..being in center city/olde city is probably the preferred place to live... but prices are outrageous..I just moved out of olde city like 6 months ago... I'm in s. philly now... definiltey cheap and a decent neighborhood... queen village is closer to downtown and pretty nice... northern liberties is nice... fishtown is on par with south philly.. pretty 'up and coming'... manayunk is nice and very cost effective if you dont mind being like a 20-25 minute pedal from downtown... (very hilly though, not ideal for fixed unless maybe you're used to san fran..haha)

if you're lookin to buy...let me know, I've got some realtor friends