Which town to live in/around in Southeast PA? (Philadelphia: fit in, home)

[laplace_demon]

Hey all. I'm from Bucks County, born and raised. I'm about to graduate medical residency and look for jobs as a doc around the southeast PA area. I like Bucks County, but I feel like I may need a little bit of space from where I grew up. I was thinking somewhere around the Main Line, or near it. Lived in Bryn Mawr for a time. What's the area like in that stretch between the Main Line and Reading? I'd love to live in the middle between the Main Line, Bucks County, and Philadelphia (for example, around Warminster), but whenever I have to get through that area, the traffic is soul-crushing.

Just looking to hear opinions/experiences. I've considered living in South Philadelphia, but I'm not quite sure if that's my style or if I'd socially fit in. I sincerely love Pittsburgh, so beautiful, but everyone I know is around the Philly area. It's a bit oxymoronic to look for a younger crowd outside the city, but if there's areas with younger people, that'd be great.

For reference, I've lived in Bucks County, State College, Erie, Pittsburgh, the Main Line, and Sayre. If I could get all in one somehow, I would.

[MarketStEl]

Even though you left it out, I'd also give some thought to the Delaware County suburbs along the (R3) Media/Wawa Regional Rail line, in particular Swarthmore and Media.

Media IMO has the best suburban Main Street outside Bucks — its only peers are Ardmore and Doylestown. (New Hope is a special case and sui generis.). It has both Regional Rail and light rail connections to Center City (the latter requiring a transfer to the Market-Frankford Line at 69th Street Terminal, but this also gives you an excuse to stop by the H Mart supermarket there to stock up on Asian ingredients and foods). It has a great restaurant scene, and I think the borough has brought back "Dining Under the Stars" on summer Saturday nights. It also has a performing arts center housed in an old vaudeville/movie house.

If you envision flying out of PHL often or regularly, it will be easier to get to it from Media than from any of the other locations you are considering, though traffic on the Blue Route can be a real PITA at peak hours.

Swarthmore has a smaller, quieter downtown, but it does have the famed liberal-arts college as an anchor. Said college recently built an inn right across from the downtown and just steps from the Regional Rail station that includes an excellent restaurant (or so I've heard).

[Tweb66]

Reading, its being part of Philadelphia is universally agreed upon.

[toobusytoday]

I don't disagree with MarketStEl, but focusing on the traffic and wanting to stay semi-close to friends and family, have you considered the Lehigh Valley? Our biggest employers are the hospitals, and we also have a lot of colleges. The traffic isn't nearly as bad and we're just about equidistant to both EWR and PHL airports, depending on where you live in the valley.We also have the the Phillies and the Flyers feeder teams up here with newish arena's/ballpark, and they are easy to get tickets to. If you are back home now, why not wander up to Bethlehem and look around? We lived in the Philly area for several years and really like it up here. https://bethlehempa.org/