Paparddeli t1_j8ftqrd wrote on February 14, 2023 at 12:05 AM

Reply to comment by ostrich_collateral in Moving Mondays - New Resident Questions by AutoModerator

You can see population density by census tract here: https://mtgis-portal.geo.census.gov/arcgis/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=2566121a73de463995ed2b2fd7ff6eb7

Most of the nicer parts of South Philly are 30,000 to 45,000 per square mile (a few going above 45). Under 15,000 per square mile and close to nature and close to rail is going to be hard. I'd say Mt. Airy or Germantown, but you are dealing with Regional Rail which is relatively infrequent (not like living along the Broad Street Line or Market Frankford Line).

ostrich_collateral t1_j8ge7aq wrote on February 14, 2023 at 2:41 AM

This is a super useful tool that I had no idea existed, thank you! It's so much better than looking at data at the zip code level, which is somehow too large an area and can include multiple neighborhoods with completely different layouts.

I just checked my neighborhood in NYC and it's about 78k/sqm so 30k/sqm feels like a ghost town to me haha.

Paparddeli t1_j8i5c12 wrote on February 14, 2023 at 2:16 PM

This tool is great, I agree.

Having lived in NYC for years, I can relate to the shift. You'll get used to the lower density though.

I don't know if 15k is a good threshold personally (too low) and maybe you'll discover that by looking at census tracts and Google street view that you could settle on a neighborhood with 30k for example.

Also, I wouldn't focus on single family unattached. There was a Washington Post article from a few years ago that showed housing typologies per city and Philly I believe has both the lowest proportion of single family unattached (even lower than NYC) and the highest of single family attached (either attached on both sides or just one). We're a row home city, there really aren't that many apartment buildings comparatively and a lot of the existing apartments are in carved up row homes. Even if you don't like townhomes (attached on both sides) maybe consider twins, which are homes that are attached on one side only.