Anybody know about some cities in PA?

[Pistolero]

A friend of a friend, who is currently living in a foreign country which has been trending in very
bad directions has the possibility to transfer their job to the USA, which gives them the possibility
if immigrating. Several possible locations are in places I consider very undesirable and I will not
bother slandering them here. I have my opinions of those area and they are not negotiable for
this purpose, I will not recommend them for a foreigner moving to the USA.

However, if anyone has personal knowledge of housing, general cost of living, personal safety, taxes
and such issues in the following cities, I would like to know more. I am aware that PA has generally
favorable CCW laws, and gun laws, but more education there wouldn't hurt, either. Maybe I am wrong
about that.

The cities are Doylestown, Springfield, Allentown and Exton, all in PA. I believe that I have read that
Allentown has been in a perpetually economically depressed since the steel mills closed, but that is very
old and may not be true. Plus I have read that US Steel is planning on investing $1.2 billion in US steel
mills soon. No idea if that might be something helping Allentown or even one of these other cities
economically or not.

Thank you for any info.

Bill

 

[Ian]

JWFilips lives in PA.

 

[JWFilips]

Hi Bill.
I live in NE Pa: That is Anthracite Coal country; Most of the deep mines closed in the late 50's because The miners in Pittston broke through a ceiling and right above was the Susquehanna river! You can look it up on the internet is was the "Knox Coal Mine Disaster" Because this was midway between the riches deep coal veins it flooded all the mines from south of Wilkes-Barre all the way up to Scranton ( My neck of the woods.)
That hurt industry but it endured with strip mining which really destroyed the landscape!
So the north east has never got out of that depression however extensive highways ( yes we have too many) has had a turn in transport especially with e-commerce. The northern part of PA ( north of Scanton) has had a large economic increase recently with the Natural Gas Industries.
There are some fine little towns north of Scranton that are very nice , friendly places to live. (Clarks Summit, Dalton, Newton-Ransom, Tunkhannock, etc)

This is a similar thing with Allentown; All the steel mills closed but now there is much talk about them opening again!
Allentown is only 1 hour north of Philadelphia so Most of their economy is feed from Philadelphia companies employment.
I think you meant "Easton" not Exton........ Easton is east of Allentown Same as Allentown

Doylestown is midway between Allentown & Philadelphia.
I don't have numbers or you but they can be found on the internet with a Town search

I can tell you that all of the mid size cities are fighting major gang influx from New York and Philly!
It gets worse every year. All of the towns you mentioned along with the ones up by me ave it increasing. North of Scranton is still rural and quaint

Maybe it is just me ( living in the Scranton area my entire life) I like all the mountains and woods around me!
Not fond of the southeast Allentown south to Philly (too flat) low rolling farm fields

Not sure if anything of this is a help?
Maybe I could answer specifics? Each towns Chamber of Commerce website can give you the "Number Specific" Statistics answers ( But I do not always personally agree with those)
Jim

 

[Pistolero]

Thanks, JW. I got a good bit of info off of the web. The issue is that they MUST work with one of the
existing locations for the existing company, no choice in that. The key is to get a job offer in the
USA, which lets them come here and work. Then over time, I think that perhaps they may possibly get
more permanent paperwork, but I have no idea how that works. I am sure that if they come, they will
figure it out.

That gang thing is NOT good. But, all the other choices for cities are IMO, FAR worse in NY, NJ and Conn.
And they are shooters. Guns are far more sensibly treated in PA, as far as I know, than in those other three,
esp NJ. AFAIK, only PA has Shall Issue Concealed carry of all those states.

They will have to choose themselves, I gave them some basic info about median income, median home cost,
and location and demographics from the web. Allentown demo information was problematic, IMO, but I'll say
no more about that here.

Bill

 

[JWFilips]

Well Now I uderstand their situation:
Yes PA does have less trouble makers ( For now) then the boardering States you mention
If they are shooters, PA is a great state. Plenty of Gun Clubs......State Game Commission public ranges and also a lot of State Game Lands to hunt on.