How would you compare Virginia to Pennsylvania (home, purchasing)

[french paris]

What are the similtaries and the differences ?

Pro and cons to live in ...

[Akhenaton06]

You'd probably want to narrow it down to specific a specific region, metro, or city within each state. For instance, I'd rather live in Richmond than Scranton, but I'd rather live in Philadelphia than Lynchburg.

[french paris]

i mean what you say

but i thought about mentality,jobs,future,weather...Etc

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by french paris

i mean what you say

but i thought about mentality,jobs,future,weather...Etc

Pennsylvania is where the Mid-Atlantic meets the Northeast, and Virginia is where the Mid-Atlantic meets the South. Each state gets more diverse from west to east. Virginia's economy is growing faster, but Pennsylvania's economy is more established. Having Washington DC nearby has helped keep Virginia's economy stable, while Pennsylvania's economy has been stable, ironically, because it was overlooked during the 1990's and early 2000's. (Most fast-growing regions in the 1990's and early 2000's were in a world of hurt during the late 2000's, primarily because most economic growth in the U.S. since about the mid-1990's was phony, fake, fraudulent, etc.)

The weather is actually more extreme in Pennsylvania than it is in Virginia. Pennsylvania is more prone to severe winter storms, and also, surprisingly, more prone to tornadoes. Virginia is more prone to heat waves, although it can get just as hot in eastern Pennsylvania; there's just a smaller window of time in which that can happen.

Each state has its own set of notoriously repressive laws. In Pennsylvania, they involve purchasing alcohol. In Virginia, they involve driving your car.

The future is hard to forecast. Virginia's outlook could diminish if the U.S. Government is forced to downsize considerably. Pennsylvania should be fine, though, because not only was it overlooked during the economic mirage of the 1990's and 2000's, but it also has lots of fresh water and natural resources. There's a lot of coal and natural gas in Pennsylvania, and even a little bit of oil too. (Titusville, PA is where the global oil industry was born.) Virginia does have more arable land, though.

[Pine to Vine]

What Gnettella said.

Plus:
- Both have port cites (Philadelphia + Hampton Roads)
- BOTH have coal (SW Virginia)
- Philly was the capital of the US and Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy
- Natives of both have interesting accents
- Both have some great universities - small and large, public and private
- Virginia doesn't have cities with the industrial capacity of PA

[DANNYY]

Virginia doesn't have any major city of its own in its own state, but its a cool state that I call home regardless of that. Pennsylvania is a more powerful and significantly larger state though with two formidable cities. Otherwise its pretty much even, including history.

[livelovely]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

You'd probably want to narrow it down to specific a specific region, metro, or city within each state. For instance, I'd rather live in Richmond than Scranton, but I'd rather live in Philadelphia than Lynchburg.

I'm in a similar situation as the OP. My choice is between Harrisburg, PA to Charlottesville, VA. Any advice on which to pick?

[David_J]

Virginia is generally hotter climate-wise than Pennsylvania, unless you compare places like Philly to Loudoun County.
People in Virginia outside of NoVA speak with a Southern accent.
There are many job opportunities in NoVA, but it's also somewhat expensive there regarding cost of living.
Virginia is more "modernized," so to speak, especially on NoVA.
Obviously, Virginia has strong Southern historical roots while PA has strong Northern historical roots.
NoVA is very liberal minded, but otherwise the state is generally conservative except for a few other scattered cities. PA has the same phenomenon regarding Eastern PA and Pittsburgh and the rest of the state.

[lammius]

I'd say the two states share a few things in common. To me, this is especially apparent in the Shenandoah Valley region. That area was settled by the same mix of German and Scots-Irish that settled south-central Pennsylvania. They creeped up the valley along the old Philadelphia Wagon Road. You'll find sizable Mennonite populations in both regions too. The style of agriculture is similar (and quite different from Tidewater). Even the architecture and building materials of older buildings in Winchester resembles that of older buildings in places like Lancaster. And if you put two Google streetview images together, one from Chambersburg PA and the other from Berryville VA, try to tell them apart. Of course, at their nearest, the borders of VA and PA are only 22 highway miles apart.

So through the Great Valley from about Harrisonburg through Lebanon is one contiguous region with a lot of cultural similarities, IMO. By the time you travel farther east of Lebanon toward Reading and Allentown, things change too much to stay grouped with the rest. Same when you get toward Staunton and Lexington heading south from Harrisonburg.

I'd bet that Southwestern VA has some similarities to Western PA too (coal country Appalachia), but I'm not familiar enough with either region to say more.

There's really no counterpart in VA for Philly or Pittsburgh or Erie, and there's no counterpart in PA for Tidewater or Northern VA. And the major college towns really don't share much in common either.

[pgm123]

Originally Posted by lammius

There's really no counterpart in VA for Philly or Pittsburgh or Erie, and there's no counterpart in PA for Tidewater or Northern VA. And the major college towns really don't share much in common either.

Delaware and Maryland literally and figuratively seem to close that gap.