Commute is 100% doable. If you're down to take the train, 45 minutes is a fairly generous radius around Philly.

Housing is in a wierd spot, it's still cheap for a major city, but I think anything new has sort of outpaced itself a bit. If you're not looking to buy new, I still think much of philly is a solid bargain, and there's some interesting architecture as well. Manayunk/Roxborough are still relatively well priced for the combination of safety and things to do.

> Parking is either plentiful but expensive or non-existent. There is no in-between.

Pretty neighborhood dependant here, I've been street parking in Manayunk for 3 years now, and I've never had to walk more than 2 blocks. South Philly would be a different story. If you need to drive yourself around a lot for work, I wouldn't recommend south philly, more CC neighborhoods like rittenhouse, grad hospital, etc. are a bit better, but you could still realistically end up with a 5-6 block walk if you get home late.

If you want to live in the burbs and can swing it, Wynnewood, Bryn mawr have a pretty lively "mainstreet" feel around lancaster (the road, not the city) and have a good mix of restaurants, bars, shopping, etc. No high rises or anything, but there are apartments and condos are reasonable pricing. The area around Villanova is also fairly lively. All those area's are extremely safe and traffic is honestly moderate.

I haven't spent a significant amount of time in every suburb, but I spend a fair amount of time in the mainline neighborhoods close to the city, they definitely have some areas with a mainstreet feel, I'd personally feel pretty safe biking around them as well, you can accomplish nearly all your errands within biking distance in those areas. Traffic is nowhere near as bad as DC, even on 76. Winter is probably pretty comparable tbh.

> I'm worried about the level of crime. My work can involve going to people's homes and businesses, not always in the best neighborhoods.

That's a somewhat legitimate concern.