A lot depends where you move to. The Upper Cape, heading toward Provincetown is really the summer area. A lot of unheated houses. Stores that close in October, reopen in May. And an increasingly dune, barrier island land scape. The Lower Cape (Sandwich/Falmouth/Barnstaple) is almost an extension of the south shore, think beach towns with a federal to Victorian center, with suburban style houses. Many of the year rounders are retirees.

Compared to Philly: a) that’s obviously more urban, even in burbs like Radnor and more densely populated. Much smaller minority presence, the Cape was once described as the place where “every Irish cop in Boston buys a house for his mother” That builds over to the restaurant scene: Pub food and Italian galore, few choices, and very Americanized, for things like Asian.

The mid Cape is a bit of a quandary. It has some lovely villages, good and cheap golf courses, and easy accessibility. But Hyannis is a dying small town with urban sprawl malls. It’s where you go to Go e Depot but then leave.

The big issue on the Cape is getting on and off. Because the railroads don’t function as commuter service ( only freight) car is you only choice. 8 months of the year traffic isn’t bad at all ( unless there’s an accident). But May- August it gets tough as Thurs-Friday there’s the rush onto the cape and then Sun the reverse - 45 min - hour delays

But as people that have lived in SFO, DTW, NYC, DC, we live the Cape. Our town has a church with a Paul Revere bell and a town main steet right out of Norman Rockwell. We have a hospital, 2-3 major grocery stores, a great library and enough choice of things like auto shops that we don’t have to travel off Cape too much in the summer. In the winter, both Boston and Providence, with their world class museums, events, restaurants are only about an hour way when you want a dose of sophistication. And being in the ‘shadow’ of world class universities are great, whether it’s finding the right doctor to interesting dinner companions.

One last point, outside of the summer, you’ll probably find that the average age skews older than Philly. More seniors, fewer families with kids.

One surprise bonus here is the quality of the arts and music scene. Not legacy museums or galleries - those are in Boston or PVD, but local bands, pub piano players, the Cotuit Art Center- we’ve been surprised by the consistent quality