Should I move to Philadelphia? It's the city of brotherly love

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1
Should I move to Philly?
  • Fuck yeah!
  • Hell no!
  • All I know is my gut says maybe!
  • Have you considered Hawaii?

0 voters

Hi dopers,

I have the option to work remote from anywhere in the US. My wife is currently interviewing and is more likely to get a remote job than not from the looks of it, which is nice.

We currently live in Miami but my hun is not a huge fan of driving, and Miami is not super walkable. She woul like more asian grocery stores and I would like more asian restaurants. It’s impossible to get a decent banh mi or coal fired korean bbq over here.

We are looking to move somewhere and buy a house after a 1-year rental period. We don’t need good schools because our children will organically learn from the internet*.

I’m told the weather is comparable to NYC, and i’ve lived there a year so I know what to expect in that regard. The property prices are much lower than miami. We’re shooting for a 2/2 dwelling. Chinatown sounds like a prime spot.

Neither of us has visited the city, and we do plan on doing so before moving, but then again, covid is happening, and our lease expires in July, so we might not be able to travel there and might have to just rely on your feedback and roll them dice :smiley:

How bad could it be, right? Cheese steaks are delicious, even if they’re probably not as good as a NYC chopped cheese.

* I’m just kidding. we don’t plan on having children. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

#2

If you lived in Buffalo or Cleveland, my answer would be different, but I could never in good conscience recommend a move from Miami to Philadelphia. The food, overall, would certainly be better, but weather is every day.

#3

Please do not move to Hawaii. (Says the man who moved back to Hawaii 4-1/2 years ago.)

#4

Keep in mind that the cost of living in a city, any city, is higher than it is in less-populated areas. Ordinarily, this is mitigated by the jobs in cities also being higher-paying, but if you’re both working 100% remotely, that wouldn’t be an issue.

Of course, cities have many other advantages, but then again, so do rural areas. So it really comes down to, what do you want from the place where you’re living? Access to good Asian food is a start, but there are a heck of a lot of places in the US where you can get that.

For instance, do you want pro sports teams? Museums? Live theater? Good weather, and if so, what do you consider “good”? Good air service, or road access, for when you go on vacation? Park spaces, for close-to-home recreation? Scenery in general? Easy travel to visit family, and if so, where do they live?

#5

Clean air and fast internet (cable or fiber) and decent weather are musts. What is decent? California weather and nevada weather were nice. Virginia and Seattle weather are probably better than NYC but even NYC was acceptable. Minneapolis was too cold for me. I feel like NYC is a good ceiling on coldness :slight_smile:. I would like to see the sun 6+ months of the year. a grey sky for over 6 months a year sounds depressing.

Decent cost of living (Otherwise, we’d live in NYC or CA) and some night entertainment options to use a few times a year (comedy club, live music) would be nice.

Most cities have parks and live shows and we can get our fill of museums traveling so those are not deal breakers.

We travel (well used to) but don’t go hiking or camping. We’re city people. We’d probably enjoy having a small fruit garden but an apartment is fine too. We have some plants on the balcony now.

So yeah, pretty generic.

#6

So yeah, it can be done. But without any Philly connections are you sure? My niece met a Philly guy in Fla, she and he moved up dere they stayed 3 years, kids came they moved back to palm beach

Look at Chicago, too. Vibrant, lakeshore

#7

Maybe Houston or New Orleans if you don’t mind humidity and serious heat in the summer. Great food (especially NO) and relatively low cost of living. Both are big driving cities, though.

I love living in the DC area (lots of great Korean food), and there are relatively cheap places you can find to live on the metro line. Not as cheap as the above, but not outrageous.

#8

Of course, one option is moving to the Philadelphia suburbs, rather than living in the city itself. You could find a place on the train route, so you can get into the city when you want.

#9

Maybe look at a state that does not have state income tax. I would not wish Texas on anyone, but that was one nice thing about the place. Austin can be pretty cool, not at all like West Texas where I was stuck.

#10

Just keep in mind that the towns “on the train route” are called the “Main Line” and are some of the wealthiest towns in the country.

I’ve been to Philly a bunch of times for work and to visit, but it’s been years since my last visit.

It’s ok. I much prefer New York, Chicago, or Boston.

#11

Only on the Main Line. Several other train lines run to lovely and less expensive townships.

#12

Philadelphia and its suburbs have much to recommend them, and if you’ve lived in New York and Miami then you’re already familiar with the good and bad parts of living in a major metropolitan area. I’m not specifically familiar with the Chinatown area, and I certainly wouldn’t move to Philly just for the food. The weather is indeed similar to NYC, with cruel freezing windy winters and hot humid summers.

I’m not sure Philly would immediately come to mind if someone said “I want to move somewhere - where do you recommend?”. But it’s fine, and there’s some lovely countryside not far away (plus you’re within driving distance of NYC, Baltimore and DC).

#13

And you’re on the Northeast Corridor train line, so Washington, Baltimore, New York and Boston (and even New Haven!) are a train ride away.

#14

I live in the northwest Philly suburbs, and I’ll give my thoughts:
–The city has a wage tax of about 4% which can be a lot of money on top of the state flat tax of 3%. The suburbs mostly have a wage tax of about 1%. The claim is that the high Philly city tax makes the property taxes lower, but I am skeptical about that claim.
–Living in the suburbs and using the train is viable, but not as useful as a city like NYC. On the weekends (and maybe off peak weekdays), the trains may only run every hour. For two people on the weekend, it is often quicker and cheaper to drive. Driving into Philly is not that bad (off peak and weekends), and parking is not too expensive.

#15

I was born and raised in western Pennsylvania, but lived in Filthydelphia '86-'90. I haven’t gone back to visit since then, as nobody held a gun to my head and forced me. I hated everything about Philly other than cheesesteaks and street pretzels.

#16

Okay, now I wasn’t going to mention the sobriquet “Filthadelphia.” I went to college in the area and believe me, at the time it was much better than Baltimore, the nearest city to where I lived before college.

#17

I haven’t spent much time in Philly (despite having grown up in PA - I was near Harrisburg) but one thought from a recent visit to pick someone up: Parking may be a huge problem in some of the more walkable areas. The house we were going to didn’t even really have road access - there were barriers making it nearly impossible to get a car down the alley to the house, and there was no parking available anywhere within blocks.

So, whatever you consider, weigh that factor assuming you want to keep a car.

I’d put a plug in for the Washington DC area - which has a number of very walkable areas in the city and/or in the closer-in suburbs. The weather will be better in the winter than further north, and better in the summer than further south. But this week is not the best time to tout moving to the DC area!!

#18

I was born in Philly and lived there for 25 years. First thing I will say is that you probably don’t want to live in Chinatown. It is under the Ben Franklin bridge and by the Vine St. Expwy. My son lived for two years in Germantown, halfway between two Septa train lines, each of which goes directly to Suburban Station walking distance from Chinatown.

It would be quite expensive, but friends live in a gorgeous condo facing Rittenhouse Square.

#19

I like visiting Philly. Living there? No thanks. The nice parts are very expensive. It can go from nice to bad to horrifically shitty within a couple of blocks. Live somewhere nice and visit as a tourist.

#20

Have you considered the West Coast? From your OP, if you could afford it, San Francisco would be your ideal city. Walkable, good mass transit, some of the best (and most diverse) asian cuisine in the country, but if you have to ask how much the houses cost, you can’t afford one.

What about Portland? It’s a foodie city, the climate is relatively mild, and they have pretty decent mass transit between walkable sections. I haven’t looked at housing prices, but the last time I talked to someone who moved there from California, they were considered low.