Advice on move to Philadelphia

We actually just moved from Philadelphia to the Bay Area! You're right that Philly is much more affordable :) You should check out Mt. Airy. It's on the outskirts of the city, and such a great neighborhood. I don't have school age kids (yet!) but it's full of cute homes, very bikeable, community-centric. Parts of it are transitional, but for the most part it's a wonderful diverse neighborhood. Chestnut Hill is nearby, and also a really fun neighborhood! That's where we lived :) It's pricer, but very safe, and tons of walkable/bikeable shops, restaurants, parks, etc. If you want to be more in the city, check our the Fairmount/Art Museum area. More expensive, but beautiful and also very bikeable. If you want more of a suburb feel, check out Ambler, Abington, and Cheltenham. I know the schools in those last three are great, but less bike friendly. Hope that helps! 

My family just moved from Philadelphia to Berkeley last summer! The neighborhood that meets the most attributes you listed is probably Mount Airy. It has tons of families, is very diverse, lots of yard space, has pretty good (and improving) public school options (as well as somewhat affordable private options, including Friends/Quaker schools) and it is right next to the Wissahickon, which is my favorite walking/running/green space area in Philadelphia. The only downside (for me) is that it's not very close to the city itself and the only way out/around is the freeway, which is just a nightmare at rush hour (and most of the time actually). But if commuting isn't a big part of your life, it would be a great spot.

The other family-focused neighborhoods in the city are Queen Village and Fairmount. Queen Village is somewhat pricey (though not at all compared to the Bay Area) because of the highly desirable elementary school Meredith. It is a great neighborhood with many awesome restaurants/cafes/shops/parks but yard space is tough to come by and it is a pretty dense urban area (not sure if that's what you're going for or not.) Fairmount (also known as "Art Museum" because it is near the Philadelphia Museum of Art) is much more accessible to public transit than Mount Airy (though, truthfully, Philly leaves a lot to be desired in terms of city transit) but has more yard space than Queen Village and is also right next to Fairmount Park, which has a fantastic running/bike path along the river (among other things). 

Happy to answer more questions if you have them, but those three neighborhoods come to mind first. Hope it narrows down your search a bit!

My husband, 2 year old son and dog and I just moved from Philadelphia to the Bay Area in January. We most recently lived in the art museum area (North Fairmount) and found it really well suited for families. I'm not sure you'll find a backyard there, but the area has lots of green space, being near to Fairmount park, a great dog park right off the parkway, lots of walkable coffee shops, restaurants and stores, and the Art museum and the Franklin Institute were close by. There's a brand new whole foods, and a fantastic pediatrician - Dr. Alexis Lieberman at Fairmount Pediatrics. I biked or took public transportation to work - two buses ran a block from my house. And there were lots of young families with kids my son's age, so we felt like we had a community. 

Other nice neighborhoods we lived in, though before kids, included Bella Vista and Graduate Hospital.

Philly is really a fantastic city. We love the bay area, but miss Philadelphia too.

I'm from philly, it's a great place if you don't mind the winter and summer;). In actual Philadelphia mt airy is a wonderful, diverse, progressive and family friendly neighborhood where you can get a nice house with a yard. Chestnut hill is another family friendly neighborhood, a little more upscale, a little less diverse and progressive. Both are residential neighborhoods that feel kinda like albany. Only problem with philly proper is that the schools suck throughout the city ( or at least they did when I was growing up). There's a good magnet school program that's public but it's extremely competitive to get into. Good school districts outside of Philly are on the "main line". It's a group of neighborhoods just along the city boarder- narberth, Bryn mawr, lower merion etc. less diverse a little less progressive but you wouldn't be in complete culture shock coming from the bay. Further out gets more conservative but there are more good schools. Good luck! We think about moving back too as the prospect of homeownership here gets father and farther out of reach:( 

I have relatives who live in both Havertown and Haverford and they really like it.I think there are towns that are considered part of MainLine,which is also good.Except for the weather,it is a great area

Sounds like Mt. Airy! A lovely neighborhood with a lot of families. Wish we'd decided to move there when we were contemplating our return to the east coast.

I am originally from outside Philadelphia, specifically Bryn Mawr, and it was a great family friendly place to grow-up with excellent school districts. Not sure if you are interested in more of the suburbs, but if you are, I'm happy to chat further. We are also considering a move there in the next few years...

Hi from Philadelphia! Excellent choice, as the city is definitely having a heyday right now. First off, are you set on living in the city? Let me start with a pitch for South Jersey, where my husband, 4yo daughter & I landed after leaving the Bay Area. It's basically an inner-ring suburb of Philadelphia over here with reliably way better schools, good housing stock with yards, small-town feel with Main Street retail strips, and the Patco train, which runs 24hrs/day. I get to my Center City office much faster than my colleagues who live in the parts of Philly that have single-family homes with yards, and I never have to run for the train. Patco has one every 5ish minutes during rush hour. Septa trains to the Northwest are more like every 30 mins. My commute is all walking & public transit. 

Diversity varies, and some of the towns on the train line are super racially homogeneous. Economic diversity seems good to me, and the LGBT families I know haven't had any issues. Our property taxes are super high, but we found when working with our mortgage broker that our monthly payment bought us pretty much the same amount of house in NJ as PA. (Higher taxes/lower sale price vs. Lower taxes/higher sale price) And for those taxes we get good schools, quick snow cleanup, clean streets, etc. 

All that said, if you're set on living *in* Philadelphia, I don't blame you. :) Much of the city is rowhouses, condos, and apartments, so to get a single-family home with a backyard, you'll need to be in: Northwest Philly (East/West Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill ($$$), Roxborough, maybe Manayunk or East Falls), Northeast Philly (Somerton, Bustleton, and other parts of the Greater Northeast), and parts of far West Philly (Overbrook/Overbrook Park). There are many closer-in neighborhoods with a family friendly vibe, good diversity, and walkable neighborhoods, but you'll be living in a rowhouse with a 200sq ft concrete patio in back. If you can live with visiting some of our awesome parks every day instead of maintaining your own backyard, check out Graduate Hospital, Bella Vista, East Passyunk, Rittenhouse, Logan Circle, Washington Square West, or Fishtown. I'm not super qualified to speak on schools, but minimal googling has probably already told you about the school district's significant funding challenges. School financing is a huge, intractable issue here that negatively affects the teachers, the facilities, the support staff...you name it. That said, we have some amazing magnet schools in the district; some highly sought-after, innovative charter schools, a large number of K-8 schools that range from nice to ok; and a large number of schools to steer clear of. The Philadelphia School District serves over 260K kids who bring every imaginable range of experience with them to school, so I'd probably think hard about renting for the first couple years to give your family a chance to get to know the school situation and decide what you want.

Keep in mind that Philadelphia has a city wage tax for residents (on top of the PA state income tax), and brace yourself for the kind of political advertising that assaults people who live in swing states. Bonus though: your vote really matters!

Enjoy your visit!

**frequently, when I'm weeding in the backyard in 90 degree summer heat, I wish I had bought a house in the city instead.