This Is What Life Is Like In Small Town Pennsylvania

before i get started i do consulting on where you can move i'll work with you to find the perfect place for you to move to there's more information at the end of the video about that now let's get started back in the day everybody lived in rural areas then bam everybody moved to a big city it was okay at first but then it got too crowded and dangerous and there was way too much drama so now everybody's scrambling to figure out where they can go the only place that's left where it's safe and cheap anymore are small towns so it might be time to bring it back to the heartland everybody this is tinytown 2.0 if you've been paying attention i've been working on this whole tiny town 2.0 series the goal is to pick random towns and see what it's like there and try to build a case that you guys should think about moving to them i'm still at the beginning of this and it's clear that some small towns make more sense than others but this is the first truly great small town i visited it's called manheim pennsylvania i didn't really know much about the place before i got there except it met all the criteria it has less than 10 000 people it has low crime and it's affordable but after spending a day here and talking to folks i think you'll think it's as nice a place as i do we're going to drive around manheim a bit and look at the general area and talk to people who live here too we'll meet the town mayor the state representative and a local business owner so let's get started small towns because who wants drama small towns where you won't get stuff robbed small towns aren't as big as a big place everyone here knows your name maybe that's good or that's bad who knows manheim pennsylvania population 4858 it's here in lancaster county in southeastern pennsylvania this small town certainly isn't dying it's thriving there's no former mill town falling apart vibe here pal it's a middle-class wonderland the surrounding area is very conservative and it's very safe here those are good things right for those of you who are fiscally aware you'd be a little jealous to hear what the home prices are here in a little bit we'll look at the neighborhoods but the average price for a home here is about 289 thousand dollars and it's not going up fast places just outside of town are far cheaper too in many big cities there's bidding wars for homes and people are buying homes sight unseen often after multiple offers not here nuh uh that's just what makes the idea of moving to a small town even more desirable i talked to the mayor of manheim scott funk he says it's not just the low prices that make this place so neat what's your average home price um up there well most of the homes in and around the borough i'd say or in the 200 000 range uh you know there's some that you can get for less uh some more but i'd say 200 000 is probably um a good range you know for for a nice affordable house that's crazy because as you know the average home price in the us is like 350 000 it's going up every day right a lot of people freaking out and they're like i don't know where to go i have no options i can't afford to live anywhere um you know but here we go like this is an example of a place people just need to re-wrap their heads around what what entertainment is and and what opportunity is and and leave whatever hell hole they live in right right a small town and they can they can thrive and be happy you know yeah so um yeah so everything's everything sounds great but of course you know living in a small town there's going to be challenges you know nothing is perfect what would be a couple of um challenges with living in a small town that that people may not be aware of to keep in mind a lot to tell you the truth i i it's tough for me to answer that because i've grown up in the town my whole life so i've never experienced any place else you know so for me to maybe maybe if you're coming from the country if you're not used to people you're living directly beside you you know right across the fence or uh you know row home that's you know connected to uh another house you know uh that would be something there if you're not you know used to uh uh like i said people being that close to you i think that that's not the i think that the people would i'm showing right now neighborhoods of manheim while we're talking i don't think anybody is going to look at that and say that's way too congested that's way too crowded i think right that's actually pretty sp like that looks pretty desirable the area around mannheim is farmland mostly and as you might expect things move at a much slower pace sometimes instead of an accident this is why you'll be late to work but for the most part your morning commute would look like this now that wouldn't be so bad would it if there's one thing i've learned in my short time researching small towns it's that you definitely might probably maybe will get bored most of us have become accustomed to being stimulated all the time we need things to do and we need them now damn it well when you move to a place like this you're gonna have to get used to redefining your idea of fun oh there's plenty of things to do here you're just gonna have to change your mindset manheim isn't completely boring i mean there's cafes and coffee houses and a few restaurants and the town holds events all the time in this square where you can buy produce or listen to music and eat great food can you see yourself having an hour-long conversation with your neighbor about how good the local high school football team is i can you can also watch cows get milked just a mile outside of town okay maybe that's only worth watching once let's be honest though the idea of moving all the way out into the sticks isn't a good one i mean if there's one thing i've learned it's this tip you'd want to live in a small town that's near a larger city and manheim fits that bill just five minutes away it's a little town of lititz it's also an amazing little place to live it's actually been called the best small town in america by various publications that you may or may not have even heard of even further out the city of lancaster it's a mid-sized city of 60 000 people there's all sorts of stuff to do there and hershey's park is 30 minutes away and major cities are within a couple hours drive too and the beach isn't too far that's cool but you'd have to learn to downsize your shopping habits and live within your means a little bit right you can do it many of you have said you want to do it a recent gallup poll indicated half of americans say they prefer to live in a small town or rural area these days that's up 10 since the last time they asked everybody that question years ago we all want good schools less drama more affordable and easy commutes there's all kinds of opportunities in manheim you could lease out a nice handsome building like this and open up the business of your dreams where all of your new neighbor friends will come down and chat your ear off all day that's what barney riley did you know like we wanted to to help continue to make manheim a great place and that's why we invested in the town we found an old factory to fix up that was going to get you know at one point was going to get demolished and then we turned it into you know the place that you saw when you came down here um and you know one of the high points for me for that project is that it's going to create about 75 walkers jobs you know which is awesome you know there's so many cool neat things about mannheim but i mean imagine being able to just walk to work in a cute little town like that and not have to deal with all the drama without stepping over homeless people and poop and all the stuff people have to deal with on the west coast it's just night and day mannheim reminds me of how america used to be and how america should be barney yeah yeah you're right you're right and when you move to a small town like manheim you're gonna make friends that'll last it's like instant facebook friends you'll know everyone and everyone will know you okay that may or may not be a good thing i mean if you don't like people knowing your beeswax or if you have something to hide you probably wouldn't thrive here what do you have to hide anyways but the biggest upside to move into a tiny town is the deep connections you make in a place like this you'll know the butcher your next door neighbor is the town pastor your closest friend is the dad of the star quarterback everyone i talked to said it's the sense of community that makes manheim special when there's an emergency everybody chips in and helps one another they have a volunteer fire department the whole town shows up for the high school football games on friday nights that's neat right it's got such a great sense of community i mean like we've both suzanne and i have lived in like big cities before and in other like larger areas and um it's just it's it's almost like a norman rockwell painting you know like if you see our square our square always reminds me of a norman rockwell painting and um the scentsy community is is incredible you know nick i think it's like anywhere the more that you are willing to get involved and step up and become part of the community the more the community embraces you right volunteer we can volunteer at so many different aspects women's club like i said we have lots of civic things our kids our sports programs are incredible in this town um so there's lots of different ways you can get them all but once you do we really look out for each other new opportunities arise in places like manheim it's a chance to redefine who you are you may not know you liked cribbage until you joined the mannheim cribbage club you may not appreciate farm show week until you've been to manheim's farm show week you may not know you liked homemade ice cream until you've tried brick house cafe's homemade ice cream and have you ever had an amish sour cherry pie what about work can you work from home cause if so you're set but most of us don't have that luxury if you're lucky enough to be able to find a job right here along main street there's a decent chance you'd be able to walk to work but expectedly there's very few high-paying jobs here it's likely you'd have to drive 20 to 30 minutes away for your 9-5 but that's not so bad is it work-wise a lot of people are going to worry about how am i going to get a job i like the idea of small-town life and my kids being safe and they can walk home from school but what am i going to do for work and a lot of people cannot work from home um average commute i mean there's plenty of jobs within 30 45 minutes of there right oh yeah yeah like i said harrisburg is a half hour away uh yeah lancaster city there's a lot of industry there's a lot of industry in and around manheim and and throughout the county uh there's definitely good jobs high-tech jobs uh you know factories uh transportation yeah you name it you know we uh we have it here like i said lancaster city 10 miles away uh that's a city of around 60 000 people you know so a good population um you know there are people that live in our area that commute down by philly and stuff you know every day uh right now with the gas prices the way they are you know it's but that's every place uh it makes a little expensive but yeah there's definitely uh good employment good opportunities um here in the area now i know a lot of people nowadays are working from home you know so uh in that case if you're one of those uh people that gets to work from home it really doesn't matter where you live you know so uh like i said our taxes are reasonable here uh compared to other areas you know it's just a good quality of life um living rural pa people i'm telling you there's literally thousands of places like this all over the country you don't have to move here but this is an example of what it would be like if you made the plunge small towns might be where it's at everyone the only challenge is deciding which small town to move to and i'm on the case everyone so stay tuned give people an idea who are from big cities um what they would expect if they were to move to a small town like like yours um i think that they would it's it's a perfect blend of um of the country you know like within a few minutes drive you could be you know driving through some beautiful back country roads to see some like majestic fields and farms and um great wildlife like within you know four minutes my house i could be at a farm that has um american buffalo to sheep to llamas to alpacas to cows you know it's um and and within uh i don't know 20 minutes i could be in downtown lancaster city and go to the theater or go see a concert um and within an hour and a half i could be to philadelphia or baltimore within two and a half hours i could be in new york city um so i think we have the best of all worlds here um we're only 25 minutes away from the harrisburg international airport so travel is is you know very convenient um we're only eight minutes from the pennsylvania turnpike but we're far enough away that we don't have a lot of those um like urban urban headaches you know like big city headaches we don't have a lot of the things from like graffiti to um i don't know um homelessness shooting yeah exactly yeah needles yeah yeah it's a nice clean you know like uh way of life but at the same time you know lancaster county is known as being like the refugee capital of the united states because we have so many vol there's there's tons of chances for you to get involved to be to be an active part of the community there's all sorts of opportunities for volunteerism um whether it be faith-based or um civic-based you know like either volunteer with veterans groups or you know whatever whatever your main interest might be you know like you could find an opportunity to contribute when what's the reaction when you meet somebody who's new to manheim and maybe they haven't lived in a town that small before how what's the reaction how do they how do they usually describe their their experience yeah um as i mentioned like when we met at the coffee shop you know there was a family that moved into town from from san francisco and and it was like he said at one point it was like a big culture shock from him but at another feeling it was almost like coming home you know like um he you know outside of tv in hollywood he didn't know like these small town americana towns still survived and and they were just so excited to be part of it and to you know to move here to experience it and he he just said he goes you don't know what it's like to you know like to to walk your dog all over town and not have to dodge you know either needles or you know human waste or yeah you know and or worry about you know like crime or you know going out too late or in this neighborhood or that neighborhood and he just said he goes it's it's you know it's unreal for him you know it's a relief and a breath of fresh air yes he he doesn't remember the last time he saw a parade let alone he was able to set a chair out on his front sidewalk and and actually sit and watch one for an hour you know he just yeah he said it was it was great and like he said he didn't think in some respects he said he feels like he was on time capsule you know and it went back 30 40 or 50 years okay everybody so we have a special guest joining us to talk about living in mannheim this is state representative mindy fee from this 37th legislative district in pennsylvania hi mindy hi everyone how are you hi nick so i'm glad that you joined me um you you have a unique perspective i'm doing a video about manheim and i'm talking about just the the the good things about living in a small town like manheim um can you give people an idea on on what it's like living in a small town like manheim sure well oh my goodness there's so many different aspects that i love in this town i grew up in this town um actually i grew up two blocks from my from my district office here in market square and i raised my kids in this town and now my grandkids are going to school so i have a great perspective i always try and describe it it's it's a place where like you can't run in now the grocery store in five minutes right because you always see somebody you know you have to ask about their kids and you want to know about their mother so it's just a place where you you know meet people and you know i i always i i rationalize this is especially as a state representative right and i see people from all over the state i said my community we believe in faith family and community and we rely on those things an awful lot and we don't look to government to fix all of our issues and all our problems and is probably one of the things i love most about being able to represent the people here yeah and those are things that a lot of people are looking for nowadays you know it's so expensive to live in big cities the crime the crowds the drama that come with um living in big cities and i think that people are starting to kind of um open their eyes and and accept the possibility of um maybe maybe getting out of a big city and moving to a small town i just think a lot of people number one don't know where to go and where to start looking um and two like what to expect so what would a family that lives in a big city ex what would they expect um if they were to move to a small town like manheim i look at it if you want to come to this town right like yeah if you get involved it is it's it's a very small community but people love this community and when we had the mainland farm show where i was going with it you know we we showcase our heritage all the kids bring their animals they raise and local kids um sell milkshakes and it's truly to find out you know where our food comes from right so people can come and learn and it's it's just a wonderful event and we have different events like that throughout the year yeah i can imagine and then people need to redefine their idea of fun when they leave a big city and they need to become involved and and become part of the community and get to know people and and that's your involvement that's your that's your entertainment is being involved and thinking of entertainment in a different way okay everybody well joining me right now we have scott funk who's the mayor of manheim pennsylvania how's it going scott very good thanks for having me uh this afternoon nick yeah i you know i spent a lot of time uh driving around manheim and the nearby communities and i think the goal right now is to kind of show people that there's alternatives to living in big cities because the cost of living the crime um a lot of people can work from home so i picked mannheim as a visual representation of hey here's an option it's a cute small town um you probably haven't heard of it before but let's explore the place a little bit and get to know a little bit about what it's like to be in a small town and i picked manheim and i'm glad i did because it's a really neat place yeah yeah it definitely is uh and i'm like i said very happy that you uh your wife decided to come through and join us in manheim and see what we have to offer so give people an idea but we'll talk about manheim um just small town life in general um most people haven't wrapped their heads around living in a small town you know we used to live in small places ages ago and now we're all used to living in suburbs and big cities um they're one of the last affordable safe places left in the country um for families what's it like living in a small town give people an idea um it's just great the community feel uh i'll say you know our school systems are fantastic uh you know the sports teams are our our town really gets behind uh a lot of our sports teams and um a lot of pride in the town we uh help each other out you know when there's uh flooding or natural disasters or anything uh yeah it's a close-knit community we really come out and uh help each other when we can and you know it's just nice like i said everything is uh is close by but yet you're you're still i'll say out in the country somewhat definitely community spirit you know i'll give an example uh we have had a very competitive very good football team for years uh you know when a lot of people hear of manheim that's one of the first things they think of we're good on all sports but football kind of stands out uh our football field is right in the center right in our center of our park and uh it's walkable so you know it's night on friday night you can kind of sit like friday night lights you know you see everybody heading out to the football game and uh you know it's not odd for us to get uh you know three four thousand people there to game sometimes more depending how big it is and it's really the community like i said comes together with that and like i said it's not just sports it's everything um you know you know your neighbors you know you uh get to know everybody in the community you know and there's plenty of uh i'll say meeting places and activities and things to do you know for people like i said at the park uh you know it's just uh it's good what i'll say good hometown living i guess way to say it small towns because who wants drama small towns where you won't get stuff robbed small towns aren't as big as a big place everyone here knows your name maybe that's good or that's bad who knows where you can park your car wherever where you can watch the man kill your cow where you can be a mayor and in charge where you might one day make some new friends small towns because who wants drama small towns where you won't get stuff robbed small towns aren't as big as a big place small towns are a great place to live are you looking to move and need advice i do consulting that's right i'll sit down and talk about where the next perfect place for you and your family should be i do it all the time together let's find you a new home that's safe and checks all your boxes you can get my email in the description to find out how i can help you find your perfect relocation and i can also help you find your new house too email me and i'll work with you i'm not just helping you figure out where to move but i can help you find your perfect home too that's right i know awesome reliable agents all over the country and i'd love to connect you to somebody who can help you search for that perfect home hey guys if you learned something new about america or what it's like to live in america great you should think about subscribing and turning on your notifications you can also click one of these videos or playlists for more you can also now buy my songs on itunes and other formats click the link in the description thanks for watching and remember while we all might have different views we should all be nice to each other and try to make the us a better place in a positive way this is sage nyx manager this has been a corner house entertainment production

Channel: Nick Johnson

Views: 298,031

Keywords: the worst places to live in pennsylvania, worst cities in pennsylvania, pennsylvania, moving topennsylvania, should i move to pennsylvania, pennsylvania realtor, pennsylvania mortgage loan, pennsylvania history, pennsylvania facts, pennsylvania trivia, pennsylvania news, pennsylvania taxes, moving to pennsylvania, rural pennsylvania, amish, pa, homes, manheim, lancaster county pa, harrisburgh, philadelphia, pittsburgh, pittsburgh realtor, philadelphia realtor, move to pennsylvania

Id: 8SuxyOIxGA0

Length: 24min 25sec (1465 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 10 2023