Fun, safe, fairly inexpensive area to rent apartment in Philadelphia?

Question

We are four female college grads and are currently looking for an apartment for the fall. We were thinking Northern Liberties but some areas are dodgy and some are just too expensive and also Art Museum area. If you have any suggestions it would be great and the more specific, the more helpful. Thanks

Answer 1

Bella Vista or SoSo

Answer 2

You're right on Northern Liberties, unfortunately the same goes for Art Museum..not as stable as you might think. South of South (SoSo) is much the same, have a friend who lives there. Bella Vista is pretty safe, as is Fishtown, though it's a bit further out of the loop. I live in Fishtown, 5 years now, and it's finally becoming a bit cool. I've never felt not safe here.You might also consider Queen Village or Pennsport. Pennsport is the neighborhood just south of Queen Village and has been pretty stable for awhile..still walkable to a lot but not as expensive. Good luck!

Answer 3

I've lived in both areas for awhile now, and they're not as bad as people make it out to be.  Northern Liberties is a very nice part of town INSIDE OF A CITY.  Of course there will be quality of life issues with crime and an undesired element, but it's like that in all of the city--some spots are just worse than others.  Northern Liberties is definitely a "safer" area and will only get better as more and more of those condos/apartments go up.  Between NL and the Art Museum area, I prefer NL because of the amount of people down there our age (I'm mid-20s), the amount of bars/restaurants and all of the other shops along the way.  With 4 people, it probably won't matter anyway, but stay away from any of the newer loft-type buildings.  I stayed in a Tower building for awhile, and while it was great to look at, you could hear a mouse f**t through the walls.    

The Art Museum area is nice as well, although the crowd seems a little older (late 20s and up).  There are a lot of high schools in the area known as Spring Garden (I think...people argue about "hood" names and boundaries all the time), but generally, the area of Broad Street and Spring Garden Street.  The mass of schools nearby usually leaves us with a surplus of bored kids who get kicks out of being punks--the "Art Museum Area" is a big one though, and what's true for me may be 100% different from someone else's experience.  



Fishtown has also been seeing a lot of people moving in recently, though I think it's pretty far behind Northern Liberties and Fairmount in terms of quality of life.  It's an older, blue collar type of neighborhood, and you'll find a couple of young people/families sprinkled in there, but it's not a neighborhood that's conducive to walking around at night.  I'd feel safer in NL or the Art Museum area than I would Fishtown...and that's as a guy.

I'm sure you checked www.craigslist.org by now for apartments, but also try www.phillyblog.com for a forum that's broken down by neighborhood...there's one for the Art Museum area, one for NL, etc.  Finally, for a strictly NL site, check out www.northernliberties.org and ask around in there...all friendly people.  

Edit or email if you need more info.

Answer 4

Manayunk.