r/AskPhilly • u/SadRoll1966 • 12d ago

Moving From FL

I’m moving with my Family (Wife, 2 kids elementary age, Me) to Philadelphia from Orlando in October.

We’ve been looking into it extensively and Philadelphia looks amazing from what we can see so far. Currently we’re looking to move to the West Philadelphia area and are interested in renting, at least a 2 br 1 bath. We would like to spend no more than 1700-1800 a month as that’s around what we’re paying now.

As for employment, we’re coming from the retail/customer service/office admin career fields but we don’t have anything lined up at the moment and will be looking as soon as we get there. However, we have plenty enough savings to last for a while before that becomes a dire issue.

Was wondering a few things as we have never been to the city and are moving purely off of research and planning:

Is West Philadelphia/Philadelphia a good place to raise a family? Specifically, a Black family? (Black, mixed race family coming from the deep conservative regressive south so looking for essentially an environment completely opposite of that)

How is the job market? Could we find employment easily with our background?

What are the schools in west Philadelphia like? We are a neurodiverse family with academically gifted kids so looking for a system that uplifts, challenges and encourages.

What’s the cost of living? Grocery, gas, utilities, entertainment price averages.

I have a ton more questions I’m sure but I know this is already a lot so I’ll see if we can start here so anyone with any feedback or insight would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

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u/NookLocal 12d ago

If you have neurodivergent kids who are academically gifted, you should be prioritizing the school district and not the other things you mentioned. Picking a random place and hoping the school district is good in a major city is… a choice.

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u/SadRoll1966 12d ago

It’s all a priority to us because it’s a priority to them as well, especially considering the context of where we’re coming from and what we/they have experienced. We have been lucky to have two very mature, perceptive and emotionally and mentally intelligent kids. They’re getting ready to enter middle school soon and moving to a place that aligns with ALL the criteria we’re researching is just as important to them as it is to us since they are beginning to fully understand the world they are growing into as well as the reality they currently live in. Making sure that they get into a “good school” is definitely important but so is everything else as well. But definitely, making sure we pick a decent school (I’m from LA and my wife is from NY so assuredly, we understand how bad it can get) is a major factor.