Best place to move to? Lancaster, Harrisburg, Reading or Philadelphia? (York: apartment, for rent)

[BTA88]

Originally Posted by livelovely

Thanks so much to everyone!! I've narrowed it down to Lancaster and Philly. So far Philly is in the lead, but is there any specific areas in Lancaster that I should look into or avoid? Same with Philly, I read somewhere on here that it's best to stick with Center City and avoid West Philly all together...? Thanks again, I do so appreciate it!

I don't know that Lancaster is big enough to have "parts", but the area along 999/Manor Ave between the Manor shopping Center and King Street is a bit sketchy. The rest of the town is just fine. There is a good night life in Lancaster, but if you're a night life person, you'll find yourself driving to Philly or Baltimore after a couple months.

In Philly, be street smart no matter what part of town you're in. Don't pull out your wallet or a wad of cash. Don't make eye contact with the homeless. Basic things that apply to any city. Avoid anything north of Temple University. There are some sticky neighborhoods in other parts of town, but I don't know them all by name so I'll let someone else give you advise there.

[pman]

Originally Posted by mancat100

Center City Philly is great, but its not the only good area. There are lots of great areas in the city itself. Also whoever told you to stay out of West Philly is full of it. There are some beautiful areas in West Philly just to the southwest of Penn on both sides of Baltimore Avenue.

center city wouldn't be advisable if said person is on a 750/mo budget with a car. west philly, fishtown/kensington, south philly, and fairmount/brewerytown all might be good bets at that price range...further afield. germantown and mt airy.

[mancat100]

Originally Posted by pman

center city wouldn't be advisable if said person is on a 750/mo budget with a car. west philly, fishtown/kensington, south philly, and fairmount/brewerytown all might be good bets at that price range...further afield. germantown and mt airy.

Yes. Agreed.

[jan2013]

Go Philly!

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by livelovely

Thanks so much to everyone!! I've narrowed it down to Lancaster and Philly. So far Philly is in the lead, but is there any specific areas in Lancaster that I should look into or avoid? Same with Philly, I read somewhere on here that it's best to stick with Center City and avoid West Philly all together...? Thanks again, I do so appreciate it!

Stay out of West Philadelphia? What?! Haha. Whoever you talked to has NO idea what they are talking about. The worst section of the city is North Philadelphia, but then again, there are nice areas in North Philadelphia as well. There are some bad areas in West Philadelphia, but there are a TON of great areas. University City and surrounding neighborhoods are superb. Word of advice for the future, anyone who says "stick to Center City", doesn't know a thing about Philadelphia.

[Clark Park]

If you are a young man and like action: live music, good restaurants, night clubs, pubs, an arts scene, museums, culture, street festivals, universities and college scenes, foreign films and film festivals, comedy clubs, live theater, downtown activity, dance clubs, etc. ... then it has to be Philly.

The others are small cities. Only Philly has the big city energy.

[livelovely]

@PMan: yes, I have a car. I definitely want to take the Amtrak (I believe it's called?) to Philly or wherever just to get that 'city' feel, I guess you could say Lol I'm all excited being as we don't really have any of this in my area of TN.

[livelovely]

Originally Posted by BTA88

I don't know that Lancaster is big enough to have "parts", but the area along 999/Manor Ave between the Manor shopping Center and King Street is a bit sketchy. The rest of the town is just fine. There is a good night life in Lancaster, but if you're a night life person, you'll find yourself driving to Philly or Baltimore after a couple months.

In Philly, be street smart no matter what part of town you're in. Don't pull out your wallet or a wad of cash. Don't make eye contact with the homeless. Basic things that apply to any city. Avoid anything north of Temple University. There are some sticky neighborhoods in other parts of town, but I don't know them all by name so I'll let someone else give you advise there.

BTA88, I can't really say I'm a night life type of person. Honestly this move will be a big adjustment for me.. a single female 9+ hours away from home, I doubt I'll be leaving the house after it gets dark. Lol! From what I've read on many, many postings is that Lancaster isn't too friendly.. at all! Which a lot of the posts I found were several years old, it's still a little frightening to think I'd be considered as an outsider and be completely alone while living here.
Also! Someone mentioned Elizabethtown as being a place to check out? Any word on it? I guess my main concern is safety and meeting people.. along with them being nice.

[BTA88]

Originally Posted by livelovely

BTA88, I can't really say I'm a night life type of person. Honestly this move will be a big adjustment for me.. a single female 9+ hours away from home, I doubt I'll be leaving the house after it gets dark. Lol! From what I've read on many, many postings is that Lancaster isn't too friendly.. at all! Which a lot of the posts I found were several years old, it's still a little frightening to think I'd be considered as an outsider and be completely alone while living here.
Also! Someone mentioned Elizabethtown as being a place to check out? Any word on it? I guess my main concern is safety and meeting people.. along with them being nice.

There was a poster going around this forum bumping up all the old Lancaster threads to bash it. He had a bad experience and wanted to make sure everyone knew about it. I moved to Eastern Lancaster County when I was 15 and after a couple of months I was able to fit in just fine. It's not nearly as insular as its reputation would make it seem. Lancaster is among the fastest growing counties in Pennsylvania, which means there are a lot of transplants.

You won't have any problems in the city itself, if you would have any conflicts, it'd be with older people in the suburbs. Younger people are much more open minded and welcoming than the older folks.

Most of Lancaster City and County are safe.

Elizabethtown is a small college town about 30-45 minutes from the city.

[livelovely]

Originally Posted by BTA88

There was a poster going around this forum bumping up all the old Lancaster threads to bash it. He had a bad experience and wanted to make sure everyone knew about it. I moved to Eastern Lancaster County when I was 15 and after a couple of months I was able to fit in just fine. It's not nearly as insular as its reputation would make it seem. Lancaster is among the fastest growing counties in Pennsylvania, which means there are a lot of transplants.

You won't have any problems in the city itself, if you would have any conflicts, it'd be with older people in the suburbs. Younger people are much more open minded and welcoming than the older folks.

Most of Lancaster City and County are safe.

Elizabethtown is a small college town about 30-45 minutes from the city.

Shew! So glad to hear that! I was worried there for a bit.
Still a tough decision to make. I'm now leaning more toward Lancaster than Philly simply because it's smaller and sounds like it's more 'family oriented'. In other words, safer. haha. All will be decided once I actually see both areas though. Thanks again to everyone who have commented and helped!


Oh, another question. Is Lancaster more of a 'everyone knows everyone' type of town? i.e. has that small town atmosphere, or can I look forward to a more city type environment? Here, in my town, everyone knows you and your business lol. Looking to get away from that, but overall I'm used to it and can deal with it. Hah!