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Living in Collingswood now I can say it's a great area but more "village" than country. I can certainly vouch for Delran as an excellent school district. I worked there 13 years and I can't say enough good things about it. It is an excellent school system.
we will be the Delran Middle school Christmas craft fair tomorrow
The biggest draw there would be if you knew that the bulk of your business was going to be on the PA side as it would make a better base than constantly crossing the bridge and commuting out to the western PA suburbs. So, in terms of being central to the Philly area and still having a nice neighborhood with great schools, South Jersey does that better than any other comparable option.
ITA.
We chose Mt. Laurel. We just had better luck finding a home here. We are very happy with the area, the schools, and the retail options.
As far as living in PA, I can't really speak to individual communities as I have never lived there, but I do know that in terms of comparable neighborhoods to the ones listed above in NJ, you would be looking at living a considerable distance from Philly itself and the cost differential really isn't as great as people make it out to be. The biggest draw there would be if you knew that the bulk of your business was going to be on the PA side as it would make a better base than constantly crossing the bridge and commuting out to the western PA suburbs. So, in terms of being central to the Philly area and still having a nice neighborhood with great schools, South Jersey does that better than any other comparable option.
That's not necessarily true. Lower Merion/Radnor compares very favorably to Haddonfield/Moorestown and both are convenient to Center City. You can travel from the inner portions of LM to Center City in 10 minutes. Even the outer reaches of Radnor offer no worse a commute than Marlton (and certainly better than Mt. Laurel and Medford). Central/Eastern Delaware County is very convenient as well, as are the inner suburbs of Northeastern Montgomery County. That isn't to say that South Jersey should be crossed of your list, but certainly don't discount the PA side of the River either.
One more important thing to note: the biggest difference between the PA/NJ suburbs convenient to Center City is that the NJ suburbs tend to be much newer/less established (Haddonfield/Moorestown/Cinnaminson being the primary exceptions). As a result, their PA counterparts tend to have a much more diverse housing stock and a less sprawling feel (not quite as much tract housing/strip malls/high-speed thoroughfares). It also means there's a lot less new construction. It's not at all impossible to find newer housing in the inner/middle PA suburbs, but it isn't nearly as plentiful as in South Jersey. Whether all this is a plus or a minus depends on your personal preferences.
Last edited by ElijahAstin; 12-09-2011 at 03:06 PM..
OK, Lower Merion and Radnor compare favorably to Moorestown and Haddonfiled and offer an easy commute, but not everyone can afford to live in Haddonfield or Moorestown or the Main Line. What are the comparable towns to places like Cinnaminson, Haddon Twp., Haddon Heights, Marlton, Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Audubon, etc. The towns where a family can buy a decent house for $200k-$300k, still be in a very good school district, experience very low crime rates and have very easy access to the city?
I'm not saying they don't exist, but they aren't as easy to come by in PA as they are in NJ. So, what towns in Central/Eastern Delaware or Northeastern Montgomery fit that bill? Most I have seen are either going to come with a price tag higher than the NJ towns, have worse schools or have a longer/more difficult commute.
OK, Lower Merion and Radnor compare favorably to Moorestown and Haddonfiled and offer an easy commute, but not everyone can afford to live in Haddonfield or Moorestown or the Main Line. What are the comparable towns to places like Cinnaminson, Haddon Twp., Haddon Heights, Marlton, Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Audubon, etc. The towns where a family can buy a decent house for $200k-$300k, still be in a very good school district, experience very low crime rates and have very easy access to the city?
I'm not saying they don't exist, but they aren't as easy to come by in PA as they are in NJ. So, what towns in Central/Eastern Delaware or Northeastern Montgomery fit that bill? Most I have seen are either going to come with a price tag higher than the NJ towns, have worse schools or have a longer/more difficult commute.
You had mentioned Haddonfield, so I was just going off that.
If you consider Haddon Township, Haddon Heights, and Aubudon to feed into very good school districts, then yes, you can find such towns. Significant portions of Haverford, Marple, and Springfield (DelCo) fit the bill, as do much of Abington, Cheltenham, Springfield (MontCo), and Plymouth, among other areas. The commute is a bit longer, but I would certainly not call it "rough" by comparison. For me, the additional 10-15 minutes is worth avoiding all the McMansions and sprawl, but some people don't mind (or even prefer) that kind of community feel.
I drove through Haddon/Westmont today actually. Nice little town, like a cleaner, safer version of Pennsauken, or a more affordable version of 'field, esp the areas along Cuthbert Blvd, and the municipal building on Haddon Ave was glittering like crazy for Xmas. I really do not know much about it though, as far as property taxes, home value and school systems go.
You had mentioned Haddonfield, so I was just going off that.
If you consider Haddon Township, Haddon Heights, and Aubudon to feed into very good school districts, then yes, you can find such towns. Significant portions of Haverford, Marple, and Springfield (DelCo) fit the bill, as do much of Abington, Cheltenham, Springfield (MontCo), and Plymouth, among other areas. The commute is a bit longer, but I would certainly not call it "rough" by comparison. For me, the additional 10-15 minutes is worth avoiding all the McMansions and sprawl, but some people don't mind (or even prefer) that kind of community feel.
It is hard to compare school districts between states. Both NJ and PA tend to rank highly on most comparisons. NJ tends to be in the top 3-5, while PA is a perennial top 10-15. So, it is tough to say whether an above average district in NJ like Audubon is as good as a good district in PA. I would tend to think they are overall pretty comparable in terms of schools among the towns you listed.
The only other thing I would add is that towns like Haddon Twp., Haddon Heights and Audubon are definitely not "sprawl" McMansion towns. Most are old long established suburbs with the same kind of housing stock you would find in the towns over in PA. The added benefit to those towns versus, say Springfield (DelCo) is that the commute is much shorter. From Haddon Twp. you can be in CC via PATCO in less than 15 minutes. From Audubon or Haddon Heights you can get to PATCO in less than 10 minutes or be over the Walt Whitman in the same amount of time.
I think anyone town shopping would be well served to look at all the options on both sides of the river, but most people I know that have looked into it keep coming back to NJ as the better bet unless there are extenuating circumstances.
I drove through Haddon/Westmont today actually. Nice little town, like a cleaner, safer version of Pennsauken, or a more affordable version of 'field, esp the areas along Cuthbert Blvd, and the municipal building on Haddon Ave was glittering like crazy for Xmas. I really do not know much about it though, as far as property taxes, home value and school systems go.
Property taxes are comparable to most other towns in that area, a little higher than Collingswood, but a little lower than Cherry Hill. There is a big variety of housing stock and you can find homes for less than $200k and others over $500k. The school system is comparable to a Cinnaminson and is the next tier below systems like Haddonfield, Moorestown and Cherry Hill.
It is hard to compare school districts between states. Both NJ and PA tend to rank highly on most comparisons. NJ tends to be in the top 3-5, while PA is a perennial top 10-15. So, it is tough to say whether an above average district in NJ like Audubon is as good as a good district in PA. I would tend to think they are overall pretty comparable in terms of schools among the towns you listed.
The only other thing I would add is that towns like Haddon Twp., Haddon Heights and Audubon are definitely not "sprawl" McMansion towns. Most are old long established suburbs with the same kind of housing stock you would find in the towns over in PA. The added benefit to those towns versus, say Springfield (DelCo) is that the commute is much shorter. From Haddon Twp. you can be in CC via PATCO in less than 15 minutes. From Audubon or Haddon Heights you can get to PATCO in less than 10 minutes or be over the Walt Whitman in the same amount of time.
I think anyone town shopping would be well served to look at all the options on both sides of the river, but most people I know that have looked into it keep coming back to NJ as the better bet unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Why is it hard to compare districts? Philly Magazine does a ranking of the region's school districts every now and again, and Haddon Township, Haddon Heights, and Audubon are not very high on the list. Compared to the SE PA districts, the South Jersey districts seem to underperform relative to their affluence for the most part.
I never said Haddon Township, Haddon Heights, and Audubon were sprawl McMansion towns. The main issue is that beyond Haddonfield/Moorestown, most of the South Jersey municipalities that feed into good school districts are of such character.
Again, the extra 10-15 minute drive would not bother me, but it probably would for some people. And I agree that there's no harm in looking at both sides of the river.
Why is it hard to compare districts? Philly Magazine does a ranking of the region's school districts every now and again, and Haddon Township, Haddon Heights, and Audubon are not very high on the list. Compared to the SE PA districts, the South Jersey districts seem to underperform relative to their affluence for the most part.
I never said Haddon Township, Haddon Heights, and Audubon were sprawl McMansion towns. The main issue is that beyond Haddonfield/Moorestown, most of the South Jersey municipalities that feed into good school districts are of such character.
Again, the extra 10-15 minute drive would not bother me, but it probably would for some people. And I agree that there's no harm in looking at both sides of the river.
I think it's hard to compare school districts in PA, overall, to school districts in NJ, overall. It's like comparing apples to oranges. The states, overall, are simply far too different, geographically and demographically, IMO.
However I do agree with HeavenWood that it's much easier to compare schools in SEPA with those in South Jersey because this comparison sets the basic standards or parameters on geographics/demographics/regional culture/etc.
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