Stroudsburg, Pa.: A Small Town at the ‘Heart of the Poconos’

Abstract

In Stroudsburg, Pa. - a Monroe County borough 75 miles west of New York and just across the Delaware River from New Jersey - where she now lives, there's plenty of parking. New Yorkers have sought open space in the Poconos for ages, but the Millers are among a recent influx of city dwellers settling in Stroudsburg, a community of about 5,900 residents that calls itself the "Heart of the Poconos." Stroudsburg is becoming hipper, if a bit more crowded. Ian Schreier, the restaurant's owner, who lives in neighboring East Stroudsburg, a borough of 11,000 with a state college, said the arrival of new residents started long before the pandemic. The sisters have moved from one place to another in Stroudsburg, most recently paying $420,000 in May for a five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom house seven miles outside the borough. The Vibe Liz and Sergio Ferro moved to the area from Millstone, N.J., in 2011, paying $193,000 for a five-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom house six miles from downtown Stroudsburg, because they thought it would be an ideal spot for raising children. According to the state's Department of Education, students taking the SATs in 2019 at Stroudsburg High School, home of the Mountaineers, averaged 534 in math and 540 in reading and writing, compared with state averages of 537 and 545. With a few exceptions, Stroudsburg is the last stop en route to New York and the first stop on the way back.