Well, I have a camp I've spent a lot of time at in NW PA (Tionesta area), lived in Coudersport for about a year, and state college for a little over 3 years. I'm now in Reading, PA.
State College was a little nicer as far as offering the amenities of a big town. Numerous grocery, restaurant, shopping choices. The locals are pretty affluent, most of them involved in the university in some way. Because of the affluent, educated type, there were lots of specialty type stores, that kind of stuff is hard to find in a small town, there are bike shops, brew shops, music shops, etc. (and whatever you're into). The restaurant choices were far superior, not just your ho hum bar restaurants but specialized places like breweries, Italian specialties, etc., in addition to all the big chains like Red Lobster, Outback, etc. The sports are top notch, while football is king you can take in any type of game you wish just about any time of the year, and the university brings in decent concerts. Not just music, but guest speakers and NPR type shows, and arts shows, etc. There is a ski resort and a few golf courses. Of course, if you're right in town, you have students, that may or may not appeal to you. While the students and university in general bring an awful lot to the town (as described above), it also means late night partying next door, and drunk people wondering around on occasion. I would lock my doors, but crime wasn't a major issue. But 15 minutes out of town in any direction escapes all the hustle and bustle, and still puts you within an easy drive. Cost of living is fairly high, but probably not as expensive as NJ, but the standard of living is very high as well.
The people in Coudersport weren't hicks, as Sandfly and SoYoCo alluded to. Healthcare was fine, the hospital is actually very nice indeed. You had the necessities like pharmacies, groceries, hardware, etc. in town, and while they weren't spectacular, they got the job done just fine. Winter's were rough, there was a very good ski resort a half hour to the east. One pretty good golf course. We lacked the chain store retailers like Walmart and had no real good clothing stores, though there was a small Penny's in town. I did a lot of shopping online. Restaurants were mostly the bar restaurant variety. I liked them and thought they had good food, but there wasn't much variety and I ate at home a lot more. McDonalds was the only fast food restaurant, and there were no non-fast food chains. If you're into astronomy Cherry Springs has the darkest skies east of the Mississippi, and once a year or so you can catch the northern lights. But life was slower paced and that appealed to me. Schools were good, the cost of living was low, the people generally well educated, and the standard of living was pretty good. I could see me retiring there, I loved it up there and moved away only because of my employment situation.
Tionesta is considerably smaller than Coudersport. This is real small town living. One or two gas stations, one grocery store, and a handful of small restaurants, there is a pharmacy and hardware store. I love visiting, but I'm not sure I'd want to live there. On the bright side, a half hour and you're in Oil City or Titusville, which offers the amenities of larger towns. An hour and a half and you're in Erie, which is a fairly big city. Warren and Clarion are in striking distance too, Pittsburgh's maybe 2-3 hours. If you like the outdoors, you're on the doorstep of the national forest, a very big playground. Cost of living is extremely low, but the average standard of living was not what it was in Coudersport. Of course, if you got the money, you can make it what you want. The locals are mostly loggers and retirees, except in deer and trout season, when the tourists come. This is an area where the vast majority of the people are outdoorsmen. I guess you'd have to call them hicks, but I think hicks get a bad rap, they're not bad people. Its the city folk tourists, yes supposed outdoorsmen, that uphold the negative stereotype.
The fishing. Well, both NC and NW PA offered as many little brookie streams as you can imagine, and some medium sized wild trout streams, as well as larger stocked streams. NC being a little better I'd say, but not by a long shot. Central PA had less streams total, but still more than you could reasonably fish on a regular basis. The limestoners offer much bigger water with wild trout, streams the size of Penns and even Spring Creek, with good wild trout fishing, just isn't common in this state, while there's a number of them in Centre County. While there's less brookie streams than, say, Potter County, you still have a few dozen within a reasonable drive to choose from. And while Potter County is beautiful, I'd give the nod to State College with the bigger mountains as being prettier. It is more populated which knocks it back down a notch.
