Philly is pretty easy to figure out.....its a grid with city hall and the parkway dividing it up.
There are certain districts and Center City is ever expanding......
In the North near Temple is Northern Liberties and Fishtown. I dont think you would want to live any farther than Fishtown or in the neighborhoods directly outside Temple. Currently, Northern Liberties is revitalizing the area with nicer apartments, shops, places to eat, and bars. Fishtown has cheap rent and houses to rent. You probably would need a car if you lived in either of these places. Parking is not a problem up there though. Rent probably ranges from 700 for a one bedroom to 1500for a three bedroom house the farther north you go the cheaper it gets.
In the South near the stadiums is South Philly. You would need a car to live there too. Certain parts are really gross and shady though. Most of the places down there are houses...very cheap.... a three bedroom house can sometimes go for 1000
Center City is divided into different sections with Market running as a divider of North and South.
North of Market you have the neighborhoods of Logan Square/Parkway (this area contains the Franklin Institute, Moore College of Art and Design, the Free Library of Philadelphia and soon the Barnes Foundation) Logan Square is my nieghborhood. My neighbors are usually yuppish and there is a lot of law offices on my block. It is fairly quiet and safe but the rents can be pricey. From 750-1500
Above Logan Square, you have the Art Museum area/Fairmount/Francisville. I would suggest finding a place in Fairmount/Art Area, but avoid Francisville unless you live on the outskirts.......Fairmount has a few cool bars....It is home to the Community College of Philadelphia. Certain blocks are weird though.....probably should avoid Mt Vernon Street and anything above 20....from 650-1200
Below Market is Rittenhouse Square/Fitler Square. These are the "ritzy" areas to live. You can get some good deals in the area on apartments. The nice part about Rittenhouse is that there are tons of things to do around that area. It is fairly safe. I would say that theft is the biggest problem and when I lived there I got my apt broken into, but part of that was my fault. The apartments tend to be tiny in this area. from 725-2000
Across Broad Street is Convention Center District/Chinatown. I dont really know anyone who lives there. I dont think I would want to live in China town though because it smells a little bit weird there and there is no parking.
South of this area is the Gayborhood. Again the apartments are on the smallish side but this area contains Antique Row, a few popular bars, some gay bars, cute restaurants.....there is a block near locust though where it might be halfway house-housing? Not to say that is dangerous but sometimes you have people hanging out all the time on their doorsteps. The gayborhood sits right above South Street. 600-1100
Society Hill is wedged in this area.....rent is expensive...the houses are old and nice....they have some really quaint apartments in beautiful houses....some of the nicest spaces I have seen have been here.....mind you these around older houses though so not really a loft district.....rent goes from about 900-2500.
South Street is sort of like our equivelant to Bourbon Street in new Orleans/St Marks In New York. The lower numbered streets 10-Front are the ones with most activity. 10-30 is primarily Residential with an occasional shop or restaurant.....20th -25th is where the graduate hospital is......Anyhow, 10-front has lots of drunk crazy people on it. Artsy people, tourists, punk rock kids.....it is always happening though.....my friend lives in a gated type apartment complex..n and the rent is pretty good for what you get....700-1300. South Street is heavily patrolled by the police....but people still get crazy here....some parts right below south are housing projects/vacant land.
Below South Street is Queens Village/Bella Vista/Italian Market. Queens Village is nice. Some parts of Bella Vista are cute. Bella VIsta has some really great places to eat. some of the houses are run down but they are building lofts there so that will probably revitalize the area....there are a lot of vietnamese people there and there is A HUGE vietnamese grocery area called Wing Phat Plaza that sometimes is a selling point in apt ads....
Above South Street but below Northern Libs is Olde City....Olde City has world class ritzy bars, a few great art house movie theaters, most of the galleries in Philadelphia, boutiques, and it is where the real world was filmed.....the rent here is Very VERY Expensive BUT the apartments are BEAUTIFUL. There are tons of lofts.....because it used to be a run down place with warehouses.....the rent is crazy here 1250-3000 well not crazy because you really can get a lot out of living there....
I would advise to stay out of Southwest Philadelphia/West Graduate Hospital Area. My friends live there and they have a pretty huge house for very cheap, but no transport really runs there....it is hard to get a cab.....It is not lit very well....Might be alright if you have a car....my friends who lived there went to WEst Chester. I would strongly advise you though to live with other people if you decide to live there...
This is all primarily on one side of the schylkill.....however on the other side is University City/WestPhiladelphia. University City is Drexel, Penn, and USIP's stomping ground......Most of the area around Penn is alright...my cousin had a HUGE apartment, in a little bit of a shady neighborhood, but as Penn expands, so do their students.....similar to the move Temple students are doing to the North.....The area around Drexel though is kinda sketchy.....I went to Drexel and the part you want to avoid at ALL COSTS is Mantua. You'll know by seeing it that you are in Mantua......Powelton Village is where most of the students live.....the apartments there are fairly large and nice depending on who lived there before you......basically University City is like a microcosm of a place like Penn State/State College but urbanized.....
I know that might seem confusing...If you have questions PM me......the safeness of Philadelphia all depends on where you have lived previously.....You might want to reconsider moving to Philly since West Chester is 45 minutes away.....and the way to West Chester is 76 which has notoriously horrible traffic and accidents. They call it the Sure-kill Expressway......
http://www.gophila.com/gettinghere/centercitymap.htm
