much needed help. (Pittsburgh, Lancaster, Harrisburg: transplants, homes, construction)

[greg onez]

Hey. I have no idea about PA, but I am thinking of relocating to start a family. My job has offices in the following places. We would like to be as close as possible to both upstate NY as well as NYC (3-5 hour car ride).
Cranberry Township
Harrisburg
King of Prussia
Lancaster
Montgomeryville
Robinson
West Homestead

[cltcqeen]

Cranberry and Robinson Twsp. are both in western PA. Robinson is near
Pittsburgh International Airport and Cranberry is about 25 miles north of
Pittsburgh. Cranberry is a very nice suburb.
West Homestead is also around Pittsburgh so
if you wanted to stay closer to NYC, you shouldn't pick these.

[William shivers]

king of prussia and montgomeryville put you about 1.5 -2 hours from nyc. both areas are nice KoP is centrally located right by the major highways. Montgomeryville is a bit more north and west not as much traffic as the KoP area.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by greg onez

We would like to be as close as possible to both upstate NY as well as NYC (3-5 hour car ride).

Cranberry Township---a northern suburb of Pittsburgh. Very nice area within the greater metropolitan area of Pittsburgh. The drive to NYC is 6+ hours. The drive to western upstate NY is 3 hours.

Harrisburg---located in central east Pennsylvania near the turnpike. Harrisburg is a large rural town and the state capital. All news is about agriculture and state politics. The drive would be about 3 hours to NYC and the same for upstate NY.

King of Prussia---this is a northern suburb of the greater metropolitan area of Philly. It's a nice area and the closest location to NYC at 2 hours. The drive to upstate NY would be about 3 hours.

Lancaster---rural area located south of Harrisburg. This is a very nice area where the Amish live. The commutes would be about the same as from Harrisburg.

Montgomeryville---not sure

Robinson---a western suburb of Pittsburgh. Very nice area within the greater metropolitan area of Pittsburgh. The drive would be about the same as Cranberry.

West Homestead---run down southern mill town of Pittsburgh. Avoid.



The cost of living is lower in the Pittsburgh suburbs than the Philly suburbs. Harrisburg is affordable too. Lancaster is getting more expensive because it's becoming a popular suburb for Washington DC/Baltimore families trying to escape the high home prices of Maryland and Virginia.

[rainrock]

King of Prussia

[plath]

Hi there,

None of these is going to be exactly optimal, but I would personally pick King of Prussia. There is just more going on there and it's close to Philly if you guys get really bored. It's by far the best (in my humble-bumble opinion) of the places you listed.

That said, I don't know schools in that area if that is a concern. Lancaster probably would be good, but you know it's a lot of farmland and Amish. I LOVE THE AMISH PEOPLE, but they are pretty insular (in good ways for them, but bad, I'd think, if I were relocating...)

s

[danwxman]

Harrisburg is a reasonable option, 3 hours from NYC, growing area with lower cost of living then most places on that list. More and more NYC transplants moving into this area. This area was recently named one of the best in the nation to raise a family, great suburbs with great schools and very little crime.

[openless]

Harrisburg is about 175 miles from NYC. Let me tell you, the drive is okay, 14 miles on i-81 north, until you get to i-78, it's nice for the first 30 miles or so, then it starts to get very bad, lots of bumps and ruts and very very heavy truck traffic. It's smoothe sailing until you hit allentown's suburgbs (trexlertown, emmaus, etc) there has been construction in and around there for the past three years, once you get past them you're in new jersey. You really need to watch out there, the nj state police are all over the place (in pennsylvania you might never see them, they are sometimes near allentown and harrisburg, but that's it. most of the nj drive is okay, just watch your speed, the closer you get to the city, it becomes 3 and then 4 lanes, but you need to watch out, the traffic is crazy. I usually go to edison, nj, which is i-287 south, but sometimes i go to manhattan or flushing. It takes about 3 hours depending on how fast you go.

[toobusytoday]

Montgomeryville is in Bucks county and the schools are very good but very large and traffic can be horrible, probably just as bad as King of Prussia. I think where you live depends on your priorities.

Schools were our number one priority. For our last three moves we got out a map and made a circle of twenty miles around where my husband worked and then found the best school district within that radius. I absolutely hate traffic, everyday traffic where you have to think about the best time to go somewhere just because of traffic so a more rural area would be a number 2 priority. If the schools are just as good in a more rural area, I would absolutely choose the more rural area. We also looked into the growth area of a school district. It's not advantagious to move into an area that is experiencing rapid growth if the school district can't keep up with it. What good are great schools (on paper) if the kids are in modular trailers and classrooms have over 25 kids in them?

I think it's very important to realize what your priorities are and what kind of quality of life you want. If you want good schools, great shopping, don't mind lots of traffic then Mongomeryville and King of Prussia might suit you fine.

[caren]

Montgomeryville is in Montgomery County not Bucks County