I am Brazilian, and my daughter has just moved to Pennsylvania for a job at a multinational company. She and her husband are currently staying in King of Prussia but are looking for a place to live in Phoenixville.
If there are any residents or anyone familiar with the area, I would appreciate recommendations on the best locations for them to settle down, as well as information on how safe the region is.
Thank you in advance!
I’m about an hour and a half west of there. Both those locations are known to be pretty safe in general, you shouldn’t have too much concern.
King of Prussia is a much more dense area and some parts aren’t so great. Phoenixville would be the better of the two in my opinion.
Both locations have a lot to do in and around the areas.
I actually think we have a few users from out that way.
@kilowatts you still live out that way?
I live in Upper Darby, about 30mins from KOP. Phoenixville is a lovely suburban town. It has Blobfest, Firebird Festival, and a film festival.
I don't care for King of Prussia that much, but only because of the traffic and the mall. But Valley Forge National Park makes up for it.
Both are very safe places to live, so nothing to worry about there.
We lived about 10-15 min from both those towns (sort of in the middle) until we moved to our vacation place in Maine during Covid. I still have friends and employees who live in the area. Both are very safe. KOP has really built up over the years with a LOT of new retail and housing. Phoenixville is an old mill town that has revitalized itself and now has a lot of nice little restaurants and shops and as others note, some fun things for a young couple to do (we always loved the Firebird Festival in December). They're smart to look in Phoenixville but the downside is no train into the city, which can be handy, and traffic in and out of Phoenixville has always been a pain. But that's really the only major downside. Depending on where their jobs will be there are many other nice towns nearby and Chester county has long been the wealthiest (and one of the safest) counties in that area. The county seat, West Chester, is a small university town that is amazing as a place to live (even more restaurants and always things happening at the university). For a young couple, that whole area is great. It ended up having too many people for us as we got older and wanted a rural life (we bought an old blueberry farm in a town of less than 1,000 people) but for young professionals, they're making great choices.
Don't know about the region, but since we have the right In America, I would say they should get training, and learn how to not be a victim, or just blissfully hope for the best. Apparently not many fans of the constitution in here.
Remember-when seconds count- the police are only minutes away
To set @marcusvrsilva’s mind at ease, 85% (the overwhelming majority) of Pennsylvania’s population hasn’t found a pressing need to possess/carry a firearm. This reiterates the point made by others in this thread that King of Prussia and Phoenixville are safe places to live and work.
I want to wish @marcusvrsilva’s daughter and son-in-law a safe move and hope they enjoy their time in the US. And perhaps they will discover that the majority of firearm owners, like me, are more interested in recreational sport than personal defense.
Related to above, IMHO important to look at transportation options (car, bus, metro/subway, train) where they are planning to live. Traffic only seems to get worse, never better, and my experience is that a long/painful daily commute is a big quality of life killer.
I'm assuming your daughter moved because she isn't working remotely (goes into the office). Make sure to remind them to think about the bite out of their lives that their M-F/9-5 work-commute will take.
Definitely some valid points regarding traffic/commuting.
Where exactly is the work and will they be looking/wanting to drive?
First of all, thank you very much for the informations, @ACKmySYN, @kilowatts and @Madcodger! @Rxich, I believe they will simply hope for the best, once I believe that anywhere in the United States will be safer than Brazil.
My daughter is working in Malvern for a French multinational and works from home two days a week. Traffic can be a bit tricky at times, but rest assured: it will be much better than the chaotic traffic in São Paulo—we live in Santos, 45 minutes from São Paulo, where she was working until now.
As for my son-in-law, he works in IT and will be working remotely from the US for 15 to 20 days a month, and spending an equal amount of time working on-site in Brazil. His company's headquarters is also located there in the US.
Agreed.
but the downside is no train into the city, which can be handy, and traffic in and out of
Phoenixville has always been a pain.
They are talking (yet again!) about re-opening the Reading commuter line with a stop in Phoenixville. The lack of a train to Philly is why we moved out of the area (Mont Clare, about 300' from Phoenixville, walking distance to the old train station) and into Philadelphia when I was working at UPenn. If you only need to commute from there to KoP, it's not bad -- despite the traffic over the bridges.
Working in Malvern makes it easier except on bad weather (snow) days. The back roads down to Malvern are beautiful, and it's a short drive (under 30 min) even with traffic. This is one of the most scenic areas in PA, but with every amenity they can imagine or need. I must have missed the comments/replies about guns and violence from others. I can't say I spent a single minute of the 20 years I lived there even thinking about gun violence in that area, except for one widely reported road rage incident that occurred several years ago. It shocked the area but was considered a complete anomaly. All in all, it's about as good as it gets for a US suburb.
I came to not enjoy living near so many people, but that's relative. If they have spent time in any major city that area will feel almost rural to them. Hope they enjoy it. If you have to live near people, that's a great area to do it.
There was one post above that was flagged as off-topic and has since been edited slightly.
My opinion is that if someone doesn’t live in or (by their own admission) know anything about an area in question, it’s unhelpful (and off-topic) to inject a debate about gun ownership in the US into a discussion like this.
It's a good time to note that gun violence incidents and crime in Philadelphia has been on a down trend for years, and according to the latest stats, homicides are the lowest they have been in 60 years! From someone who has lived here for 22 years I can tell you it's the safest I've ever seen it.