being something that was categorized as something its not.
I lived in the Collingswood area when I lived in Marlton. So CHerry Hill and that area I know first hand.Its still suburban and people drove everywhere like I did. Its nothing quaint or special about it.
They are better connected by rail the areas themselves are more suburban as anything in the Atlanta metro
Try living in the Pennsylvania suburbs of Philadelphia. Totally different feel and vibe. Preserved open space with quaint walkable towns and villages and commuter rail in nearly every town center. Something Atlanta will never see.
The New Jersey side does not really have this. And that is the part of the metro you lived.
Have you ever been to West Chester, Media (which has a trolley car down its main st.), Wayne, Ardmore, Narberth, Ambler, Doylestown? ( I could keep going)? Probably not. They all blow metro Atlanta out of the water.
Also Chestnut Hill is Philadelphia's Buckhead. Lots of large beautiful historic estates located within the city limits. It has a very charming and historic main st. with a cobblestone rd and many quaint and independent shops.
Philadelphia is a quaker city. So humble wealth is applauded. Lots of old money. None of the tacky flashy new money vibes here.
Last edited by rowhomecity; 02-21-2020 at 06:29 AM..
Gladwyne is not a city and it like Chesterbrook has less than 5000 residents,They are both almost 90% white also like most of Phillys most affluent areas
Considering that all the nicest subiurbs of Atlanta are growing faster,you are the minority in that thought.
Clever One. Pennsylvania has something called townships. Check out Lower Merion Twp. (which Gladwyne is located within). It is one of the most affluent areas in the USA with a population over 50k and also more diverse than you are giving it credit for.
And also has one of the top school districts in the USA. Kobe Bryant grew up there.
Alright, I explored the nice areas of both Philly and Atlanta using Google maps, Zillow, Redfin, which is most useful tools I have until can get to those nicer areas of Philly. Philly does have a lot of nice suburban areas, however, from what I'm research, though previously stated methods, Atlanta has more. I think it is partly due to Atlanta being an inherently suburban region to begin with.
Philly's older suburban areas are a bit nicer than Atlanta's older suburban areas, and the town centers of the smaller towns appear to act more independently of the city. Atlanta excels at affluent newer areas, which are plentiful, and out number Philly's newer affluent areas by a large margin. Also, Atlanta has neighborhoods popping up all over the place. I personally prefer Atlanta, as it is newer, more abundant nicer areas in the city and suburbs in general. Growing up in Baltimore likely has made me a bit jaded with dense urban areas, and older suburbs. Philly is no slouch
In the north suburban areas and centers are far more independent of the city than even Baltimore. You by from Boston to the DMV and Baltimore area taught me that. It helped me understand why many people are so fixated on metro areas and not city proper. Excuse where you all are from there’s not a big distinction/difference from city to suburb. I had inferred as much from a visits to my cousins in Atlanta but I was young.
QOL: Philly due to its location
Public Transit:Philly
Universities:Philly
Economy:tie
Wealth:Philly
Vibrancy:Philly
Character:Philly
Suburbs- Atlanta, as it is the more suburban oriented metro
Schools: Atlanta
Urban Cores - Philly
Diversity - Atlanta. Philly feels more segregated
Shopping - Atlanta. KoP is overrated and CC has about one or two good shopping strips
Food - Atlanta. Cheesesteaks are good, but southern cuisine(soul food) is more varied and unique
Road Network/Traffic - Atlanta. Philly's road network is awful
Sports -Philly due to the fact that it's more nativist than Atlanta
Quick Getaways/Recreation/Parks - Philly
Economic Future - Tie.
Job/Housing Market - atlanta
Nightlife/Entertainment - Atlanta.
History/Museums - Philly, irs a world heritage city.
Theater/Art - Philly
Taking in consideration of how much larger Philly is than Atlanta as you pointed out even though not one person doesnt know this,you felt a need to share. So let me share this:
Philly 10 year population change as a percentage comes to 15% roughly growth rate
The same period for Atlanta is 34% growth.More than double the growth than Philly.
Philly vs Atlanta Population percentage change
1960 -3.3% vs +47%
1970 -2.7% vs +1.6%
1980- -13.9% vs -14%
1990- -6.1% vs -7.3%
2000- -4.3% vs +5.7%
2010- + 0.6% vs +0.8%
2018- +3.8% vs 18.6%
So basically Atlanta has grown beyond its highest total in 1970 to ot highest population in history but Philly with its meager 3.3 growth is still at a population deficit.
Philly lost over 550,000 people since it highest total of over 2 million so 103,000 people is good but far lower than even other major cities in its region with the exception of Baltimore.
But hey this thread is about metros but let me remind you of this as well:
According to the same source Atlanta grew by 12.1% and was 15th out of 53 metros
I even picked a Philly Newspaper to quote
Have a look at the interative map at ranking of Fastest growing cities.I see Atlanta all over the place but agian no Philly.
To be fair, Atlanta is a younger, warmer, larger (area wise) metro area, therefore its inevitable that it will grow at a faster rate, same with Austin. And, its generally a cheaper and more business friendly environment than a lot of the Northeastern states, but thats a whole different issue.
Philadelphia city and metro is one of the oldest developed regions in the nation, and one of the smallest (land wise), yet it has remained among the most powerful and most populated city's and metros since the census started in 1790.
Yes, the growth is overall slow, but so is the New York Area and Los Angeles, heck Chicago is losing people. So its not just a clear cut, Atlanta is growing faster so its better, there are so many factors to take into consideration.
Now, if Philadelphia city and metro were losing people then it would be a different story. Philadelphia (city) is now in full recovery mode, population and development wise, so many awesome projects announced daily, something that would not be the case even 10 years ago, and the Philadelphia metro never had a period of decline, its been steadily growing since the 1800s, it even boomed when Philadelphia was shedding people in the latter half of the 20th century, which is extremely impressive for suburban region.
I get it, Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, etc. are the fastest growing cities, but lets not diminish or brush over other information.
Also, remember the Philadelphia metro spans three states, and South Jersey (New Jersey) in general is not on the top of everyones list to live. The PA counties have all had healthy growth for decades same with Delaware.
Lastly, the only thing really holding Philadelphia (city) back is the overall bad leadership. So much of the city's growth is due to universities and large development firms based in the region investing in the city. The huge plan to build towers near 30th Street Station is due to Brandywine Realty Trust and Drexel University. The city leadership is mostly catatonic / focused on the wrong issues, if that mentality fades away, then I don't see any reason why Philadelphia will not only continue to grow, but really grow. The money and investment is there, just needs to be streamlined.
I’m pretty sure southern cities are growing faster due largely to warmer weather, no?
You don’t have to look at a list and tell me anything. However, given you stated you know so very little about Philadelphia and its suburbs, why are you posting all over this thread like you know so much?
And I stand by my comment... anyone can simply use the search feature and search your posts for the key word “Philadelphia” and they’ll see your tendency to post in Philly threads for themselves, which is odd since now you’re claiming you know so little about the Philadelphia area. My suggestion would be to stick to threads about places you have great familiarity with before making statements about how good one place is over another.
I'm posting all over this thread because, like I said before, from what I've seen in philly, I wasn't impressed with when compared to Atlanta. I don't need to visit every town in the Philly metro to make that assessment, just like you don't need to go to every neighborhood in a city/metro to do the same. If I said that I thought philly was better based off of what I've seen, I'm 100% sure we wouldn't be having this conversation. If I have to dig that deep to find what I'm looking for then it isn't enough; people use the exact same methodology when writing off Baltimore.
It is not suburban. It is a walkable city.Its metro is as a whole is not walkable as Philly but to say its just not walkable is just an ignorant uninformed statement.Even some of Atlantas suburbs are walkable with nice downtowns
Did you actually watch this video lol? This does not present Atlanta in a good light what so ever. The guy literally doesn't see a single person walking around until the 1min 50 second mark where he witnesses an assault on an old man. Everywhere he walked was virtually empty and complains about how much of a rip off the Aquarium and World of Coke is.
Did you actually watch this video lol? This does not present Atlanta in a good light what so ever. The guy literally doesn't see a single person walking around until the 1min 50 second mark where he witnesses an assault on an old man. Everywhere he walked was virtually empty and complains about how much of a rip off the Aquarium and World of Coke is.
Well. I cant speak for pedestrian activity, compared to Philly I would say Philly would probably have the upper hand by a mile but I have been to the Aquarium and it was pretty good. Havent been to World of Coca Cola since they relocated it however.
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