Relocating to Hershey area (Allentown, Lancaster: low income, section 8, elementary school)

[jonesbobby]

Hi folks, I'm considering taking a new job in Hershey and I'm researching towns to live in. I have a wife and a baby boy, so obviously I'm interested in moving to a town that would be appropriate to raise children (safe, good public school system, etc). I'd also like to live in a town that's somewhat culturally diverse. I'm willing to commute 30-40 minutes to Hershey from what ever town I live in. Would Lancaster be an option that meets my criteria? Any suggestions that you could offer would be very appreciated. Thanks all

[julian17033]

Hi,

In August of last year I moved from Lancaster to Allentown for my job.
Lancaster is not a haven for diversity.
Downtown Lancaster has many problems that the city is working on concerning blight and crime.
Low income and section 8 housing is common in many parts of downtown causing a drag on the cities efforts to bring about change.
Outside of the downtown area Caucasian residents make up the vast majority of the population.
Within that group I am also including the Amish and Mennonite communities which are statistically large in the county.
I'm not sure exactly what you were regarding as being culturally diverse.
The Amish and Mennonite communities in the area certainly would count as such.
Before living in Lancaster I lived about a mile north of Hershey Park in the village of Union Deposit.
Hershey is notably diverse in it's population mainly because of the medical center.
You could look into the adjacent community of Hummelstown which is quite quaint and has my favorite pizza shop being Palermo's Pizza.

Out of the towns and cities I've lived in in PA I love the Harrisburg/Hershey area the most.
Small enough to be manageable concerning distances to outlying areas and large enough to offer everything you could ever need or want.

I hope this helps you.

[ki0eh]

This is an annual event celebrating diversity in the Derry Twp elementary school: Home - are there reasons you're not interested in living in Hershey itself?

[gottogo]

We (mom dad 2 kids) move to Hershey 1 1/2 year ago and love living here. Schools are great and diverse

[jonesbobby]

Thanks for your thoughtful responses everyone! I guess I just assumed that toursit congestion would be a strain if I lived directly in Hershey. I did hear good things about Hummelstown in terms of it being ethnically diverse. I'm interviewing with PennState Hershey Medical Center. I'm looking forward to exploring the area for nice places to live. My family is of East Indian descent and we currently live in Northeast New Jersey. It's very expensive to live here, but it's very culturally diverse. I just don't want to stick out like sore thumbs if we move to the Hershey area Any other suggestions you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much again for sharing your thoughts

[ki0eh]

The diverse ethnic (not so much economic) area in the Hummelstown 17036 zip code is the area south of the Borough, in Derry Township (Hershey doesn't exist, it's also Derry Township, although a small part of the Hershey 17033 postal address area extends into South Hanover Township, which shares the Lower Dauphin schools with Hummelstown Borough).

That portion of Derry Township also escapes tourist notice, there is a side road leading over to the Medical Center (it does stack up with commuter traffic daily with only stop signs at each end), and 2 large community parks (Gelder Park and Shank Park). Part of this area is also along a bike trail, which alas does not yet cross the busy Middletown Road.

[Lucario]

Originally Posted by jonesbobby

Thanks for your thoughtful responses everyone! I guess I just assumed that toursit congestion would be a strain if I lived directly in Hershey. I did hear good things about Hummelstown in terms of it being ethnically diverse. I'm interviewing with PennState Hershey Medical Center. I'm looking forward to exploring the area for nice places to live. My family is of East Indian descent and we currently live in Northeast New Jersey. It's very expensive to live here, but it's very culturally diverse. I just don't want to stick out like sore thumbs if we move to the Hershey area Any other suggestions you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much again for sharing your thoughts

I think Hershey would be fine for you. I grew up there and am a pretty "sore thumb" looking person. There are some East Indian families there and many other people from all over Asia and every other continent. Hershey's a very affluent town with a really good school system.

This is an article about the national-champion Hershey High "memory team." Check the names of the members.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/sp...D2F7AF055D598F

[jonesbobby]

Thanks so much for sharing that article!

[honey2]

To be quite frank......Hershey can be very snooty! I really don't know why! It is just farming area!

[ki0eh]

Originally Posted by honey2

To be quite frank......Hershey can be very snooty! I really don't know why! It is just farming area!

There is a bit of cropland remaining on some of the more sinkhole prone ground but that's owned by one of the Hershey corporate entities. There might be 2 family owned farms left in the portion of the township with a Hummelstown postal address. The remainder of the township has such things as the State Police academy, a Fortune 500 corporate headquarters, 3 (soon to be 2) chocolate factories, the Milton Hershey School (boarding school for disadvantaged children) and perhaps most prominent in town anymore, the Penn State medical college and hospital complex. There's very little truly rural left here, so I find this observation somewhat puzzling.