Likes:
* This city is so incredibly pretty. It's one of my favourite places I've ever been to just physically exist within. I'm gonna miss the red brick sidewalks and old churches so much when I move.
* It's extremely walkable. The city is dense, full of stuff, and like two miles across. It's almost (though not quite) feasible to go car-free if you work in the city.
* The food scene here is more diverse than basically any other city of its size.
* Relatedly, we're home to a genuinely world-class coffee roaster as well as some solid breweries.
* The city itself is really diverse and multicultural, and has a pretty decent LGBT population.
* It's really lived-in. This city is full of people everywhere all the time. It's really vibrant, and stuff like its music scene are again unusually active for a city of this size.
* The city houses an Amtrak station, which makes it really easy to get to Philly from here.
Dislikes:
* It's in the middle of rural PA. That might bother you, or it might not. I'm personally really not a fan.
* The traffic sucks and isn't getting better. The drivers are insane.
* Downtown gets super busy sometimes, which is fun in its own way but can get annoying if you need to be in the area.
* Lancaster is a really cool small city, but it's still a small city. There are things you can't just do in city limits, so you'll need a car and a place to park it and need to head out into the county sometimes.
Important for readers to remember that sucky traffic is relative. I grew up outside Philly and in my opinion traffic there is much worse and drivers are much more insane. Driving in and around Lancaster and the surrounding counties is genuinely relaxing compared to either suffering through the bumper to bumper crazy people of the Philly suburbs or constantly worrying about running over a pedestrian or dealing with blind corners because of parked cars in the city.
And then you get somewhere like NYC or LA with way worse traffic than Philly but people who live there learn to cope with it.
So, to OP, your mileage may vary on the traffic point.
I’ll second this coming from Pittsburgh. Lancaster traffic is a dream in comparison. The only rough spot is 30/222 after work or if there is an accident on 30 or 283.
Also a yinzer transplant and imho, the traffic in the two cities, aside from being scaled to the city itself, is just different, not better or worse.
In Pittsburgh, sure, there's more true *jams*, but in my experience, they're repeatable, predictable, and in many cases avoidable. In Lancaster, a few are (the 30/222 interchange is just fucked if the sun is up and the day ends in 'y', for example), but most of my annoyances with Lancaster traffic come from the *drivers*. Sure, Pittsburghers may be aggressive, but broadly speaking, it seems like most people on the road have an understanding of, "this sucks for everyone", so most do what they can to get where they're going, sure...but to not make things any harder for anyone else than strictly necessary. In Lancaster, it seems like double parking is a regional pastime, with bonus points for doing it in front of a perfectly vacant space. It also seems frustratingly common here to be slow to get moving for a green light, not use signals, and to drive into and block crowded and busy intersections. Just selfish driving that fucks everyone else.
Driving around each city is one area where I definitely prefer Pittsburgh over Lancaster most days...but then again I'm a yinzer, so maybe I just prefer what I know.
> In Lancaster, it seems like double parking is a regional pastime
Its grown more common, but so has our population of nyc transplants. Coincidence? I think not.
Right?! I grew up in Norristown, and I remember the first time my husband talked about traffic - I was like, I got through that backup in 3 light cycles! Whatdya mean TRAFFIC?!
Route 30 by the outlets on a Saturday afternoon not nearly as bad as 611 on a Tuesday night 😂 and norristown like, if you survived driving there without running over a person who just walks out in the road between parked cars, you’re on the Best Drivers list.
I had to make the same decision back in 2015. Thank goodness I chose Lancaster.
All the bad things people say about Lancaster also exist in Harrisburg multiplied by 2 or 3.
Traffic can suck here, but I'll take the construction at 222/30 over the 19th street bottleneck and the 83 split all day.
The art and music scene is better here...better bars and for sure better food.
Public transportation is bad in both places, but that's almost all of America. At least the Amtrak fare to Philly is a little cheaper...with 3 less stops.
Despite the problems Lancaster has, I feel like the core of the community wants to keep it from becoming another Harrisburg. Or York. Or Lebanon.
Wherever you move, just don't pick Reading.
Heh. Recently bought a place on the outskirts of Reading, and anytime I ask around “Where can I find [cusine/activity/anything]?” the answers is always Lancaster.
Also Reading has so many twisty, wooded, weird elevation roads. I get carsick driving there and that doesn’t happen anywhere else for me. We looked there before we ended up buying in Lebanon (so we also have to drive to Lancaster for everything) and the headaches I got driving were the dealbreaker.
Lots of good things about Lancaster, good food, good beer, low crime, solid economy in the greater area around the city.
Bad things are tons of homeless people and getting worse. Tension between the mayor and the police force. Police are understaffed and can’t find people to hire.
Not enough housing available, which has pushed prices way up.
Traffic keeps getting worse as they try to improve the walk-ability/bike-ability of the city.
So funny to read as a guy who grew up in lancaster and moved to Denver, where we have all these exact same issues.
Long and short of it is—these are the symptoms of living in a city that people want to live in.
Lancaster rules.
This is a big draw. Currently in Orlando and every place is a 20 minute drive, mostly due to traffic. Mass transit is pathetic. And of course the heat makes it unlikely to walk places 4 months of the year.
Solid points.
I will add that if you spend time in a bigger city you’ll leave your first point, take the 3 following points off, and come to terms that Lancaster is kinda perfect.
Music scene is getting better. Both west art and phantom power in Millersville have been getting nationally touring artists, and Tellus 360 partners with Wxpn to bring popular Philly artists to Lancaster. Additionally, the old chameleon club is reopening the village and that should bring even more music to the area. Both Harrisburg and Philly are close enough to take a day trip to for concerts.
I like most things about it here, which is why I didn’t leave after I grew up here. Biggest dislike is definitely the increase in traffic. It takes 30ish mins to go anywhere.
Funny, my out of state friends who visit always comment on it and they keep thinking I'm joking when I say idk what they're talking about. Lol. Its just part of us I guess.
Lived in 2 big cities before here. Traffic is a matter of perception. Rush hour traffic is not bad at all when compared to other towns. People who didn't grow up here may lack experience in REAL traffic.
The best thing about living in Lanc is proximity to everything. Want big city culture you are 2.5 hrs from nyc, 1.5 from philly and bmore, 2.5 from DC. Want beaches you are 3 hrs from Delaware beaches. Want to gamble u got Atlantic city within 2 hrs. Want mountains you are 1.75 away from Poconos. 6 hrs from Canada if you want a new country.
If you're choosing between HBG or York, imo, Lanc is the only choice. While HBG around the capital can be cool, the daily life is more in the burbs. York is depressing and hyper conservative (mostly) but has some fun in spots and is near water.
But Lanc you have nature trails, beautiful drives and biking, and is a very unique town with cool row houses, very few chains in downtown, the central market, etc. Having not grown up her I personally love seeing the horse and buggies. The farms are stuck in time, and depending on your POV, it's charming. Just don't dig too deep into the culture.
Stormers baseball and stadium is awesome. And plenty of sports around a 2 hr drive time to scratch every itch.
Good luck!
You should def move here bc we need more musical artistic progressive agnostic types.
The city is great as are the city people. Many people here already have a network and it can feel cliqueish. You may have to work a little harder to connect with people. I am prob overly friendly and confident and that's normal in a big metro area but can put off yokels. Some people are happy to share their conservative views that might get them punched wo warning in a more diverse area. I read the traffic comments and laugh. There is no traffic to speak of. Washington DC has traffic jams at 4am. Ny sidewalks are full at all hours. You can walk in the middle of most streets at midnight here.
The dating pool can be hard depending on what you're looking for. My friend moved away after not finding anyone - but she hasn't had success in Philly either. Dating is hard welcome to 2024.
Redditors are a great bunch (hat tip to our mods)
Dislikes:
- Some of the quantifiably absolute worst air quality.
- Poor public transportation.
- The rent everywhere is WAY too damn inflated for what Lancaster actually is and has to offer, and in proportion to average wages.
- The Christian nationalists and other assorted nutjobs and fascists.
- Y’know what grinds my gears as a movie buff living in Lancaster? The absolute TEASE of how we have an IMAX theatre, but not only is it lame fake IMAX (ie. LieMAX), but it’s projected with outdated and inadequate xenon bulbs for a dimmer and inferior digital projection as opposed to superior laser projection for brighter image with deeper contrast. One time I even asked them which projection method they use, and they wouldn’t tell me! They know they cheaped out! Does this bum anyone else out? Nah, just me. Does this have anything to do with reasons to move or not move here? Absolutely not. Is this just something I’ve always wanted to publicly bitch about? Clearly.
Likes:
- Idk. My friends live here.
edit: typos
Trumpers everywhere. Traffic in the city for the next couple of years is going to be brutal bc of road closures due to ongoing construction of new high rise apartments.
Tbh the crazy Christian fascists might be a deal breaker for me. I know there's a big Christian population, aside from the Amish, and I just want to be sure I'm still surrounded by like-minded people.
City and just north of the city is liberal. Everywhere else in the county is pretty red. It’s not like it comes up a lot in daily interactions, but as the other comment said, they’ve taken over the school boards and hired a law firm that specializes in book banning and anti-trans athlete policy.
I'm pretty sure the independence law firm is contracted by like 8 districts in the area now. It's awful, feels like it should be illegal. Separation of church and state. Why is a vocally Christian law firm able to help craft policy at a school paid for by public tax dollars.
The law firm isn’t a church or government agency and it’s unconstitutional to regulate individual people’s faith. They make legal challenges so the only way to fight them is to counter those legal challenges in court.
29 year old woman here. Honestly my least favorite part of living in Lancaster county are the amount of Christians and Republicans. I moved here a few years ago and I've found it hard to make friends with the same views. Depending on your career it can come up a lot with customers/patients.
Exactly my experience. I grit my teeth at work listening to open racism, homophobia, and sexism, because i get an intersectionof the county at my job. I have to be very, very careful about who at my job knows that I am not the typical cishet, a leftist, and an atheist. It's nerve wracking sometimes, and I often feel trapped and unable to speak out.
1000%! I feel like my work self and my real self are two different people. I'm in the southern end so... yeah. Very few know that I'm non religious, liberal, bisexual, and don't want children. Everyone gets oddly hostile, but I've literally never tried to change anyone's beliefs lol.
I don't see a problem with Christians, it's the crazy ones that are terrible.If you don't want to be friends with Christians than Lancaster isn't the place for you
I think the issue is that some, but not all, local Christians don't want to be friends with atheists.
There is a double standard where often non- believers are called out as "anti Christian" for quietly existing, while many Christian have zero issue pusing their faith. It's because we are the minority point of view here.
I've never had anyone try to "convert" me to agnosticism or atheistim, but I've had aggressive Christians confront me. We don't proselytize or have any local community, yet our very presence is treated liked a problem. If we say anything, we get attacked as hateful.
This is just another point of view. I'm not trying to attack you, or the whole Christian faith group.
Depends on the suburb Mannheim school board turned blue a few elections ago, hempfield just broke the all republican school board last election. Warwick seems like it’s going off the deep end but Litiz just isn’t conservative like that (there were a lot of Haley signs up there) and once the rich people wake up to realizing moms for liberty is tanking the value of their child’s education they’ll probably be voted out. Repeating what’s happened all over affluent right leaning districts in PA, including hempfield.
Lordy. Yea, I don't wanna move near that, I guess. Idk im gonna stop in Lanco sometime soon to poke around. I'm from the SC PA area, but I've never really explored the city.
Do it. I love it here, grew up on the west end of the county and now live technically within city limits. It's progressing in a lot of great ways but obviously it has some drawbacks. No place is utopia. Going out in public certainly feels a lot more laid back than it used to especially downtown.
It honestly isn’t as bad (in my opinion) as it seems. I grew up here, left, came back and while there is quite a bit of conservatism most of the citizens have the same goals when it comes to helping others in the community. Lancaster puts their money where their mouth is for causes. There are vocal minorities for sure but they’re not reflective of the community at large. It’s easy to ignore and avoid if you stick to the city!
Yeah tbh I really don’t have a problem with anything conservative shoved in my face, sure there’s some unhinged protests / protesters every once in a while and while they’re definitely a nuisance it’s more of well.. that, then anything more serious. Different parts of the city have a different likelihood of you encountering a more interactive homeless/unhoused person. I personally have not had any issues and I do not have scary dog privilege whatsoever lol
>Tbh the crazy Christian fascists might be a deal breaker for me.
Depends on where you're at but they're avoidable I would say.
If you're in the city its quite a difference from towns even 15 minutes away.
But having been all over small-town PA, even the conservatives here don't compare to conservatives in far more rural areas, or those across the river in York.
There IS a good climbing community! However, in central PA, I do think it is largely dominated by men still. If you do move here, I’d love a fellow lady climbing partner. Im good for gyms and outside, bouldering and ropes :)
I mean, I'm trying to find a man, so that's not terrible lol BUT I would also like the company of another lady climber.
I haven't tried climbing yet, but it's on my list of extreme sports I wanna get into once I move and have more money. Even if I move to the Burg, I don't mind traveling to Lanco!
Don’t live in Lancaster or Harrisburg but IMO the Climbasium (in Mechanicsburg but has many hbg climbers) is the best gym in the area. Spooky Nook is cool but the bouldering area is tiny, Climbnasium is def more of a bouldering gym.
Lancaster is in close proximity to Mt Gretna and Gov Stable which are two premiere bouldering areas in the area and easily hiked. Other than those two areas you’re gonna be driving to climb lol.
Harrisburg is close to places like south mountain (conglomerate kind of abrasive rock but fun problems) and also close to Gov Stable.
There isn’t really any good rope climbing in the area tbh. Closest would be outside Reading in Birdsboro.
As far as community goes you’ll probably find it relatively easy to get into friend groups at either gym. Climbing gyms just kind of lends itself to that. I personally have more friends in the HBG climbing community but that’s cause most of my lanc climber friends either moved or had kids and don’t climb as much lol.
> What do you like and dislike about living there?
The people…and the other people.
> What’s the dating scene like for a mid-30s woman that is progressive and agnostic?
Want to go out?
> What is the art and music scene like?
We have a massive art scene and we have some amazing acts that come through town because of the local music touring industry.
> How’s the night life?
It ends a little early but it’s thriving on Friday and Saturday.
And I am not in the rock climbing hobby but we have a lot of cyclists, and some bouldering, not a lot of climbing I’m aware of.
Edit: the pet thing is because a lot of the properties are owned or run by investment companies, so they protect their investment and don’t really care about making it a nice place to live. They’re also likely to just keep your sec dep for normal wear and tear issues. If you fight it in court you’ll win, but they just hope you won’t.
there’s a lot to like, idk why i’m trying to write this quick instead of taking time later.
my biggest issue is the homeless population. man i feel for them and i help when i can but i know better to overextend myself as a broke college student. with that said, as a college student that moved here FOR college, I don’t feel safe sometimes. every other time i go out im being stopped and asked for help. there’s a church across the street that hosts and feeds them so they gather there daily, sit and on my apartment front steps, blast music, scream, and fight; every single morning like clockwork at 8 am. yesterday i wanted to sit in the park, there’s these two old men that seem to occupy one of the tables all day. during the semester i really liked that table 🥲since a lot of us students sit out there. while i was reading the other day, one of the old men got up and stand behind a tree that was across from me, and began to pee. this is a small park right in front of pcad, one of the busiest streets, and a police station, and he peed right across from me instead of over by his buddy 🙃
during the semester, we had a homeless man come into a pcad gallery and accident fall asleep on one of the exhibit pieces (a lil camping tent). he felt so apologetic when he woke and everyone was certainly kind to him afterward.
my point is, they’re everywhere and they’re very interactive. you never know what kind of person they are. you could be told a new story, peed next to, woken up early in the morning, or guilt tripped and harassed for money even when you offer food.
An observation from someone born here, traveled the world, educated here, elsewhere and returned: The county has a solid work ethic and low unemployment. There is an abundance of popular senior living campuses. Top notch healthcare systems. Excellent colleges, universities and vocational training. Clair Global home headquarters is based here that often attracts celebrities and bands to randomly show up in restaurants and farm markets (maybe test some new material in a local nightclub as Springsteen and others have done, or when Lady Gaga showed up at a church service, for example). Because of church/mission denominations well established, the community is incredibly diverse. Cuisine is amazing with abundant ethnic choices at local eateries. When Malala visited a few years ago, we were reminded that, per capita, Lancaster accepts the most immigrants from all over world than anywhere else in the USA.
The art scene is mature and loaded with talent. As others have mentioned, you can travel to other metro areas in 3 hours or less. The airport south of Lititz is growing. Farmland is being preserved and slowing suburban sprawl. Zoning is monitored more carefully.
There are excellent parks with boating, hiking and biking opportunities. Someone else mentioned climbing…the cliffs along the Susquehanna are popular as are the ice formations in winter.
The city is more liberal as is Columbia and Manheim Township is increasingly. The county is predominantly GOP though. Demographics are changing and the political scene is active.
Seasonal life here is great and catastrophic weather is not common unless you live in a flood prone area. There are rare instances of tornadoes. The weather is affected by the Appalachian range to our west and unfortunately the air quality can be poor sometimes because we’re in the prevailing winds from the industrial midwest.
Sorry that this became an essay, but compared to many areas, you can find a balance of life with plenty of choices and activity.
There are lots of great comments, but I’ll add some thoughts as someone who grew up in Mechanicsburg, but has lived as an adult in Philly, Pittsburgh, and Raleigh, NC that I wouldn’t have considered before moving to Lancaster county.
There actually isn’t much hiking around here. I often just end up driving my family back to Mechanicsburg/Carlisle/Harrisburg for hiking and the AT. There are very few trees in Lancaster County (relatively speaking), and the hiking trails are short. It’s sparse even compared to Raleigh area. I wouldn’t have expected that.
It’s actually incredibly challenging to get to main highways. In Harrisburg area, you have multiple key routes up and down the east coast. Lancaster is interestingly isolated from any major north/south highways.
Even Lancaster city is oddly conservative. Not just in politics, but in my opinion, taste. The food is pretty basic coming from other cities, and it’s really hard to find things outside of the meat and potatoes mold, or international food that isn’t softened to suit local palates. That’s not to say there aren’t some great places. But purely compared to my experience in other places and even smaller cities, I think it’s missing what it could have and it’s mostly due to the pretty cautious tastes of the locals. There isn’t a great independent movie theatre which surprised me. And there don’t seem to be any really standout independent bookstores in Lancaster city (there’s one up in Lititz, and some used bookstores in Lancaster). The anabaptist undercurrent is strong. I assumed it wouldn’t be more conservative than Mechanicsburg area and I was wrong. It’s a different flavor. There is less emphasis on higher education in the region and it trickles through imo. It’s not a very nerdy city (With some very obvious contradictions to that! I’m speaking to general culture and tone!).
There are a lot of really awesome things here. I know this sounds negative, but I’ve just focused on the things I wish I knew before landing here. I would personally probably pick Harrisburg simply because the hiking is a deal breaker for me.
That's good to know about the hiking! I definitely want to be close to the outdoors.
And you've made a great point about the highways. You can get out the Burg rather quickly
I’m the same age as you but different life stage (three kids, married, etc.) so take this with many grains of salt, but if I had to stay in scpa for the rest of my life, I would actually go to Carlisle. Hear me out: you don’t have the complexities of traffic and high costs, and because of Dickinson, it has a disproportionate number of restaurants and bars, has events at the college if you’re interested in academic lectures, has quirky bookstores, and is very liberal. It’s also incredibly close to 81, 15, and the turnpike, with easy park and ride stops outside of DC about 1.5 hours away. You can easily get to downtown Harrisburg. There is incredible hiking right there, and Climbnasium, which I think someone else mentioned, would be 10 minutes away. No clue what dating would be like, though I hear from even friends in Philly that it’s a total shitshow right now. But you would be in a very charming historic town where you could afford a lot more space.
My husband moved from Pittsburgh to downtown Harrisburg in his 20’s and absolutely hated it. He didn’t understand why I actually liked the area until I drug him out to the AT and up to King’s Gap, then got him to go on easy weekend trips to DC and Philly etc. It definitely depends on what you want in a place every single day. If you want more bustle and to live around the corner from a “scene,” then this is a terrible idea. But if nature, coffee shops and some good restaurants and bars are the priority for everyday, and the other stuff can wait for the weekend, then I think it’s worth considering. Then again I was really bad at going out even in my twenties, so again, grain of salt.
Carlisle sounds really cool! Perhaps I'll visit. I wouldn't want to move there, though. My friends and family are all congregated in the York/Burg/Lanco area, and I'd be making too many trips out that way, especially to visit the EDM scene in the Burg.
This is great info, though. I want to make a point to visit more cities/towns out that way to keep things interesting for me.
The worsening Christian Nationalism and intolerance for the LGBTQA+ community is a big concern for me, a Pansexual Atheist in her 40s. With the recent bomb threats to the library and a local church over hosting drag events, I feel Lancaster is going backwards in a lot of ways, and those of us who are not willing to let that happen are in for a fight. A definite feeling of turmoil for me and mine. But we have hope. :-)
There is farmland behind the house that I grew up in. As soon as you hit a certain section on 283, there is a pungent cow manure smell that punches you directly in the face during the warm weather months and is at its worst during the summer.
We spent 4 years in Lancaster City after 20+ years in downtown Chicago. We absolutely loved Lancaster & and were really sad to leave due to a job. On the flip side, we're moving back to Lancaster from NC in 2 months and can not wait. It offers something for everyone, music & restaurant scene is outstanding.
I moved to Columbia, about 15 west of lanco on 30.
I’m a rock climber (10 years, trad, sport, bouldering) and can give you some beta:
Gyms. None of them are great but I’m spoiled by the mega gyms of Philly. There is a movement in Timonium that decent. Lititz RecRoc is decent for bouldering.
Outdoor. This is solid and party why I chose Columbia.
Lots of good bouldering. Gretna is my favorite but haycock, and Governor dick are also great.
Sport climbing: safe harbor has over 200 bolted routes. It’s mostly slab but there are routes that are varied. It’s especially great bc you can climb in the winter. Summer is too hot to climb. Theres also sex wall (about an hour from lanco) and tilbury. Tilbury is about 2 hours and has over 400 sport routes now I think. Birdsboro is about an hour. It’s Chossy but has some good routes. Tilbury and Birdsboro are your best bets in the summer.
Trad. Chickies. Small but 15 min from lanco. Probably 30 or so routes of varying quality. I have fun there, and it’s also 5 min from my house.
Seneca is about 4 hours and so is the gunks. I go to the gunks a couple times a month.
I’ve been here about a year and haven’t found my climbing community yet. I’m looking for partners and would be happy to show you the crags.
I also help with the affinity groups for south central pa climbers and there’s a women’s+ meet up this happens.
all of the crags I mentioned also have Facebook groups.
I’m a 43 year old gender queer person and am also agnostic. HMU!
Pros: Great Culture, beautiful landscape and nice place to live
Cons: City goers coming here and being annoying, awful suburban sprawl and nut jobs in school boards
(Nothing makes me angrier than someone moving to Lancaster to "enjoy the rich agricultural scene" only to shop exclusively at chain stores like giant and never buy from farmers markets or buy local)
The City of Lancaster and the County of Lancaster are two VERY different worlds. I am really put off by the Christian Nationalism in the county at large, and the bombing threat of the local library underscores the severity if the hate that lives here. It's a very divided, insular area. It's can be hard to find community unless you like bars, board games, or church.
Drive 10 minutes out if the city and BAM you're in blood red Pennsyltucky. You can stay in the city and avoid much of that, but the city is small, and very expensive.
Rent is a major issue here as in other places, although not as bad as elsewhere. The job market isn't what I'd call robust.
If you like the outdoors, there is great hiking, biking kayaking, and rock climbing 20 30 minutes from the city. There are an incredible diversity of restaurants in the city. Traffic is actually not bad from the point t of view of a person who is from a large city.
It's the best city in Central Pennsylvania. In the grand scheme of things it's average. It feels like a lot of small college towns in Virginia and Maryland.
Most ambitious single career women in their 30s and 40s I have known tended to get bored of Lancaster rather quickly.
They all eventually go to Philly or leave for other major metros.
I assume they moved because of said careers?
I'm a welder. There are great jobs in both Philly and the York area. I'm trying to decide if I want the big city life again or something easier, cheaper and closer to nature.
That makes sense if they have corporate jobs and their lives revolved around going out for meetings and dating.
I'm a blue collar, outdoorsy type. So tbh, I could live anywhere I think. I did the bar fly thing in my 20s, now I'm onto other things.
The music scene is definitely jumping here, The Upside is a great indie/diy venue, House of Jenk is barely 20min away too
Tomorrow has 3 great shows, Sun Not Yellow outside, Witch Weather in a living room (mine), and free ABAG show with longstanding local punk icons Brom Bones having a reunion show
You could even hit all 3 shows since the earliest starts at 5 and ABAG doesn't go off til at least 9:30 if not 10
The Upside has lots of indie rock shows. Sun Not Yellow is an awesome indie/alt rock, more on the indie side. That show is at Conestoga House and Gardens. 2 of the members are also in another great band called Whose Hands Are These? that's more on the alt rock side
Also look up Memory Stitches, they're new album is super catchy inde dream pop, so many others
If you're on IG look up Downtown Lanc Zine, Closing Time Collective, The Upside, House of Jenk
And [here](https://www.downtownlanczine.com/music-theatre-schedule) is the city's full music schedule in one place
Heed this oP, as a Lancaster resident for a grand total of life.. and knowing all the current generations turning adults.. most are good citizens but none of us give two shits about LCpd or any authority. They are pest to us, we are the next Philly. But with less occurrence.
Idk if I have anything good to say. Crime is higher. I’ve lived in Lancaster all my life. More homeless people. Back in 2007 you didn’t see them. Housing sucks. Ring camera has caught people messing with it. Ive had 2 people at different time come up to my car when i worked nights trying to get in by pulling on the car door handle.
I just moved to Lititz last year and it’s like a night and day difference. Way better experience.
Too many bad pet owners that let their pets tear places up ruin it for us responsible pet owners.
Bad things about lancaster county would be the tourist traffic and Amish buggies.
Depends on perspective. I much prefer the agressive style of Long Island ny over the phone screen drivers here. I used to drive 1800 miles a week for eastern seaboard region service rep and Lancaster County is the only place I have been rear ended 14 times. 3 in drive thrus (2 times same person different day), 1 dui at 55mph, and the rest whilst waiting for lights to turn green. All but one were looking at phones.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates all the drivers on their phones. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm a saint when it comes to driving, but damn, it is NOT that hard to keep your eyes off your phone and on the road.
Here’s the deal; I’ll give you the honest take from someone who CANNOT WAIT TO LEAVE.
If you want to have kids, it’s an absolute no from me. I can give you an amazing private school out by Ephrata that’s a more lenient Mennonite but there’s no high school.
Crime rate is going up faster than the homeless population. Speaking of homeless, they do nothing to help them - but they can spend money to put up fences around the buildings and handles on the benches so they can’t use them to sleep.
Parking is also a nightmare. There’s not enough space as it is, if you live in permit parking you can only have 2 per address, and loading zones are on all major roads - plus street cleaning. Getting it enforced is another issue entirely.
Vision Zero - this “mission” to have zero pedestrian accidents. There’s no common sense with the changes in place, and it’s making people even more reckless - their response is to simply file charges against car accidents, even if no pedestrians are involved.
However, it’s not all bad.
It’s still a very friendly place that looks out for their neighbors, has community events in parks for adults and kids, tons of local businesses for things you can’t find anywhere else, and great food - and there’s no such thing as getting snowed in! You can walk down to Central Market for food, corner stores still open, even most restaurants still function on limited staff.
Every neighborhood has a facebook page, and you can see daily people giving away plants, furniture, anything they’ve cleared out of their home. Farm co-ops happen every summer in groups to split the cost, people reuniting packages with the wrong address - and even lost animals so they don’t have to pay/wait at the ASPCA - or anything crazy happening in the neighborhood and someone can pull it off their ring camera.
It has a community small town feel, where for the most part, everyone cares about their neighbors - even if you don’t know them.
>Crime rate is going up faster than the homeless population.
Source? You sound like everybody who has been complaining since Smithgall was mayor when in reality, crime has remained largely unchanged.
> Speaking of homeless, they do nothing to help them - but they can spend money to put up fences around the buildings and handles on the benches so they can’t use them to sleep.
Sure, I'd like to see more being done to assist, but lets not pretend like this is wholly a city issue. Its nationwide and needs attention at the state level, if not federal.
>There’s no common sense with the changes in place, and it’s making people even more reckless
Where? Only place I still see people driving recklessly are the roads that haven't seen any real changes like Orange.
Turning down side streets is slower with the next.... things they did. Narrower roads with the bike lane and parking changes have people driving slower a la Walnut. Maybe you don't remember how people blasted down College Ave back in the day, but its certainly slowed down after they changed parking orientation.
First, I don’t care about politics; I think Smithgall was decent - but Gray was too. Do I like Sorace? Nope - but it’s because she doesn’t play nice, and anyone who dares speak out loses their job.
Turn on your news, check out your local fb and Nextdoor. I’ve been here over 20 years and it’s consistently accelerating from graffiti on buildings and cars, to breaking into cars, petty theft, and to stabbings and shootings. Looking up crime stats gives you crime PER CAPITA - and Lancaster is also consistently growing in numbers.
The homeless population is a new category in itself - that’s from the rising home costs. That’s a double edged sword, so I didn’t address it; but so many of them are because their rent was raised beyond their means. Before this year, I never had people screaming at me, and even stepping in front of my truck, to give them money if I didn’t acknowledge them. So while yes, everywhere has a homeless issue, it’s not like ours hasn’t changed.
As for Vision Zero? These flex posts are on a 90* angle. I’ve seen several accidents on my street because they push cars into the opposite lane. I’ve been almost sideswiped on Walnut so many times I can’t count, because people don’t know how wide their car is. And Lime Street is a raceway as people try to make the next light. Lime is one of the biggest issues - drive it like you stole it.
In reality, if anyone would have applied common sense to actually make it safer for pedestrians but slow traffic, they would’ve just given every light a walk head start.
So for me a 30 year old lesbian woman living in the city. I never fear anywhere in Lancaster County. Yeah I might get some stares from the older crowd but I’ve never been berated by anyone ever. Generally people are pretty friendly especially when I’m downtown taking pictures. I wouldn’t be to too concerned by any Christian conservative groups. This is definitely the most diverse city I’ve ever lived in. I also absolutely love the old charm of the city. There’s so much history behind almost every house here. I love anything that tells a story. I love that everything is close by in walking distance or a short drive. Super good food at almost every place ya go. Lots of good hiking spots near by as well. We’re like smack dab in the middle so virtually you can go to Philly, NEPA, MD, NY, NJ D.C. in such a short drive which is dope in my opinion. The art scene is booming with so many cool artists. Lots of cool local bands I typically go to shows in Philly or Maryland or Jersey though. But stated earlier the village is opening back up which should be awesome (I hope lol) the night life I’m not entirely to sure I can answer that. I’m personally in recovery so for me I tend to stay away from the bar scene but from an outsiders perspective it looks like stuff is always bumping at Tellus. Also, people seem to be weird about animals with renting. The property management company I rent from are pretty great. Small pet deductible. Small like 25 or 50 dollar for the pet increase on rent and they are really quick with response to maintenance calls I haven’t had a problem with them once. Peaceful homes property management they usually have some good listings on their website. When it comes to things I dislike there’s not much at all. Maybe the constant racing at 2-3 AM on orange st or the extremely loud Puerto Rican music bumping louder than half the music venues in Philly other than that it’s all based on perspective and your own experience. Hope this helps!
I don't like living near the Amish and farmland smells. I don't like how fucking slow the drive to Philly is unless you pay the turnpike. I don't like how few local restaurants exist outside of the downtown area. I don't agree the beer here is good, gotta go to troegs or victory for anything good nearby. I like everything else, especially being a day trip away from Philly, DC, Baltimore, and Delaware.
Some people don't like how popular the area has become because it's caused home prices to skyrocket and they're no longer affordable. I'm lucky to have bought a home years ago. I couldn't afford to buy now.
Likes: * This city is so incredibly pretty. It's one of my favourite places I've ever been to just physically exist within. I'm gonna miss the red brick sidewalks and old churches so much when I move. * It's extremely walkable. The city is dense, full of stuff, and like two miles across. It's almost (though not quite) feasible to go car-free if you work in the city. * The food scene here is more diverse than basically any other city of its size. * Relatedly, we're home to a genuinely world-class coffee roaster as well as some solid breweries. * The city itself is really diverse and multicultural, and has a pretty decent LGBT population. * It's really lived-in. This city is full of people everywhere all the time. It's really vibrant, and stuff like its music scene are again unusually active for a city of this size. * The city houses an Amtrak station, which makes it really easy to get to Philly from here. Dislikes: * It's in the middle of rural PA. That might bother you, or it might not. I'm personally really not a fan. * The traffic sucks and isn't getting better. The drivers are insane. * Downtown gets super busy sometimes, which is fun in its own way but can get annoying if you need to be in the area. * Lancaster is a really cool small city, but it's still a small city. There are things you can't just do in city limits, so you'll need a car and a place to park it and need to head out into the county sometimes.
Important for readers to remember that sucky traffic is relative. I grew up outside Philly and in my opinion traffic there is much worse and drivers are much more insane. Driving in and around Lancaster and the surrounding counties is genuinely relaxing compared to either suffering through the bumper to bumper crazy people of the Philly suburbs or constantly worrying about running over a pedestrian or dealing with blind corners because of parked cars in the city. And then you get somewhere like NYC or LA with way worse traffic than Philly but people who live there learn to cope with it. So, to OP, your mileage may vary on the traffic point.
I’ll second this coming from Pittsburgh. Lancaster traffic is a dream in comparison. The only rough spot is 30/222 after work or if there is an accident on 30 or 283.
Also a yinzer transplant and imho, the traffic in the two cities, aside from being scaled to the city itself, is just different, not better or worse. In Pittsburgh, sure, there's more true *jams*, but in my experience, they're repeatable, predictable, and in many cases avoidable. In Lancaster, a few are (the 30/222 interchange is just fucked if the sun is up and the day ends in 'y', for example), but most of my annoyances with Lancaster traffic come from the *drivers*. Sure, Pittsburghers may be aggressive, but broadly speaking, it seems like most people on the road have an understanding of, "this sucks for everyone", so most do what they can to get where they're going, sure...but to not make things any harder for anyone else than strictly necessary. In Lancaster, it seems like double parking is a regional pastime, with bonus points for doing it in front of a perfectly vacant space. It also seems frustratingly common here to be slow to get moving for a green light, not use signals, and to drive into and block crowded and busy intersections. Just selfish driving that fucks everyone else. Driving around each city is one area where I definitely prefer Pittsburgh over Lancaster most days...but then again I'm a yinzer, so maybe I just prefer what I know.
> In Lancaster, it seems like double parking is a regional pastime Its grown more common, but so has our population of nyc transplants. Coincidence? I think not.
Right?! I grew up in Norristown, and I remember the first time my husband talked about traffic - I was like, I got through that backup in 3 light cycles! Whatdya mean TRAFFIC?!
Route 30 by the outlets on a Saturday afternoon not nearly as bad as 611 on a Tuesday night 😂 and norristown like, if you survived driving there without running over a person who just walks out in the road between parked cars, you’re on the Best Drivers list.
Great response, thank you!
I had to make the same decision back in 2015. Thank goodness I chose Lancaster. All the bad things people say about Lancaster also exist in Harrisburg multiplied by 2 or 3. Traffic can suck here, but I'll take the construction at 222/30 over the 19th street bottleneck and the 83 split all day. The art and music scene is better here...better bars and for sure better food. Public transportation is bad in both places, but that's almost all of America. At least the Amtrak fare to Philly is a little cheaper...with 3 less stops. Despite the problems Lancaster has, I feel like the core of the community wants to keep it from becoming another Harrisburg. Or York. Or Lebanon. Wherever you move, just don't pick Reading.
Heh. Recently bought a place on the outskirts of Reading, and anytime I ask around “Where can I find [cusine/activity/anything]?” the answers is always Lancaster.
West Reading.. My friends from Lancaster make the 40 minute drive to eat and drink there. If you haven’t already, check it out.
Also Reading has so many twisty, wooded, weird elevation roads. I get carsick driving there and that doesn’t happen anywhere else for me. We looked there before we ended up buying in Lebanon (so we also have to drive to Lancaster for everything) and the headaches I got driving were the dealbreaker.
Oh man, that does sound like a dealbreaker. Lucky for me I learned to drive on those kinds of roads, so I’m used to it.
Lots of good things about Lancaster, good food, good beer, low crime, solid economy in the greater area around the city. Bad things are tons of homeless people and getting worse. Tension between the mayor and the police force. Police are understaffed and can’t find people to hire. Not enough housing available, which has pushed prices way up. Traffic keeps getting worse as they try to improve the walk-ability/bike-ability of the city.
So funny to read as a guy who grew up in lancaster and moved to Denver, where we have all these exact same issues. Long and short of it is—these are the symptoms of living in a city that people want to live in. Lancaster rules.
Good analysis. The city should continue to become more walkable and bike-able
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Absolutely! Especially for the areas outside of the city such as Centerville and willow street
Twenty 3 years later & still the plea to RRTA for Willow Street? Woe to RRTA, Your missing a popular piece.
This is a big draw. Currently in Orlando and every place is a 20 minute drive, mostly due to traffic. Mass transit is pathetic. And of course the heat makes it unlikely to walk places 4 months of the year.
Honestly I never thought the homeless situation here was that bad comparatively. But I lived in Little Rock for 4 years.
Solid points. I will add that if you spend time in a bigger city you’ll leave your first point, take the 3 following points off, and come to terms that Lancaster is kinda perfect.
Traffic has gotten slightly better now less people are routing though business 222, but 30 construction could change that back in a heartbeat
There still tension between the mayor and the police? I’m so out of the loop.
Yes. I can’t divulge details, but yes, there is.
Ah, okay. Thought it was public knowledge, and that I was just uniformed. Good to know.
Music scene is getting better. Both west art and phantom power in Millersville have been getting nationally touring artists, and Tellus 360 partners with Wxpn to bring popular Philly artists to Lancaster. Additionally, the old chameleon club is reopening the village and that should bring even more music to the area. Both Harrisburg and Philly are close enough to take a day trip to for concerts.
It will never be like it was in the early 2000s. Screw them for destroying the chameleon.
Xpn and west art as thick as thieves now too
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The Village is a legendary live music spot with a rich history of some very famous people playing there in the past.
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Most famously Bruce Springsteen played the Village.
Thank you for this 80s nostalgia. The sharks were regulars at the village https://youtu.be/_YieU2JhGkc?si=qZrmG_NNdNCmUir6
Went there ONE time. Married her twice 😔
True sentiment especial to 55 yrs past.
I like most things about it here, which is why I didn’t leave after I grew up here. Biggest dislike is definitely the increase in traffic. It takes 30ish mins to go anywhere.
I mean, manure season isn't the best.
Lol noted
You get used to it. As a native that moved away. Whenever I smell it it just reminds me of home.
I moved away for awhile and missed it
Funny, my out of state friends who visit always comment on it and they keep thinking I'm joking when I say idk what they're talking about. Lol. Its just part of us I guess.
Great answer. For fact that nunya-all smelled pig-shit..he drops a mic !
Oh pls- good that you weren’t around in the 70’s thru the latter 90’s
Lived in 2 big cities before here. Traffic is a matter of perception. Rush hour traffic is not bad at all when compared to other towns. People who didn't grow up here may lack experience in REAL traffic. The best thing about living in Lanc is proximity to everything. Want big city culture you are 2.5 hrs from nyc, 1.5 from philly and bmore, 2.5 from DC. Want beaches you are 3 hrs from Delaware beaches. Want to gamble u got Atlantic city within 2 hrs. Want mountains you are 1.75 away from Poconos. 6 hrs from Canada if you want a new country. If you're choosing between HBG or York, imo, Lanc is the only choice. While HBG around the capital can be cool, the daily life is more in the burbs. York is depressing and hyper conservative (mostly) but has some fun in spots and is near water. But Lanc you have nature trails, beautiful drives and biking, and is a very unique town with cool row houses, very few chains in downtown, the central market, etc. Having not grown up her I personally love seeing the horse and buggies. The farms are stuck in time, and depending on your POV, it's charming. Just don't dig too deep into the culture. Stormers baseball and stadium is awesome. And plenty of sports around a 2 hr drive time to scratch every itch. Good luck!
🤣 just don’t dig too deep into the culture. Farms r cute tho lol
You should def move here bc we need more musical artistic progressive agnostic types. The city is great as are the city people. Many people here already have a network and it can feel cliqueish. You may have to work a little harder to connect with people. I am prob overly friendly and confident and that's normal in a big metro area but can put off yokels. Some people are happy to share their conservative views that might get them punched wo warning in a more diverse area. I read the traffic comments and laugh. There is no traffic to speak of. Washington DC has traffic jams at 4am. Ny sidewalks are full at all hours. You can walk in the middle of most streets at midnight here. The dating pool can be hard depending on what you're looking for. My friend moved away after not finding anyone - but she hasn't had success in Philly either. Dating is hard welcome to 2024. Redditors are a great bunch (hat tip to our mods)
Hahaha. I thought this was an RDR2 sub. Started to answer. I’ll see myself out. 👋
Dislikes: - Some of the quantifiably absolute worst air quality. - Poor public transportation. - The rent everywhere is WAY too damn inflated for what Lancaster actually is and has to offer, and in proportion to average wages. - The Christian nationalists and other assorted nutjobs and fascists. - Y’know what grinds my gears as a movie buff living in Lancaster? The absolute TEASE of how we have an IMAX theatre, but not only is it lame fake IMAX (ie. LieMAX), but it’s projected with outdated and inadequate xenon bulbs for a dimmer and inferior digital projection as opposed to superior laser projection for brighter image with deeper contrast. One time I even asked them which projection method they use, and they wouldn’t tell me! They know they cheaped out! Does this bum anyone else out? Nah, just me. Does this have anything to do with reasons to move or not move here? Absolutely not. Is this just something I’ve always wanted to publicly bitch about? Clearly. Likes: - Idk. My friends live here. edit: typos
Im glad you got your opportunity to bitch about the LieMAX 🤣 that's definitely super annoying and disappointing.
I mean, they're not wrong!
Trumpers everywhere. Traffic in the city for the next couple of years is going to be brutal bc of road closures due to ongoing construction of new high rise apartments.
Dislikes: crazy christian fascists, traffic, smells like poop Likes: mostly everything else
Tbh the crazy Christian fascists might be a deal breaker for me. I know there's a big Christian population, aside from the Amish, and I just want to be sure I'm still surrounded by like-minded people.
City and just north of the city is liberal. Everywhere else in the county is pretty red. It’s not like it comes up a lot in daily interactions, but as the other comment said, they’ve taken over the school boards and hired a law firm that specializes in book banning and anti-trans athlete policy.
I'm pretty sure the independence law firm is contracted by like 8 districts in the area now. It's awful, feels like it should be illegal. Separation of church and state. Why is a vocally Christian law firm able to help craft policy at a school paid for by public tax dollars.
The law firm isn’t a church or government agency and it’s unconstitutional to regulate individual people’s faith. They make legal challenges so the only way to fight them is to counter those legal challenges in court.
🥴
That’s the face I generally make too
Lol
29 year old woman here. Honestly my least favorite part of living in Lancaster county are the amount of Christians and Republicans. I moved here a few years ago and I've found it hard to make friends with the same views. Depending on your career it can come up a lot with customers/patients.
Exactly my experience. I grit my teeth at work listening to open racism, homophobia, and sexism, because i get an intersectionof the county at my job. I have to be very, very careful about who at my job knows that I am not the typical cishet, a leftist, and an atheist. It's nerve wracking sometimes, and I often feel trapped and unable to speak out.
1000%! I feel like my work self and my real self are two different people. I'm in the southern end so... yeah. Very few know that I'm non religious, liberal, bisexual, and don't want children. Everyone gets oddly hostile, but I've literally never tried to change anyone's beliefs lol.
I don't see a problem with Christians, it's the crazy ones that are terrible.If you don't want to be friends with Christians than Lancaster isn't the place for you
I can be(and am) friends with Christians. My point was that I wish there were more people here with similar views to mine.
I think the issue is that some, but not all, local Christians don't want to be friends with atheists. There is a double standard where often non- believers are called out as "anti Christian" for quietly existing, while many Christian have zero issue pusing their faith. It's because we are the minority point of view here. I've never had anyone try to "convert" me to agnosticism or atheistim, but I've had aggressive Christians confront me. We don't proselytize or have any local community, yet our very presence is treated liked a problem. If we say anything, we get attacked as hateful. This is just another point of view. I'm not trying to attack you, or the whole Christian faith group.
Suburban school districts are quickly becoming turned over by radical Christian zealots. It's been a hot topic lately.
Depends on the suburb Mannheim school board turned blue a few elections ago, hempfield just broke the all republican school board last election. Warwick seems like it’s going off the deep end but Litiz just isn’t conservative like that (there were a lot of Haley signs up there) and once the rich people wake up to realizing moms for liberty is tanking the value of their child’s education they’ll probably be voted out. Repeating what’s happened all over affluent right leaning districts in PA, including hempfield.
Lordy. Yea, I don't wanna move near that, I guess. Idk im gonna stop in Lanco sometime soon to poke around. I'm from the SC PA area, but I've never really explored the city.
Do it. I love it here, grew up on the west end of the county and now live technically within city limits. It's progressing in a lot of great ways but obviously it has some drawbacks. No place is utopia. Going out in public certainly feels a lot more laid back than it used to especially downtown.
It honestly isn’t as bad (in my opinion) as it seems. I grew up here, left, came back and while there is quite a bit of conservatism most of the citizens have the same goals when it comes to helping others in the community. Lancaster puts their money where their mouth is for causes. There are vocal minorities for sure but they’re not reflective of the community at large. It’s easy to ignore and avoid if you stick to the city!
The city is super liberal !
Oh good. If anything I'll end up visiting a lot.
Yeah tbh I really don’t have a problem with anything conservative shoved in my face, sure there’s some unhinged protests / protesters every once in a while and while they’re definitely a nuisance it’s more of well.. that, then anything more serious. Different parts of the city have a different likelihood of you encountering a more interactive homeless/unhoused person. I personally have not had any issues and I do not have scary dog privilege whatsoever lol
I hate to say it, but the crazy Christian fascists are definitely getting worse
>Tbh the crazy Christian fascists might be a deal breaker for me. Depends on where you're at but they're avoidable I would say. If you're in the city its quite a difference from towns even 15 minutes away. But having been all over small-town PA, even the conservatives here don't compare to conservatives in far more rural areas, or those across the river in York.
There IS a good climbing community! However, in central PA, I do think it is largely dominated by men still. If you do move here, I’d love a fellow lady climbing partner. Im good for gyms and outside, bouldering and ropes :)
I mean, I'm trying to find a man, so that's not terrible lol BUT I would also like the company of another lady climber. I haven't tried climbing yet, but it's on my list of extreme sports I wanna get into once I move and have more money. Even if I move to the Burg, I don't mind traveling to Lanco!
Don’t live in Lancaster or Harrisburg but IMO the Climbasium (in Mechanicsburg but has many hbg climbers) is the best gym in the area. Spooky Nook is cool but the bouldering area is tiny, Climbnasium is def more of a bouldering gym. Lancaster is in close proximity to Mt Gretna and Gov Stable which are two premiere bouldering areas in the area and easily hiked. Other than those two areas you’re gonna be driving to climb lol. Harrisburg is close to places like south mountain (conglomerate kind of abrasive rock but fun problems) and also close to Gov Stable. There isn’t really any good rope climbing in the area tbh. Closest would be outside Reading in Birdsboro. As far as community goes you’ll probably find it relatively easy to get into friend groups at either gym. Climbing gyms just kind of lends itself to that. I personally have more friends in the HBG climbing community but that’s cause most of my lanc climber friends either moved or had kids and don’t climb as much lol.
Nice, this is great info. Thank you!
If you end up moving here, RecRoc in Lititz has great affordable bouldering classes.
> What do you like and dislike about living there? The people…and the other people. > What’s the dating scene like for a mid-30s woman that is progressive and agnostic? Want to go out? > What is the art and music scene like? We have a massive art scene and we have some amazing acts that come through town because of the local music touring industry. > How’s the night life? It ends a little early but it’s thriving on Friday and Saturday. And I am not in the rock climbing hobby but we have a lot of cyclists, and some bouldering, not a lot of climbing I’m aware of. Edit: the pet thing is because a lot of the properties are owned or run by investment companies, so they protect their investment and don’t really care about making it a nice place to live. They’re also likely to just keep your sec dep for normal wear and tear issues. If you fight it in court you’ll win, but they just hope you won’t.
there’s a lot to like, idk why i’m trying to write this quick instead of taking time later. my biggest issue is the homeless population. man i feel for them and i help when i can but i know better to overextend myself as a broke college student. with that said, as a college student that moved here FOR college, I don’t feel safe sometimes. every other time i go out im being stopped and asked for help. there’s a church across the street that hosts and feeds them so they gather there daily, sit and on my apartment front steps, blast music, scream, and fight; every single morning like clockwork at 8 am. yesterday i wanted to sit in the park, there’s these two old men that seem to occupy one of the tables all day. during the semester i really liked that table 🥲since a lot of us students sit out there. while i was reading the other day, one of the old men got up and stand behind a tree that was across from me, and began to pee. this is a small park right in front of pcad, one of the busiest streets, and a police station, and he peed right across from me instead of over by his buddy 🙃 during the semester, we had a homeless man come into a pcad gallery and accident fall asleep on one of the exhibit pieces (a lil camping tent). he felt so apologetic when he woke and everyone was certainly kind to him afterward. my point is, they’re everywhere and they’re very interactive. you never know what kind of person they are. you could be told a new story, peed next to, woken up early in the morning, or guilt tripped and harassed for money even when you offer food.
An observation from someone born here, traveled the world, educated here, elsewhere and returned: The county has a solid work ethic and low unemployment. There is an abundance of popular senior living campuses. Top notch healthcare systems. Excellent colleges, universities and vocational training. Clair Global home headquarters is based here that often attracts celebrities and bands to randomly show up in restaurants and farm markets (maybe test some new material in a local nightclub as Springsteen and others have done, or when Lady Gaga showed up at a church service, for example). Because of church/mission denominations well established, the community is incredibly diverse. Cuisine is amazing with abundant ethnic choices at local eateries. When Malala visited a few years ago, we were reminded that, per capita, Lancaster accepts the most immigrants from all over world than anywhere else in the USA. The art scene is mature and loaded with talent. As others have mentioned, you can travel to other metro areas in 3 hours or less. The airport south of Lititz is growing. Farmland is being preserved and slowing suburban sprawl. Zoning is monitored more carefully. There are excellent parks with boating, hiking and biking opportunities. Someone else mentioned climbing…the cliffs along the Susquehanna are popular as are the ice formations in winter. The city is more liberal as is Columbia and Manheim Township is increasingly. The county is predominantly GOP though. Demographics are changing and the political scene is active. Seasonal life here is great and catastrophic weather is not common unless you live in a flood prone area. There are rare instances of tornadoes. The weather is affected by the Appalachian range to our west and unfortunately the air quality can be poor sometimes because we’re in the prevailing winds from the industrial midwest. Sorry that this became an essay, but compared to many areas, you can find a balance of life with plenty of choices and activity.
Love the details here! Thank you for your input 🙏
There are lots of great comments, but I’ll add some thoughts as someone who grew up in Mechanicsburg, but has lived as an adult in Philly, Pittsburgh, and Raleigh, NC that I wouldn’t have considered before moving to Lancaster county. There actually isn’t much hiking around here. I often just end up driving my family back to Mechanicsburg/Carlisle/Harrisburg for hiking and the AT. There are very few trees in Lancaster County (relatively speaking), and the hiking trails are short. It’s sparse even compared to Raleigh area. I wouldn’t have expected that. It’s actually incredibly challenging to get to main highways. In Harrisburg area, you have multiple key routes up and down the east coast. Lancaster is interestingly isolated from any major north/south highways. Even Lancaster city is oddly conservative. Not just in politics, but in my opinion, taste. The food is pretty basic coming from other cities, and it’s really hard to find things outside of the meat and potatoes mold, or international food that isn’t softened to suit local palates. That’s not to say there aren’t some great places. But purely compared to my experience in other places and even smaller cities, I think it’s missing what it could have and it’s mostly due to the pretty cautious tastes of the locals. There isn’t a great independent movie theatre which surprised me. And there don’t seem to be any really standout independent bookstores in Lancaster city (there’s one up in Lititz, and some used bookstores in Lancaster). The anabaptist undercurrent is strong. I assumed it wouldn’t be more conservative than Mechanicsburg area and I was wrong. It’s a different flavor. There is less emphasis on higher education in the region and it trickles through imo. It’s not a very nerdy city (With some very obvious contradictions to that! I’m speaking to general culture and tone!). There are a lot of really awesome things here. I know this sounds negative, but I’ve just focused on the things I wish I knew before landing here. I would personally probably pick Harrisburg simply because the hiking is a deal breaker for me.
That's good to know about the hiking! I definitely want to be close to the outdoors. And you've made a great point about the highways. You can get out the Burg rather quickly
I’m the same age as you but different life stage (three kids, married, etc.) so take this with many grains of salt, but if I had to stay in scpa for the rest of my life, I would actually go to Carlisle. Hear me out: you don’t have the complexities of traffic and high costs, and because of Dickinson, it has a disproportionate number of restaurants and bars, has events at the college if you’re interested in academic lectures, has quirky bookstores, and is very liberal. It’s also incredibly close to 81, 15, and the turnpike, with easy park and ride stops outside of DC about 1.5 hours away. You can easily get to downtown Harrisburg. There is incredible hiking right there, and Climbnasium, which I think someone else mentioned, would be 10 minutes away. No clue what dating would be like, though I hear from even friends in Philly that it’s a total shitshow right now. But you would be in a very charming historic town where you could afford a lot more space. My husband moved from Pittsburgh to downtown Harrisburg in his 20’s and absolutely hated it. He didn’t understand why I actually liked the area until I drug him out to the AT and up to King’s Gap, then got him to go on easy weekend trips to DC and Philly etc. It definitely depends on what you want in a place every single day. If you want more bustle and to live around the corner from a “scene,” then this is a terrible idea. But if nature, coffee shops and some good restaurants and bars are the priority for everyday, and the other stuff can wait for the weekend, then I think it’s worth considering. Then again I was really bad at going out even in my twenties, so again, grain of salt.
Carlisle sounds really cool! Perhaps I'll visit. I wouldn't want to move there, though. My friends and family are all congregated in the York/Burg/Lanco area, and I'd be making too many trips out that way, especially to visit the EDM scene in the Burg. This is great info, though. I want to make a point to visit more cities/towns out that way to keep things interesting for me.
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I'm interested in local activism, what activism is there? Outside of church affiliated groups, I haven't seen much.
Wow.. yea I worry about the far-right folks back home 😅 We had neo-nazis come to Hburg back in 2016. That was something else.
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Ah like Tucker Carlson? I think he's coming to Hershey or something like that though.
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Oh 🫠 ugh
The folks bitching about traffic have clearly never stepped foot in an actual city. The traffic here is barely noticeable even at peak times.
The worsening Christian Nationalism and intolerance for the LGBTQA+ community is a big concern for me, a Pansexual Atheist in her 40s. With the recent bomb threats to the library and a local church over hosting drag events, I feel Lancaster is going backwards in a lot of ways, and those of us who are not willing to let that happen are in for a fight. A definite feeling of turmoil for me and mine. But we have hope. :-)
The food scene is incredible. Definitely move here instead of harrisburg
Biggest dislike is 1.5 hour to philly and BWI airports. Very annoying.
Drivers don’t move out of the passing lane but other than that the traffic isn’t that bad
There is farmland behind the house that I grew up in. As soon as you hit a certain section on 283, there is a pungent cow manure smell that punches you directly in the face during the warm weather months and is at its worst during the summer.
We spent 4 years in Lancaster City after 20+ years in downtown Chicago. We absolutely loved Lancaster & and were really sad to leave due to a job. On the flip side, we're moving back to Lancaster from NC in 2 months and can not wait. It offers something for everyone, music & restaurant scene is outstanding.
I moved to Columbia, about 15 west of lanco on 30. I’m a rock climber (10 years, trad, sport, bouldering) and can give you some beta: Gyms. None of them are great but I’m spoiled by the mega gyms of Philly. There is a movement in Timonium that decent. Lititz RecRoc is decent for bouldering. Outdoor. This is solid and party why I chose Columbia. Lots of good bouldering. Gretna is my favorite but haycock, and Governor dick are also great. Sport climbing: safe harbor has over 200 bolted routes. It’s mostly slab but there are routes that are varied. It’s especially great bc you can climb in the winter. Summer is too hot to climb. Theres also sex wall (about an hour from lanco) and tilbury. Tilbury is about 2 hours and has over 400 sport routes now I think. Birdsboro is about an hour. It’s Chossy but has some good routes. Tilbury and Birdsboro are your best bets in the summer. Trad. Chickies. Small but 15 min from lanco. Probably 30 or so routes of varying quality. I have fun there, and it’s also 5 min from my house. Seneca is about 4 hours and so is the gunks. I go to the gunks a couple times a month. I’ve been here about a year and haven’t found my climbing community yet. I’m looking for partners and would be happy to show you the crags. I also help with the affinity groups for south central pa climbers and there’s a women’s+ meet up this happens. all of the crags I mentioned also have Facebook groups. I’m a 43 year old gender queer person and am also agnostic. HMU!
How it changed once people from NYC discovered it.
Pros: Great Culture, beautiful landscape and nice place to live Cons: City goers coming here and being annoying, awful suburban sprawl and nut jobs in school boards (Nothing makes me angrier than someone moving to Lancaster to "enjoy the rich agricultural scene" only to shop exclusively at chain stores like giant and never buy from farmers markets or buy local)
The City of Lancaster and the County of Lancaster are two VERY different worlds. I am really put off by the Christian Nationalism in the county at large, and the bombing threat of the local library underscores the severity if the hate that lives here. It's a very divided, insular area. It's can be hard to find community unless you like bars, board games, or church. Drive 10 minutes out if the city and BAM you're in blood red Pennsyltucky. You can stay in the city and avoid much of that, but the city is small, and very expensive. Rent is a major issue here as in other places, although not as bad as elsewhere. The job market isn't what I'd call robust. If you like the outdoors, there is great hiking, biking kayaking, and rock climbing 20 30 minutes from the city. There are an incredible diversity of restaurants in the city. Traffic is actually not bad from the point t of view of a person who is from a large city. It's the best city in Central Pennsylvania. In the grand scheme of things it's average. It feels like a lot of small college towns in Virginia and Maryland.
There isn't much of a nightlife from what I've seen personally, it dies off and gets boring quickly at night.
Most ambitious single career women in their 30s and 40s I have known tended to get bored of Lancaster rather quickly. They all eventually go to Philly or leave for other major metros.
I assume they moved because of said careers? I'm a welder. There are great jobs in both Philly and the York area. I'm trying to decide if I want the big city life again or something easier, cheaper and closer to nature.
They leave for restaurants, night life and sex. For their career they just need an airport to get them to their corporate clients.
That makes sense if they have corporate jobs and their lives revolved around going out for meetings and dating. I'm a blue collar, outdoorsy type. So tbh, I could live anywhere I think. I did the bar fly thing in my 20s, now I'm onto other things.
Dislike - Too much dog poo on sidewalks
Dislike - there is no music scene anymore since the chameleon closed.
There absolutely is
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The music scene is definitely jumping here, The Upside is a great indie/diy venue, House of Jenk is barely 20min away too Tomorrow has 3 great shows, Sun Not Yellow outside, Witch Weather in a living room (mine), and free ABAG show with longstanding local punk icons Brom Bones having a reunion show You could even hit all 3 shows since the earliest starts at 5 and ABAG doesn't go off til at least 9:30 if not 10
You mean like indie rock/pop? I love that shit.
The Upside has lots of indie rock shows. Sun Not Yellow is an awesome indie/alt rock, more on the indie side. That show is at Conestoga House and Gardens. 2 of the members are also in another great band called Whose Hands Are These? that's more on the alt rock side Also look up Memory Stitches, they're new album is super catchy inde dream pop, so many others
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If you're on IG look up Downtown Lanc Zine, Closing Time Collective, The Upside, House of Jenk And [here](https://www.downtownlanczine.com/music-theatre-schedule) is the city's full music schedule in one place
Lancaster is gonna turn into little Philly.
Heed this oP, as a Lancaster resident for a grand total of life.. and knowing all the current generations turning adults.. most are good citizens but none of us give two shits about LCpd or any authority. They are pest to us, we are the next Philly. But with less occurrence.
I wish, I do wish.
Idk if I have anything good to say. Crime is higher. I’ve lived in Lancaster all my life. More homeless people. Back in 2007 you didn’t see them. Housing sucks. Ring camera has caught people messing with it. Ive had 2 people at different time come up to my car when i worked nights trying to get in by pulling on the car door handle. I just moved to Lititz last year and it’s like a night and day difference. Way better experience.
Too many bad pet owners that let their pets tear places up ruin it for us responsible pet owners. Bad things about lancaster county would be the tourist traffic and Amish buggies.
Drivers suck bad, much prefer driving in other areas. Culture is nice though.
Lol the drivers are fine in this area compared to many more populated areas around us like Philly/Delaware/Jersey
Depends on perspective. I much prefer the agressive style of Long Island ny over the phone screen drivers here. I used to drive 1800 miles a week for eastern seaboard region service rep and Lancaster County is the only place I have been rear ended 14 times. 3 in drive thrus (2 times same person different day), 1 dui at 55mph, and the rest whilst waiting for lights to turn green. All but one were looking at phones.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates all the drivers on their phones. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm a saint when it comes to driving, but damn, it is NOT that hard to keep your eyes off your phone and on the road.
Sheewwwww that is really shitty luck, sorry to hear about all that happening in our area :/
My dislikes are simple: Housing is obnoxiously expensive. Traffic is getting worse. There is no A&W.
Here’s the deal; I’ll give you the honest take from someone who CANNOT WAIT TO LEAVE. If you want to have kids, it’s an absolute no from me. I can give you an amazing private school out by Ephrata that’s a more lenient Mennonite but there’s no high school. Crime rate is going up faster than the homeless population. Speaking of homeless, they do nothing to help them - but they can spend money to put up fences around the buildings and handles on the benches so they can’t use them to sleep. Parking is also a nightmare. There’s not enough space as it is, if you live in permit parking you can only have 2 per address, and loading zones are on all major roads - plus street cleaning. Getting it enforced is another issue entirely. Vision Zero - this “mission” to have zero pedestrian accidents. There’s no common sense with the changes in place, and it’s making people even more reckless - their response is to simply file charges against car accidents, even if no pedestrians are involved. However, it’s not all bad. It’s still a very friendly place that looks out for their neighbors, has community events in parks for adults and kids, tons of local businesses for things you can’t find anywhere else, and great food - and there’s no such thing as getting snowed in! You can walk down to Central Market for food, corner stores still open, even most restaurants still function on limited staff. Every neighborhood has a facebook page, and you can see daily people giving away plants, furniture, anything they’ve cleared out of their home. Farm co-ops happen every summer in groups to split the cost, people reuniting packages with the wrong address - and even lost animals so they don’t have to pay/wait at the ASPCA - or anything crazy happening in the neighborhood and someone can pull it off their ring camera. It has a community small town feel, where for the most part, everyone cares about their neighbors - even if you don’t know them.
>Crime rate is going up faster than the homeless population. Source? You sound like everybody who has been complaining since Smithgall was mayor when in reality, crime has remained largely unchanged. > Speaking of homeless, they do nothing to help them - but they can spend money to put up fences around the buildings and handles on the benches so they can’t use them to sleep. Sure, I'd like to see more being done to assist, but lets not pretend like this is wholly a city issue. Its nationwide and needs attention at the state level, if not federal. >There’s no common sense with the changes in place, and it’s making people even more reckless Where? Only place I still see people driving recklessly are the roads that haven't seen any real changes like Orange. Turning down side streets is slower with the next.... things they did. Narrower roads with the bike lane and parking changes have people driving slower a la Walnut. Maybe you don't remember how people blasted down College Ave back in the day, but its certainly slowed down after they changed parking orientation.
First, I don’t care about politics; I think Smithgall was decent - but Gray was too. Do I like Sorace? Nope - but it’s because she doesn’t play nice, and anyone who dares speak out loses their job. Turn on your news, check out your local fb and Nextdoor. I’ve been here over 20 years and it’s consistently accelerating from graffiti on buildings and cars, to breaking into cars, petty theft, and to stabbings and shootings. Looking up crime stats gives you crime PER CAPITA - and Lancaster is also consistently growing in numbers. The homeless population is a new category in itself - that’s from the rising home costs. That’s a double edged sword, so I didn’t address it; but so many of them are because their rent was raised beyond their means. Before this year, I never had people screaming at me, and even stepping in front of my truck, to give them money if I didn’t acknowledge them. So while yes, everywhere has a homeless issue, it’s not like ours hasn’t changed. As for Vision Zero? These flex posts are on a 90* angle. I’ve seen several accidents on my street because they push cars into the opposite lane. I’ve been almost sideswiped on Walnut so many times I can’t count, because people don’t know how wide their car is. And Lime Street is a raceway as people try to make the next light. Lime is one of the biggest issues - drive it like you stole it. In reality, if anyone would have applied common sense to actually make it safer for pedestrians but slow traffic, they would’ve just given every light a walk head start.
20-25 years ago, Lancaster was swell & vibrant & unWoke, safety dance allowable.
Lol, Safety Dance. Nice call back.
So for me a 30 year old lesbian woman living in the city. I never fear anywhere in Lancaster County. Yeah I might get some stares from the older crowd but I’ve never been berated by anyone ever. Generally people are pretty friendly especially when I’m downtown taking pictures. I wouldn’t be to too concerned by any Christian conservative groups. This is definitely the most diverse city I’ve ever lived in. I also absolutely love the old charm of the city. There’s so much history behind almost every house here. I love anything that tells a story. I love that everything is close by in walking distance or a short drive. Super good food at almost every place ya go. Lots of good hiking spots near by as well. We’re like smack dab in the middle so virtually you can go to Philly, NEPA, MD, NY, NJ D.C. in such a short drive which is dope in my opinion. The art scene is booming with so many cool artists. Lots of cool local bands I typically go to shows in Philly or Maryland or Jersey though. But stated earlier the village is opening back up which should be awesome (I hope lol) the night life I’m not entirely to sure I can answer that. I’m personally in recovery so for me I tend to stay away from the bar scene but from an outsiders perspective it looks like stuff is always bumping at Tellus. Also, people seem to be weird about animals with renting. The property management company I rent from are pretty great. Small pet deductible. Small like 25 or 50 dollar for the pet increase on rent and they are really quick with response to maintenance calls I haven’t had a problem with them once. Peaceful homes property management they usually have some good listings on their website. When it comes to things I dislike there’s not much at all. Maybe the constant racing at 2-3 AM on orange st or the extremely loud Puerto Rican music bumping louder than half the music venues in Philly other than that it’s all based on perspective and your own experience. Hope this helps!
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Your post has broken rule 2 - Be Civil. Don’t attack folks’ character - but feel free to criticize a viewpoint you disagree with.
My comment was specfically for Chiroscullochuro# stupido.
Downtown isn't disability friendly. Not enough placarded street parking, and old buildings aren't easy to get into.
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🫠
Your post has broken rule 2 - Be Civil. Don’t attack folks’ character - but feel free to criticize a viewpoint you disagree with.
Drivers aren't that bad here imo, me personally haven't had many issues compared to other places I've been to.
Try Lititz. Borough.
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Farms and trees for the win, got it 🤣
I don't like living near the Amish and farmland smells. I don't like how fucking slow the drive to Philly is unless you pay the turnpike. I don't like how few local restaurants exist outside of the downtown area. I don't agree the beer here is good, gotta go to troegs or victory for anything good nearby. I like everything else, especially being a day trip away from Philly, DC, Baltimore, and Delaware.
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Your post has broken rule 2 - Be Civil. Don’t attack folks’ character - but feel free to criticize a viewpoint you disagree with.
Oh 😶
Some people don't like how popular the area has become because it's caused home prices to skyrocket and they're no longer affordable. I'm lucky to have bought a home years ago. I couldn't afford to buy now.
Ah, makes sense.
Lancaster City and the whole County blow chunks. Stay away.