My friend lives in Havertown and he is a contractor and rough around the edges doesn't do him justice...he is rough to his very core! Which is fine for him but I wouldn't want to be his neighbor...

Seems the consensus is that Havertown is blue collar/working class on balance, sorry Sharkbait.

Working class means white collar too, right?

I see HTown as a mix of blue and white collar folks...with the overwhelming majority fitting into the middle and upper middle class buckets. (excluding the 4 dumpy blocks)

Of the people I know in HTown, there is a 70/30 split between college educated and non college educated. The 'blue collar' non college grads are self employed contractors, skilled tradesmen and small business owners who earn healthy livings. (2-3x that of the average teacher at least) I know a few execs (read, $500k++++ a year and a few) who live in HTown too. I don't know that many people in HTown.

I'm a huge Havertown fan and it would be a place Id be very comfortable raising kids. For the $$$ its hard to beat and I don't see it going ghetto any time soon. Thunda is right on point!

[quote=Malloy;736830]Working class means white collar too, right?
quote]

Working class means hourly wage workers, no degree, no salary.

I grew up in Upper Darby then my family moved to Broomall in the late 80s.

Personally, I think that most parts of Havertown are going downhill. The Upper Darby/West Philly section-8 trash are slowly creeping up West Chester Pike and it's a shame.

That said, there are still nice parts of H-Town. I think the Westgate Park section of Havertown is still a great place to raise a family. But I would avoid certain areas near Darby Road and West Chester Pike, closer to the Llanerch section.

YMMV.

[quote=orrmobl;736860]Oh, I didn't know that

I'm someone else who's had a LONG history, via family, in Haverford Twp. Not Havertown
but the section of Haverford that's in Delco AND Haverford Twp. I still
have family members who reside in Hav. Twp.

I agree with everyone's view that it's a fine place to be a family person, to raise
kids, etc. It certainly worked for my family!

As a single person today, living there is not the kind of lifestyle I want at this stage in my life.
But growing up it was ideal for me.

No, the people with experience of Havertown, except for this Lori person, said that it is an economically diverse middle-/upper-middle-class town with some blue collar working class elements.

Haverford Twp in general has great housing stock and good transit connections. I think it would be a great place to raise a family. Also, I don't know why people insist on only being in certain places, but I would think it would be very uncomfortable being the low man on the totem pole in a place like LM. The pressure to keep up with the Jones' when you clearly don't have the means to would be very stressful. Did anyone read the blurb in PhillyMag about all the parents in LM who have 2nd jobs to pay for Mercedes and horseback riding lessons? I mean, seriously, what are you teaching your kids? Haverford Twp gives you close proximity to the conveniences of LM, with a more diverse citizenry, for a fraction of the price. And the schools are good to boot, too. Further, in the "real" world even at high levels of accomplishment (executive, lawyer, doctor, etc), I have to believe that having grown up in a more socio-economically diverse area will only make one a stronger and more capable leader.

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NUTTER 2007

Havertown (Haverford Twp) is a nice place - not as wealthy or pretentious as other parts of the main line and that's reflected in its housing prices.

I agree with most people here that it does have its share of blue collar workers, but i wouldn't characterize it as predominatly blue collar. Most of my acquaintance living in Havertown/Haverford Twp are college educated professionals & in fact I know of many who are also college professors or administrators teaching at Saint Joe's, Villanova, Cabrini & other colleges nearby.

Wow,

You are the perfect representation of fear that makes people
run from certain neighborhoods, not ever having contributed one
positive thing while you were living there. It is so easy to flee from
the problem instead of trying to be part of the solution. I have
never lived in upper darby or west philly, but I think both places
are better off not having people like you there. No matter how far
up the mainline you decide to run you will always end up with yourself!