Best Area to Live - Young Professional Working in Malvern

[Patmcpsu]

My wife just finished working at Vanguard. We live southwest of West Chester borough and it was a tough commute for her; however, if you live in the borough, north of it, or east of it, you would have a decent commute. You would need a car to commute from West Chester, but it's the obvious first place that comes to mind for you. There's lots of new apartment complexes there, and old row houses converted into cheaper apartments. You can walk to/from bars full of twenty-somethings. There is no real supermarket within downtown, but if you have a car, there will be multiple supermarkets along your commute.

Other places in consideration:

• The Main Line towns have the benefit of the train, but they're more family oriented and more expensive. The only people your age that are living there would be kids out of college who are still with their parents. Even though your commute wouldn't require a car, you would still want one for day-to-day life.
• Manayunk isn't far by distance, but I-76 is notorious for traffic. If you're willing to risk hours in traffic on any given day, it's otherwise fine. Lots of walking-distance bars full of younger people, and affordable.
• The dark horse I would also suggest is Town Center at King of Prussia. It's a little bit artificial-feeling but it has all the amenities you need are right there. You will need a car for your commute, but your commute would be a breeze (You might be able to forgo the car and rely on Uber, even). There are technically bars in walking distance, but they're mostly restaurants first and bars second, with little actual "partying".
• There are apartment complexes right by the Vanguard Campus. They seem expensive, they seem to have no nightlife in the immediate area, but they otherwise check all your boxes.

Unless you're living in downtown Philadelphia, you'll be hamstrung without a car. If you're living in Philadelphia, unless you can tolerate a longer transit with transfers, you would need to live within a select few train stations in the most expensive parts of the city.

As a piece of general advice, when you're right out of college, the biggest challenge is time management. Waking up at 6:30am every day to be at work by 8am is a major adjustment from college. Likewise, getting home at a reasonable hour, having dinner, and finding time for the gym at some point is an ongoing battle too. Your commute will be your biggest hurdle in finding a schedule that works.

Again, my recommendation is to live in West Chester borough, or slightly to the north or east of it.

[Fireshaker]

The shame of Malvern is that while there are a ton of companies in the vicinity, virtually none of them are located near any of the adjacent rail lines. Some companies do run shuttles from Paoli station to the office campuses, and there are some connecting buses as well, but overall it's a tough, lengthy transfer process that makes it really tough to recommend taking the train.

More realistically, you're probably going to have to drive.

And if you do, I'd stay clear of the city. Living in the city core is going to make for a miserable commute. And even a farther out neighborhood like Manayunk is still quite a hike from the 202 corridor, so you'll still hit a ton of traffic and have a pretty rough go of it. (Not to mention, getting in and out of Manayunk at rush hours can be pretty awful in and of itself.)

I would echo the West Chester suggestion, because it checks most of your boxes--nightlife and activities for 20-somethings (although since it's a college town, you may outgrow some of the options quickly), as well as ease of commuting. It does NOT have good access to the city, though, so if that's a priority, that area may not work for you.

Some other options to consider:

Conshohocken is a neighborhood that attracts a fair amount of 20- and- 30-somethings. It's not the most robust nightlife area, but there are some decent options, and it's much closer to Malvern than Manayunk is, so you'll miss a lot of the I-76 traffic. It also has a direct train line into the city, albeit a longer one (35-40 min ride).

Phoenixville is a borough that's very close to Malvern. It probably skews a bit older and family oriented, but it's main street has really exploded with a lot of restaurants and bars and such, and there's a lot of new development. The main downside is that it doesn't have a train line of its own anymore, so getting to the city might be more difficult.

[b-nasty]

Throw me in as another vote for West Chester. One of the things you realize as a young adult is that it makes sense to optimize for your work-life rather than your play-life. That is, you'll be overall happier if your daily commute is short, but you take the train into Philly occasionally for the nightlife.


If you're able to find a spot in WC borough, you'll be able to walk to the bars during the week after work to grab a beer or talk with people. If, on Friday/Sat nights you want to head into Philly, you can drive to one of the nearby train stations and ride in. The only downside here is that you'll be a bit like Cinderella: the last train back to Malvern usually leaves the city around midnight-1AM.



There's no perfect solution here. The nightlife in WC is not going to compare to what's available in Philly, but it might be good enough most of the time. Likewise, there isn't a location near the city that will allow you to get to Malvern without a long commute.

[Mr. Map Man]

Can't go wrong with any of the places that have been suggested. I'll try to summarize quickly:

- Manayunk: A+ nightlife for recent college grad, affordable, longest commute, old housing stock
- Conshohocken: B nightlife, pricier, medium commute, old houses and large apartment complexes
- King of Prussia (TC): B- nightlife, highest cost, short commute, large apartment complexes
- Phoenixville: A- nightlife, affordable, medium commute, old housing stock
- West Chester: B+ nightlife, affordable, short commute, old housing stock

[rowhomecity]

I would narrow it down between West Chester and Manayunk and it really relies on how comfortable you are with an hour + commute.

When you factor in your commute time during the week, you most likely will feel quite tired and more pressed for time to really enjoy the social benefits of living in the city on weekdays. But on the weekends it will definitely be more valuable to live in Manayunk as you can take advantage of all the social activities the city has to offer during the day and are an easy commute to Center City for its thriving nightlife.

West Chester you will find your week days much more balanced since your commute will be manageable, but you might start to find that while an interesting college town, West Chester only offers so much in its scale in terms of nightlfe and might get bored quickly of it, yet you are too far isolated from Center City to take advantage of its social scenes on a weekly basis, and are generally limited to daytime activities.

As a 20 something I am going to go ahead and say go for Manayunk. While your weekdays will be much more scheduled and regimented, you will find lots of value in living in a popular neighborhood along with easy access to enjoy all that Center City has to offer day and night.

Growing up in my 20s in the city was an invaluable experience and I could not imagine living anywhere else.

[NewtownBucks]

I wouldn't write off the Main Line as completely old and stodgy with just families and no young people. I lived there when I was 22-24. Lived in Ardmore and worked in Wayne. There are lots of colleges right in the area. Villanova is obviously the biggest, but also Bryn Mawr, Rosemont, Haverford, Eastern, and Cabrini, plus many entry level professional jobs in Malvern and other places along the Main Line, so there are more 20-somethings in the area than people here are letting on. I never had a problem finding friends or something to do. I'd recommend looking towards the city from Malvern, closer to Ardmore or Wynnewood or Narberth. The commute to Malvern from that area isn't too bad once you learn the back roads to stay off Lancaster Ave, and you'd cut a lot off the train ride to the city.

[Pennsport]

Originally Posted by rowhomecity

I would narrow it down between West Chester and Manayunk and it really relies on how comfortable you are with an hour + commute.

When you factor in your commute time during the week, you most likely will feel quite tired and more pressed for time to really enjoy the social benefits of living in the city on weekdays. But on the weekends it will definitely be more valuable to live in Manayunk as you can take advantage of all the social activities the city has to offer during the day and are an easy commute to Center City for its thriving nightlife.

West Chester you will find your week days much more balanced since your commute will be manageable, but you might start to find that while an interesting college town, West Chester only offers so much in its scale in terms of nightlfe and might get bored quickly of it, yet you are too far isolated from Center City to take advantage of its social scenes on a weekly basis, and are generally limited to daytime activities.

As a 20 something I am going to go ahead and say go for Manayunk. While your weekdays will be much more scheduled and regimented, you will find lots of value in living in a popular neighborhood along with easy access to enjoy all that Center City has to offer day and night.

Growing up in my 20s in the city was an invaluable experience and I could not imagine living anywhere else.

Completely agree. Unless you need to be home at 6:30 every evening to watch Seinfeld reruns, suck up the commute during the week. Hit the gym either at work (if they have a facility) or find a Planet Fitness or something close to your work so you miss morning rush. You'll never skip the gym which is nice, you'll stay focused on work during the week, and your weekends will be awesome. I mean, nothing is really exactly jumping Monday - Wednesday anyway and Thursdays are even getting taken over by Sundays as hot social days. You really won't miss much during the week.

Also, to rowhomecity's point, living in a major city is such a great experience for so many reasons - even if just for a year or two.