Lancaster - city vs suburbs, safe vs sketchy, other questions (Philadelphia: low income, HOA)

[Max and Catriona]

Hello, I posted in the main PA forum https://www.city-data.com/forum/penn...food-safe.html and now have some questions about Lancaster.

What are the nicest suburbs of Lancaster? Lititz? How is that pronounced by the way?

Anyone familiar with Mount Joy? How would you describe it?

What are the lowest-crime, safest parts of Lancaster and where are any "sketchy" areas where crime is more common?

Is weather in the Lancaster area a little more mild than some other parts of the state?

Any neighborhoods in the region that have been identified as cancer clusters or other disease clusters?

Is there another city (in any state) that is similar to Lancaster / reminds you of Lancaster?

Thank you.

[Jessie Mitchell]

If by "nicest suburbs" you mean the highest incomes/home prices/ranked school district, then that would be Manheim Township (not to be confused with the town named Manheim.)

Not familiar with Mt Joy

The most gentrified sector of Lancaster City is the northwest - often referred to as Chestnut Hill - which has more nice/renovated/genteel properties.

The weather is definitely more mild than northern areas in the state, and those with higher elevations, which do get more snow and the snow lingers longer. In Lancaster it does occasionally snow. Not much or at all really in recent years though. The weather is more mid-Atlantic than Northeast.

Not aware of any cancer clusters. Lancaster county does have a fairly widespread issues with radon (easily mitigated in homes if owners want to install the venting), but curiously has a lower lung cancer rate than other PA counties. I think this is probably attributable to less smoking, what with our relatively large Amish culture, affluent retirees and professional people.

There are some upscale suburban towns on the outskirts of Philadelphia that are charming in some of the same ways, but much more expensive. Perhaps other people can reply with more ideas for you about other places.

Lancaster is charming and really a nice place to live if you like small lively cities, but it definitely has that old eastern town grit-factor. Many parts of the city have dilapidated homes, litter on the streets, and so forth. That would be far less true in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood which has been pretty thoroughly gentrified. Most other neighborhoods in the city are moving in that direction too, some more quickly than others. I see from your other post you're shooting for around $300K and feel strongly about aesthetics. In Lancaster you may need to go somewhat higher than that if you want to be in the nicer parts of the city. Housing is hot here and the competition is still high even where it has calmed down a lot in other places. In some of the city's other neighborhoods that are still in the process of gentrifying, but not quite as far along as Chestnut Hill, you might find something nice for that figure. Still won't be super easy though, just to give you a heads up.

[Max and Catriona]

Excellent info Jessie, thank you so much!

There is a condo building in Lancaster called Clock Towers, I've seen some listings for 2 bedroom 2 bath units asking $165,000. Does anyone know about the area (Wheatland Ave / Columbia Ave) or this condo complex? https://www.clocktowers.org/

It looks relatively close to Chestnut Hill.

Here are the condo listings:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...il/M4476139296

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...il/M3920652119

[Max and Catriona]

If anyone reading this has been to both Lancaster and Easton PA can you tell me how they compare to one another?

[Jessie Mitchell]

Yes, those condos are in the old Hamilton Watch Factory. I don't know anything about them really. You should go on Reddit to the Lancaster sub and ask there. You might be able to get more specific information about the quality, density, management and so forth.

The Wheatland area is generally quite nice. It's sort of a transitional area on the immediate outskirts of the city proper. Hamilton Park which how the general area around there is identified is mostly nice homes, some fancy homes, some modest homes, less dense than the very urban density of the city proper, but very adjacent to it.

*Sorry I can't offer any insight on Easton. I only drove through it once when I was doing what you're doing --looking at various potential places in PA to move to. I didn't get much feel for it and didn't have time to really go discover the essential core or character of it. Also with my grown kids both living in NYC, Lancaster's Amtrak station won me over.

[SeagullG]

I'm considering retiring in Lancaster City. I realize that, yes, there is crime everywhere, but can anyone comment on the crime trends in Lancaster City? Philly, where I live, has a soft-on-crime DA; don't want to get into a political discussion here. Just wondering whether this same attitude pervades Lancaster politics as well or if crime is taken seriously, ie, is it both fought and prevented? Do the police arrive when called? In Philly, it's variable.

[Jessie Mitchell]

I haven't had a crime related interaction with the police, but my sense from local social media is that, yes, they will show up. Lancaster is so much smaller than Philadelphia. Just the scale of the crime issues are really tiny compared to Phila.

That said, there are shootings here sometimes but virtually always between people known to each other who have some kind of beef. Unlocked cars often have items stolen from inside them. Unlocked bikes are stolen, even when in back yards and such. Shoplifting is probably similar to other cities this size.

I live in a somewhat "transitional" neighborhood (partly gentrified/middle class, partly run down/low income), and I would not say it is unsafe, but will say I would not walk around alone at night because I might feel a little unsafe... and who wants to feel like that? So I don't, but if I had to for some reason I very likely would be perfectly safe. Sense of safety is a pretty subjective thing. A lot of unease is based on our past experiences, our conditioning, our expectations, the information we consume, and just our sense of personal vulnerability. In a more gentrified part of the city I would feel perfectly fine walking around at night. Mine is just a little less gentle than that.

But I think the police are basically fine, although you'll hear complaints about them from people who think they're too soft and people who think they're too mean.

[SeagullG]

Thanks, Jessie.

[JT-3]

Jessie covered everything.

Clock Towers units are pretty cool, great location and to my knowledge has a strong "community" inside. Almost bought one for MIL. I would pay attention to the monthly HOA cost when looking at that place. (it does cover insurance, some amenities etc....) Some units have extra storage lockers which I would find appealing for bikes etc.

We've visited Easton just once for the Crayola Crayola factory tour for the kids and it seemed like a nice town, we walked around and then had dinner. But that was the only exposure.

Lititz is pronounced "Lit-ehtz"...., and Lancaster is pronounced "Lan-kiss-ster" ...depending on who you ask.

Crime here is not on a Philly level, we are way smaller. Inside the city or in the burbs where the townships also have individual police departments.

[SteelCityRising]

Pronounce Lititz "le-****" like I always do.