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Thanks in advance for your help.
My husband and I are looking to move to Phoenixville in the next 4-8 months. The reason we settled on Phoenixville is because my parents live in spring city (so they are super close) and we love older homes and a walkable area and good schools. We do not have jobs in the area yet and we have a few more questions. Mainly which cities to look for as far as jobs go so that the commute is not terrible. My husband is in the finance/accounting field and I am a social worker. Any info on the Phoenixville schools is appreciated. Crime rates in different areas of Phoenixville etc. We are mostly concerned about the commute to Philly where most of the jobs seem to be (of course).
I answered the questions below to hopefully give you a better idea of what we are looking for. If it matters, we are mid 20s-early 30s Thanks!
When are you moving? 4-8 months
Where are you coming from? Fairfax, Virginia
Why are you moving? to be closer to family, walkable area, better area for potential kids
Where will you be working? Good question....
Have you been here yet? Yes, we have visited a few times but only during the day and have not tested any commute etc. Mainly eaten at restaurants and looked at a few houses.
Will you buy or rent? Buy
If buying, are you looking for a house or a condo? How much can you spend? Single family home/townhouse. up to 300k but much prefer to stay under 200k
Do you have a preference of living in a NJ or PA suburb? Phoenixville. or suggestions for other areas very similar.
Are you married or single? Do you have children? Married. no children yet but likely in near future
Do you prefer public or private schools? Public school (or private if someone is willing to pay : p )
Do you have pets? Yes one lazy dog
Do you want or need a yard? Prefer a small yard
Are you keeping a car? Yes, at least one, likely two
Do you prefer bustling activity or calm and quiet? In the middle. We have lived in manhattan(too busy) and fairfax (not walkable enough, all fun activities require driving).
What do you want to be closest to? Spring city (parents), areas with good employment opps, restaurants, shops, parks, schools.
Do you want to live with people of a similar age, race, religion or sexual preference or do you prefer a diverse neighborhood? Child friendly, otherwise it doesn't matter too much.
Coke or Pepsi? COKE. the hubs is from Atlanta originally.
Hello! Phoenixville resident here! Since schools are a major concern of yours I came to share my experience with PASD. Personally, I think it is really an incredible school district, particularly at the high school level. I am a high school senior bound for the University of Pennsylvania this coming fall, so I can tell you exactly what PAHS is like. Stats-wise, Phoenixville does pretty well for itself, but you have to go beyond that. PAHS is making big strides forward; sometimes I wish I was a little younger because I'm jealous of all the newer and better resources, classes, etc, that the younger kids are getting. PAHS is really really supportive of its students and their endeavors. While at PAHS I helped to start a club that has brought 50+ kids to D.C. Williamsburg, and Princeton for Model United Nations Conferences; I helped organize a 12 hour dance-a-thon last year at PAHS to raise money for cancer (we raised about $8,000); I went to Atlanta as part of the Academic team for Nationals (We came 128th of 256, expecting to break 100th this year in Chicago); I love the open-mic coffeehouses we host every couple months or so too. Those are just a few of the MANY things I've done at PAHS that would not have been possible without the support of the school.
I have friends from Phoenixville going to Duke, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, UPenn, Brown, etc... Of course there are a fair number of kids with plans for community college, or none at all too (as with every high school). Kids can get into really great schools from Phoenixville. It is the perfect environment for a student who is willing to work. PAHS will put into you, what you put into PAHS... if that makes sense. I have nothing negative to say about my time at PAHS. The school has allowed me to experience things I never would have otherwise. I don't think the stats (granted still good) are a totally accurate reflection of the opportunities at PAHS, as I believe certain socioeconomic factors bring them down a little bit.
As for elementary schools, the school district currently has 2 very good elementary schools and one good one Barkley's performance is lower, and, since it hosts more student from lower-income families, has a reputation of being the "bad" school. I hear that has changed since my elementary days however. The district is planning on creating a new elementary school soon redrawing the lines, so all that could change anyway, presumably for the better.
As for you job and commuting, I know many people who commute to Philly and it is, as it is most places, a pain. Phoenixville is further from Philly than a lot of suburbs and to get to the main highways that take you to Philly you have to either: a) go up to Collegeville and take 422 to King of Prussia, or b) take rt. 23 through Valley Forge to KoP. Neither way is fun during rush hour admittedly, but you'll find that to be the case most anywhere around Philly. No major highways go through Phoenixville which is both a blessing and a curse IMO. It retains the town, yet makes for a little bit more challenging of a commute. For me, the benefits outweigh to costs. There is SEPTA bus service in town but no train.
Well anyway I wish you good luck in your search! I really think an area by Reeve's park would do you well, particularly bounded by Washington Avenue and Manavon, between Main and Starr streets. It's more single-family homes closer to Manavon, and more townhouses closer to Washington. Most have small yards, are near two parks, a few minutes walk away from downtown, a large grocery store, diners, cafes, etc... Give it a look on GoogleMaps and see how you like the area! If you want to talk more about the area I'd be glad to discuss more, just comment again! I know this town like the back of my hand.
I lived in Phoenixville for about 6 years until recently moving to Bucks County. It was mostly always a temporary stop for me, but there were certainly times over the years when I contemplated more permanency. I lived outside of the borough but worked within, and I will be honest in that the decision to finally move was predicated on the things I saw and heard down there.
I don't have any links or stats for you, simply my own experience to draw from. My daughter attended East Pikeland El, which is ranked among the top 60 elementaries in the state, per School Digger. Small, GREAT school. She had a wonderful experience there. Friends with kids at Schuylkill and Barkley had very positive things to say. The high school is also good and has accumulated some honors. The middle school, however, is another story. The facility is new and absolutely beautiful, but is not highly ranked and I have heard of and seen behavioral problems. Working in the borough in the social services sector allowed me to see a lot of this first hand.
The borough itself has experienced a bit of a renaissance over the past decade but seems to have reached something of a standstill. However, residents of neighboring towns do visit Bridge St., where most of the trendy shops and restaurants have sprouted, in droves on weekends so that may say something about attractiveness of the area. There are a LOT of drugs in Phoenixville. Again, something I have knowledge of based on years of working in the area. This is not conjecture or rumor-spreading--it's a big problem that may have been worse in the past but is still an issue. However, if you stay in the right areas at the right times--I wouldn't walk around the borough after 11pm on weeknights, 12am on weekends--you'd be fine.
There is a lot to love about Phoenixville. It's close to shopping in KOP, Exton, etc. and the shopping plaza on Rt. 29 in Collegeville has an amazing Wegmans, a Move Tavern, a Kumo, and other great establishments. Valley Forge park is breathtaking and is probably one of the things I miss most about living in the area. Running, biking, hiking, picnicking are wonderful there. People are pretty friendly and housing costs are reasonable with mid-range taxes. I did not commute to Philly so I can't say much about that.
there are drugs at conestoga and it's one of the best high schools in the state, always top 3.
some facts: pville's population grew about 12% between 2000 and 2012. median income is $55k, above average for the state but still middle class. an average age of 35 means there must be kids. crime seems to have peaked in 2005 and declined since https://www.city-data.com/city/Phoenixville-Pennsylvania.html
I wasn't talking about kids using Mommy and Daddy's percocet. There are hardcore drugs on the streets of Phoenixville--heroin, crack, etc.--and the problem is still not well enough contained to ignore. Working in the substance abuse field, I have too much knowledge of this sad problem and it became very overwhelming to know what I did and continue to raise my family there. I was just offering my experience.
The middle school is ranked #244 of 848 PA schools. No, it's not terrible, but it's not great. Certainly not as highly ranked as the high school.
I wasn't talking about kids using Mommy and Daddy's percocet. There are hardcore drugs on the streets of Phoenixville--heroin, crack, etc.--and the problem is still not well enough contained to ignore. Working in the substance abuse field, I have too much knowledge of this sad problem and it became very overwhelming to know what I did and continue to raise my family there. I was just offering my experience.The middle school is ranked #244 of 848 PA schools. No, it's not terrible, but it's not great. Certainly not as highly ranked as the high school.
heroine and cocaine are available at top ranked schools as well, not just "daddy's percocets." the proportion of kids who use them may be a bit different though. schools whose towns have a range of incomes wil haev lower ranked schools than places that have high end incomes. It doesn't; however, mean that YOUR kids will perform worse. I didn't criticize you for your move, just posted some facts.
Pman is entirely correct. Hard drugs are available everywhere. Kids Great Valley High School, ranked higher, has more of a drug problem than Phoenixville does. They don't call it Pharm-High for nothing...
Thank you all for the replies. After some more research I am concerned about two things: drugs and thinking perhaps that Phoenixville has reached a standstill as far as revitalization. I know drugs are everywhere but after talking to a renter in one of the houses we were looking at, it sounds like this is definitely something that concerned her. Also, any thoughts on wether Phoenixville will continue to grow? New shops, restaurants, train, etc? While I like aspects of it now, I think we really like the area based on the potential it has. However, if that potential is never realized then I am not sure if this is the place for us. Thanks again for giving your input : )
I helped organize a 12 hour dance-a-thon last year at PAHS to raise money for cancer (we raised about $8,000);
mdah... Why would you consider raising money for cancer? Are you trying to spread it? I think it would be helpful if PAHS taught its students proper sentence structuring....
Thank you all for the replies. After some more research I am concerned about two things: drugs and thinking perhaps that Phoenixville has reached a standstill as far as revitalization. I know drugs are everywhere but after talking to a renter in one of the houses we were looking at, it sounds like this is definitely something that concerned her. Also, any thoughts on wether Phoenixville will continue to grow? New shops, restaurants, train, etc? While I like aspects of it now, I think we really like the area based on the potential it has. However, if that potential is never realized then I am not sure if this is the place for us. Thanks again for giving your input : )
I think it will continue to grow, albeit slowly. I wouldn't want it to grow at rates the Sunbelt cities grow at because frankly, fast development is often haphazard and shoddy. I know of a plan to build 350+ apartments off Main Street, so that's one thing. That would be on one of the still many parcels of land from the old Phoenixville Steel Mill. There are new homes going up on the North side of town as well. With more people come more shops and whatnot. But like I said, it's a slow process. I wouldn't expect a train anytime soon; I wouldn't say that's due to a lack of demand, but rather due to a lack of state government willingness to fund public infrastructure. There was a Phoenixville Streetscapes project earlier this year that made some nice improvements to the downtown area too. The neighboring townships (part of the same school district) are growing as well. Crime goes down in Phoenixville every year it seems as the older group of troublemakers seem to either go to jail or... I don't know. I think many of the people who commit crimes in Phoenixville are leftovers of the poor generation that went through the steel mill shutting down and the subsequent poor local economy dragging into the 90's. I hear that even now, the kids in elementary schools now are a lot better than we were (I'm a 12th grader) , as it seems greater proportions of them are coming from families that are well off, or at least not like... pretty poor. And so with time, that will mean a continuing reduction in crime rates and ht town will get better and better. So will it reach its potential? That depends on your expectations, but I see it only going up.
Also in regards to the person saying PAHS should teach its students proper sentence structure, it's the internet, I'm not worried about sentence structure! Haha I'm going to UPenn next year so I'm pretty sure they taught me just fine!
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Not a bad place to live
I think it would be helpful if PAHS taught its students proper sentence structuring....
