Any help in narrowing my search would be appreciated.

Contact Abner. She lives there.

Pinger-oo

You will love Philly. You can get to NYC, Baltimore or DC with ease. The history is awe inspiring and the King of Prussia Mall is to die for. Congratulations, it's a great town.

APB.com crime rates by zip code

crime.com crime rates by zip code

Thanks for the hint Joe.

Abner, any ideas?

My mom used to live there. There is a good train system and subway system. Figure a one hour commute to center city. City schools are no good, but lots of Catholic and other church schools around. Suburban pubilc schools are okay. Don't drive unless you have to. There are still some nice city housing in the NE section, but find someone who still lives there, since things change.

First, I'll assume that you will be working in Center City.

The electric commuter rail system that connects the suburbs to Center City is one of the best in the country. If you're working downtown, live near one of those SEPTA Regional Rail lines, and you can avoid a terrible automobile commute over the city's two expressways (Schuylkill & Delaware) or local arteries to the narrow streets of Center City and the scarcity of parking places.

If you live in Jersey, make it a point to live near the Lindenwold Line. This 65mph line will get you to Philly over the Ben Franklin Bridge reliably and without pain. (The line offers 24 hour service.)

If you want to live in Delaware, live near the Regional Rail line that uses the Northeast Corridor and makes a number of stops in that state.

If you're working in a suburb, ignore everything I've said and find a place to live near where you work. The closer, the better.

Stay out of the Philly city limits for a place to live. That is Rule #1 no matter where you work.

We moved from Illinois to New Jersey in 2000. I had gotten a job in New York City, and we were considering suburbs in NY, Conn, and NJ. I found the Homefair website very helpful. It has a couple of search engines that allow you do things like compare potential communities to the one you live in now, compare school districts, compare salaries, estimate moving expenses, things like that. (And I was able to get all the info or leads I needed without having to pay a cent or reveal any info about myself I didn't want generally known. So you don't have to sign up for stuff if you don't want to).

Public transportation is pretty good in and out of New York City, and I would expect pretty good service in and out of Philadelphia, although I don't use it myself. The information will be available on the web. I was able to discover, for instance, that the commute on the Morris & Essex line of New Jersey Transit (the old Lackawanna line for you railfans), best suited my needs.

My guess is that, if all other things are equal, the tax situation would be simplest if you can live in the state in which you work.

New Jersey's gun laws are bad, but not as bad as New York's. NJ is the home of the Million Mom Fraud, if you'll recall. Pennsylvania has a lot of people who live in the woods and love to hunt.

Best of luck to you!

Two caveats:

1) It's difficult to buy good food downtown (there aren't a lot of specialty food stores), and
2) The state of PA controls all alcohol sales, and the selection in the state stores really stinks, so if you're a wine connoisseur, you'll have to cross the river into Joysee.

Good point. On the Jersey side of the river, there are huge liquor superstores on US 30 and NJ 73. Jersey has private enterprise liquor like California, and you can't beat the prices or the selection.

THanks. My husband will be working on Market Street, which I believe is Center City. I haven't been in Philadelphia since 9th grade and all I remember is the Franlin Museum.

How about the average housing costs? We're coming from Denver suburbs where average price is now about $230,000.

PA:
Good Gun Laws (CCW in 15 days for $20 - shall issue)
Low State Taxes (2.5%)
The Govenor, State House, State Senate and Supreme Court are all Republican

NJ
Only if you know a judge will you get a CCW
Assault weapons ban
High State Taxes (around 7%)
The state government just turned all liberal democrat (ie it is going to get alot worse)

Stay out of Philly if possible (wage tax =5% plus high auto insurance)

Well alot depends on what you want to spend on housing .. insurance and other stuff .. I'm in Montgomery Country and I have to say I am very happy here ..

I agree with the poster about the Philly Public School .. they are really that bad .. the Catholic Schools are good .. and you don't need to be catholic to attend

If you go outside to the burbs .. well that opens up a lot of things .. many areas have nice homes, neighbors, schools and parks ..

As for the poster that mentioned King of Prusia Mall .. it does have many many stores to shop your heart out .. just don't go on a weekend .. it's a MAD HOUSE .. lol

Lots of luck

The power of Free Republic is amazing.

He found out about a week ago and I've been doing online looking since. There are a lot af junk sites to wade through.

I thank you all for your help.

Oh Betty Jane.....I just made a big mistake.....meant to send that by Freepmail!!!!!!!!

Stay out of Philly if possible (wage tax =5% plus high auto insurance)

I was born and raised there ... and I have to agree .. if at all possible .. move to the burbs .. LoL

That's good to know. I was looking at Chester schools and they have a couple of Charter Schools that look interesting.

I'll give you a call when I know more. Doing business with Freepers is good Business.