I am an Erie native and have lived in Philly for nine years now After moving away, I fully realized what a bubble Erie is. Over here, people can’t even find Erie on a map and are often surprised to hear that it’s in the same state lol. It’s not the Midwest, but feels more like the Midwest than part of PA, culturally, anyway. There’s just so few people out there relative to this side of the pond, so it’s much less urbanized and is behind on a lot of things. There isn’t much of a food scene or anything I would consider cultural. Overall, it is a good place to grow up and has a tight knit small town feel. Homes are affordable and the cost of living is pretty low. Recently it seems they’re experiencing a bit of a small business “made locally” renaissance, and I’m happy for them. The beach and Presque Isle are truly treasures.

Overall though, it’s definitely isolated from the rest of the state, especially culturally. A lot of people never leave, and it’s small enough that you may see people you went to high school with at the grocery store with their kids. There are only a few major employers and not a ton of good paying job opportunities. It’s extremely Catholic and there is relatively little diversity, which is something that has really stuck with me since leaving. I was on the beach there this summer and noticed it was 98% white people, for example. There’s a lot of POC in the city, but the city is widely considered “dangerous” and IMO, incredibly stigmatized and under funded, left to rot in a sense, which is a shame. There have been attempts to revitalize downtown, but overall it’s largely not very interesting and changes have been minor comparatively speaking. Most people live in the suburbs because it’s “safer” and schools are better (accurate. Unfortunately Erie has one of the worst school districts in PA). You definitely have to drive everywhere due to it’s suburban nature. Forgot the snow. Ever seen lightning during a snow storm? If you are not a winter person, it would be hard to adjust to the amount of snow that falls there.

So is it a place to be? Not exactly. It has everything you could ever want, but it’s definitely not interesting and pretty homogenous. My world view has grown dramatically since leaving and the things I have experienced in the Philly area are eons above anything anyone in my family has ever done.

I am not shocked. Who is shocked? Asking for a friend…