Best place to move to? Lancaster, Harrisburg, Reading or Philadelphia? (Millersville: high crime, neighborhoods)

[catdog2022]

Can you suggest any great towns, that are very safe, nice community, great schools, not a large school district, that wouldn't be more than 1.5 to Baltimore? Less time is better. Affordability is a factor, looking to spend give or take 290-350K max for home? We would like to get a little closer to shore within 3 hours, but spend less in housing than west chester county, it seems very costly out there. Thanks in advance!

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by catdog2022

Can you suggest any great towns, that are very safe, nice community, great schools, not a large school district, that wouldn't be more than 1.5 to Baltimore? Less time is better. Affordability is a factor, looking to spend give or take 290-350K max for home? We would like to get a little closer to shore within 3 hours, but spend less in housing than west chester county, it seems very costly out there. Thanks in advance!

Gettysburg, perhaps.

[digitek9]

lots to do in philly

[Gigi2013]

I don't know if it's too late to post (I read that you will be moving in Fall 2013, if I am not mistaken). I live in University City which is in West Philadelphia. It is a nice area. I would not move past 49th street and Baltimore ave, Chester ave, Spruce St, Pine St, Walnut St (basically any of the cross streets with 49th street). Since it sounds like you want to be around probably young professionals, I would really look between Center City and 43rd streets of the any of the cross streets. Now, once you go past 50th street, the neighborhoods get sketchy and you can tell the difference.

hope it helps

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by livelovely

The options are Lancaster, Harrisburg, Reading or Philadelphia - or any place close to these areas.

A little bit about me, I'm moving from Knoxville, TN, I'm 21 years old and will be working as a retail merchandiser and was given this list of cities to chose from. The move won't happen until this fall, but I'm trying to get a background on each city to see which will be best. Overall I'm hoping to keep rent under $750.00, and still be a safe neighborhood. I love to shop, travel and enjoy the city, but would prefer a more scenic area - but still within 20 minutes of everything. I plan on visiting PA this summer for a few days to get a better feel of the towns, but of course I really can't decide from just a few days there If anyone has lived in these towns, or visited before, please give me some background on them. Thank you!

Given your rent requirements, I would either:
a) live within 20-30 minutes of a terminus of SEPTA rail. That way you can drive to your locations, but you can also take the train for work, or on weekends and nights for some big city liveliness.

b) Live in Harrisburg. Although parts of Harrisburg are very dangerous, forum members swear by that the restaurant district is the liveliest small city nightlife in Eastern PA. You can also take an AMTRAK train on one of it's frequent trips to Philadelphia.

[Evergrey]

The choice is clearly Philadelphia.

[DreamingofNYC]

livelovely-

I was born and raised in Lancaster, PA and LOVE IT. So I am obviously very biased For me, Lancaster is anything but boring and is the perfect mix of city and small town feel. Downtown Lancaster just keeps getting better. The city is huge on arts, music, nightlife, and multiculturalism. The first Friday of every month is an arts festival where people are literally everywhere, live music playing, art galleries debuting well known and little known artists. Basically any night of the week you can find some type of trivia or live music happening at the bars around the area. Trendy, unique new restaurants and bars are opening all the time in the city. Each month there a "taste the world" food tour that goes around the city where you get to sample different types of food from local restaurants. There are plenty of selection bar wise as to where you will like to go on the weekends if you want to- most people try them out and pick their favorites and those tend to be where you will frequent with people. Also definitely a great selection of cafes to hang out at in the city. Best part of Lancaster City- Central Market. When you visit, you have to go. It's ranked in the top 10 farmers markets in the WORLD and is the oldest market the United States. It's open Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. Lots of people buy their groceries for the week there. Tons of local farmers and businesses, as well as really unique stands. It's an incredible atmosphere and really a gem.

And, in my opinion, Lancaster City is very safe, as long as you stay in the right areas, which any of the nightlife/market/restaurants/nice residential areas will be in. If you are thinking about living downtown private message me and I would be glad to help you out! Basically, anything north of king street and east of queen is generally nice. Areas around Musser Park are very pretty! Also, anything in the northwest city around Franklin and Marshall College is definitely nice and very safe and I would consider the "trendier" part of the city. You would ABSOLUTELY find a nice apartment in your price range in that area. However, lots of young professionals choose to live in townhouses or condos outside of the city in more scenic areas off of route 30 and 283. There are plenty of great areas to choose from there and definitely safe, scenic properties in your price range with other people your age living there. All of these would be within 20 minutes to city.

Tons of shopping in Lancaster as well- Park City is a pretty big mall. Plus the outlets line Route 30 and literally have anything you can think of. For travel, the amtrak train is right in downtown lancaster, with easy access to philly, harrisburg, nyc, boston, and many others. Closest airports within an hour are Harrisburg and Philadelphia. As far as friendliness goes for people in Lancaster, I can't speak for that since I am from here. However, I do know a lot of people in their twenties that are not originally from lancaster but chose to move here, because they visited and liked it so much. I think finding groups to connect with helps, potentially finding roommates with similar interests, joining the YMCA (which is gorgeous and right downtown) would help to meet people.

You may have made your decision already, but I definitely wanted to post my opinion since I love it. Feel free to message me if you have any questions!

Also- just so you know I'm not the only one- Gallup posted last year that Lancaster was the #1 place in the country for overall well being. http://www.gallup.com/poll/153095/un...wellbeing.aspx
Another Gallup poll had Lancaster as #23 in overall wellbeing for Metropolitan areas. http://cdn1.hubspot.com/hub/162029/2...-Composite.pdf

Best of luck!

[burnsie1983]

I have never lived in any of the cities the OP asked about, but have visited all of them. I would rank them:
1. Lancaster
2. Philadelphia
3. Harrisburg
4. Reading

I have a sibling who moved to Lancaster a few years ago, and they have had no problems making connections within the community. In my visits down there I have found people to be friendly enough.

[2cre8art]

Philadelphia: As a native New Yorker I would say this city is similar to NY at a human scale. Friendly people, lots of bars, restaurants, galleries, you name it, Philly has it. [URL="about:blank#"]Fairmount[/URL] Park, one of the largest parks in the world and larger then NYC's Central Park is a must, it runs along the river with great jogging trails and paths. The Squares, [URL="about:blank#"]Rittenhouse[/URL], Logan, Washington, Franklin are great to people watch and have concerts and movies during the summer. The Museums are amazing, and has the museum mile along the BF parkway, all in all, Philly is a place which one doesn't get bored. Regarding apartments, I own a multifamily house in the center of the city and out of your budget, though if you search now, you may find something affordable before the college students take them. Also, city is easy to connect to other places cheaply, they have trains to the beaches of NJ and the [URL="about:blank#"]mega[/URL] bus which for as little as $1 they take you to NYC, Boston, DC.

Harrisburg: I would say it is a small version of Philly, the city is adorable, it is built along a river with great scenery and a small island called City Island which hosts sports and culture events. The city is filled with pubs and restaurants, though lacks culture and being a State capital, it is deserted on weekends and comes to life on week days. Regarding rents, you will have lots to choose from. If you get bored of this city, it is close to Baltimore, MD and there you can go to get your fill of a real town, though pretty dangerous.

Lancaster: [URL="about:blank#"]Oi[/URL] [URL="about:blank#"]Vey[/URL], if I could turn back time I never would have ended up in this arm pit of a city, here people are friendly to a point and then look for ways to stab you in the back. The natives call this place [URL="about:blank#"]Lankistar[/URL] and will correct you if you pronounce it correctly. Nothing to do here other then to nurse your hangover because all people do here for fun is drink, drugs and gossip. No museums worth while, the parks are lame, nothing to do, the downtown area is deserted always and the restaurants are minimal. Regarding scenery, miles and miles of corn used for methanol, several Amish buggies parked at [URL="about:blank#"]walmart[/URL], and the occasional police horse roaming the town. One thing Lancaster can boast, it has the largest concentration of White Trash this part of the world. They are real pretty blue eyed girls, 18, three kids, one black, then they graduate to [URL="about:blank#"]333lbs[/URL], beat their kids while smoking [URL="about:blank#"]newports[/URL] and then take a break to drink their [URL="about:blank#"]biggie[/URL] size sodas. Further, for such a small town they have a ghetto and a fairly large amount of drugs amongst their young...Remember, you will have fun here, though when the hangover is gone, you will realize their is not much to do here other then to lick your wounds.

Reading: Beautiful downtown, though it's a ghetto, perhaps the saddest story in this part of the world, not certain the rest of the town. It does has a beautiful mountain park with a pagoda, other then that, I would avoid this place.

The verdict:

1. Philly- great 24 hour city, a must visit
2. Harrisburg-small Philly a bit quiet weekends
3. Lancaster-unfriendly geographically isolated
4. Reading-sad, sad, sad

[livelovely]

Originally Posted by burnsie1983

I have never lived in any of the cities the OP asked about, but have visited all of them. I would rank them:
1. Lancaster
2. Philadelphia
3. Harrisburg
4. Reading

I have a sibling who moved to Lancaster a few years ago, and they have had no problems making connections within the community. In my visits down there I have found people to be friendly enough.

How is your sibling likely the area so far? Positive reviews I hope