Good suburbs in Philadelphia (York, Radnor Township: real estate, apartment complex, city hall)

[bml123]

Hi,

I am planning to move to Philadelphia from UK. Please can you let me know some good suburbs in Philadelphia with low crime and good schools with families living in the area.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by bml123

Hi,

I am planning to move to Philadelphia from UK. Please can you let me know some good suburbs in Philadelphia with low crime and good schools with families living in the area.

There's a sticky in this forum with a set of questions. Answering them will help us all answer your questions better:

Questions for Future and Potential Residents and general information

Oh, and: Welcome to the City-Data forum, new member!

[bml123]

Thanks for the message. Please find my answers below. Please suggest good suburb areas with good schools, families and kids
When are you moving? in the next 6 months
Where are you coming from? UK
Why are you moving? Job
Where will you be working? In the downtown
Have you been here yet? No

Will you buy or rent? Renting initially
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend?
If renting, are you looking for an apartment, a townhouse or loft? How much can you spend? townhouse or apartment - upto $2500
Do you prefer hi-rise or walk up?

Do you have a preference of living in a NJ or PA suburb? PA suburb
(If you answered NJ - post your answers here: //www.city-data.com/forum/new-j...-philadelphia/)

Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married, 2 children
Do you prefer public or private schools? public school
Do you have pets? No
Do you want or need a yard?
Are you keeping a car? yes
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? calm

What do you want to be closest to? school, work, shopping, Train in the order
Work
Shopping
Basic services (supermarket, drugstore, etc.)
Nightlife
Train or subway stations

Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? preferably families with children

Favorite Beverage - Craft Beer, wine, water? water

[MarketStEl]

Well, the Main Line is the first area that comes to mind given your answers.

The communities that comprise it all fall into some of the region's best school districts: Lower Merion, Haverford Township, Radnor Township, Tredyffrin-Easttown.*

And several of them (Narberth Borough, Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Wayne, Malvern) have downtowns centered on or next to SEPTA Regional Rail stations. However, the residential districts surrounding those downtowns are quite tranquil and quiet.

If you plan to rent initially, I'd add Wynnewood to the list of communities to consider. It happens to have a very well-thought-out apartment complex called Maybrook, built on the grounds of a Main Line grandee's 1881 mansion (still standing) right next to Wynnewood Regional Rail station. On the other side of the station sits the Wynnewood Shopping Center, a 1950s enlarged strip mall that isn't really that difficult to walk to.

I assume you want a two- or three-bedroom residence. I think you should be able to find two-bedroom residences for $2500 or less per month, but I'm not so sure about three-bedroom ones. Which brings me to my caveats about this recommendation.

1. The Main Line contains all of Philadelphia's toniest suburbs. Thus its housing will be on the pricey side.
   
2. Because of how and where the schools are situated, you probably will not be able to find a house where both your kids can walk to school and you can walk to the train there — you will have to choose one or the other.

Two other suburbs that might fit your criteria better are Media and Jenkintown.

Both the Rose Tree Media and Jenkintown school districts are quite good.

Jenkintown's serves only the borough itself, which is fairly compact. Its Regional Rail station — which has the best service of any station outside Center City — lies on the borough's east edge and is shared with Wyncote in Cheltenham Township, but it's only a 10- to 15-minute walk from it to the town center along Old York Road, and the most direct route passes right behind Jenkintown High School.

Rose Tree Media includes several of the townships surrounding Media, but it has a grade school right in the wedge-shaped borough of Media, the Delaware County seat. About 55 percent of Media's housing stock consists of rentals, and rents there are not as high as they are on the Main Line. Most of those rental properties are owned or managed by Media Real Estate, a family-owned firm that's heavily invested in the borough's success (it also owns or manages most of the commercial real estate on State Street, its main shopping strip — AFAIK, the only suburban Main Street in the country with a streetcar running down its middle; travel time from Media to 69th Street Terminal, where you'd change for the Market-Frankford Line to head into the city, is 30 minutes, plus another 15 for the MFL to City Hall. Or you could walk to the Regional Rail station just outside the borough on its southwest side; the train from there to Center City takes about 30 minutes total, and it's a 10- to 15-minute walk from the Regional Rail station to State Street.)

"Everybody's Hometown" (Media's nickname for itself) has an old-timey, small-town feel that I suspect you'd find highly appealing.

Hope this helps for starters.

*I should note, however, that I take a contrarian view on "good schools" — I wrote a semi-autobiographical article for the 2019 Schools Issue of Philadelphia magazine that argued that most parents will find that their kids can do quite well in that "mediocre" or "bad" public grade school in a city neighborhood. Now, my own mother didn't follow the advice I dish out in this article, but I explain why she didn't and why I'm recommending what I recommend at the end of the article.

[FindingZen]

Most of Philadelphia's suburbs are good to great places to live...but MarketStEl hit the highlights for the best you can get with your rental budget.