Submitted by AutoModerator t3_10v4uwx in philadelphia
TheBSQ t1_j7iyqbd wrote
Reply to comment by Mental-Winner7358 in Moving Mondays - New Resident Questions by AutoModerator
Are you planning on sending the 5 year old to public school?
If so, the elementary school catchment should probably be the basis of your search.
Here’s the Philly School finder:
https://webapps1.philasd.org/school_finder/
And here’s some school ranking sites:
https://www.publicschoolreview.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/elementary#
And, generally speaking, the good catchments are in safe parts of town, although many might be too dense if you’re looking for something with a bit of a suburban vibe.
If school isn’t an issue (eg, paying for private), then ignore it.
From the sound of it, I’d say maybe West Mt. Airy. Chestnut Hill and “up the hill” East Falls have more a more suburb type feel that you want and are safe, but you can’t always assume the “nicer” neighbors have decent schools.
Honestly…it’s tough. I used to work for the city and many of my co-workers left purely to escape the residency requirements as you get such an increase in school quality, safety, and “bang for your buck” with housing if you can cross that county line, especially if you want a house with more space, a yard, etc.
The other option is the far north east. It has a totally different vibe than the rest of the city. The stereotype is that it’s more of a Blue Lives Matter / Trumpy area, although many here may argue that’s not accurate (or perhaps that appeals to you). It’s a little disconnected from the rest of the city. There’s people for whom it’s the right spot, but there’s also a lot of people who just don’t vibe with it.
And finally, here’s the city’s interactive map of shootings. I’d recommend switching it to 2022 since 2023 is so new (and summer is worse for crime). That’ll at least give you some sense of the geography of where crime tends to be.
Mental-Winner7358 t1_j7jfg0r wrote
Thank you so much for the well thought out response. This is all very valuable information for us. That gun violence map is very demoralizing tbh. It looks like there’s really no part of the map that doesn’t see some sort of a shooting.
As I mentioned we are coming from a town where you can literally leave the doors unlocked, car running when going to a store, etc. I’m use to all of it coming from Southern California, but my family sure aren’t.
It looks like according to that data that the Far Northeast sees the least amount of shootings. That said, without getting too political, we certainly would rather choose to not be near “in your face” trumpers and those with similar ideology. I’m not seeing too many options for us tbh.
Schooling, we are looking for a little more atypical options like Montessori, Philly Free (type), etc. so the public school system isn’t a deal breaker for us.
It’s a 6 figure job with full city benefits. It opens the door for future opportunities elsewhere. Passing on it would be very disheartening for me. I’d want to make it work but so many signs are pointing in the opposite direction. Gah
courageous_liquid t1_j7le6az wrote
Mt. Airy and Chestnut hill are definitely more suburban and overall very safe. They're also full of 'crunchier' parents from my personal experience.
You should go check it out to do due diligence, at least, as I think it'll be different from what you're thinking. I have a few friends who live around the Upsal station on the chesnut hill west line and they seem to be quite pleased. I tried linking you a google maps link, but automod deleted it. Check that area out on street view.
[deleted] t1_j7lcmbr wrote
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