Moving to Harrisburgh area with young children (Elizabethtown, Mechanicsburg: housing, suburb)

[wombat112]

I am looking to move my family from Sacramento, CA to the Harrisburg area. I have had my fill of overpriced housing, bad schools, and very high taxes. I have three children under 5 years of age. Does anyone know of a good area for young children?

[momix5]

How about Elizabethtown? We were there last year and thought it was nice.

[danwxman]

Originally Posted by wombat112

I am looking to move my family from Sacramento, CA to the Harrisburg area. I have had my fill of overpriced housing, bad schools, and very high taxes. I have three children under 5 years of age. Does anyone know of a good area for young children?

Camp Hill, Mechanicsburg, and Hummelstown are all good options and affordable for someone coming from California.

[Nixi]

I spent most of my childhood (ages 8-18) in the Camp Hill/Mechanicsburg area, and I have to say, it was great. It's not completely rural or completely urban, but it doesn't have that character-lacking suburb feel either. I remember going on school field trips to places like the national aquarium in baltimore, art museums and theater in dc, nyc, and philly, plus gettysburg and valley forge. Close enough to visit things like that and broaden the horizons but still with a small-town feel. Winters are not as severe as upstate NY or northern PA. Yes, we had some snow days here and there, but not bitter cold and 30mph winds whipping about like I have here on the prairie (I now live in Omaha, NE). Now that we have atarted a family, we also want to move back to the central PA area. It's overall a very wholesome place, in my opinion. The city of Harrisburg itself needs some renovations, but you won't find yourself going there that often if you live in Camp Hill, for example. For kids, school bands were big as were sports like soccer (boys and girls) and wrestling, football, swimming, etc. Neighborhoods have big treesm sidewalks, places to ride bikes, parks, etc. People mainly Caucasian with German, Irish and/or Italian backgrounds but you also have some people of many cultures, backgrounds, faiths (Asian, Hispanic, Black, muslim, Jewish, Christian, etc) I suppose this is becoming true everywhere, but some places are slower to host/accept new types of people, of you know what I mean. Overall, a great choice, and you will appreciate the housing costs from CA, although the PA taxes are not the best in the nation, either. Still, a great choice for a move....

[suburbanite1]

Originally Posted by Nixi

I spent most of my childhood (ages 8-18) in the Camp Hill/Mechanicsburg area, and I have to say, it was great. It's not completely rural or completely urban, but it doesn't have that character-lacking suburb feel either. I remember going on school field trips to places like the national aquarium in baltimore, art museums and theater in dc, nyc, and philly, plus gettysburg and valley forge. Close enough to visit things like that and broaden the horizons but still with a small-town feel. Winters are not as severe as upstate NY or northern PA. Yes, we had some snow days here and there, but not bitter cold and 30mph winds whipping about like I have here on the prairie (I now live in Omaha, NE). Now that we have atarted a family, we also want to move back to the central PA area. It's overall a very wholesome place, in my opinion. The city of Harrisburg itself needs some renovations, but you won't find yourself going there that often if you live in Camp Hill, for example. For kids, school bands were big as were sports like soccer (boys and girls) and wrestling, football, swimming, etc. Neighborhoods have big treesm sidewalks, places to ride bikes, parks, etc. People mainly Caucasian with German, Irish and/or Italian backgrounds but you also have some people of many cultures, backgrounds, faiths (Asian, Hispanic, Black, muslim, Jewish, Christian, etc) I suppose this is becoming true everywhere, but some places are slower to host/accept new types of people, of you know what I mean. Overall, a great choice, and you will appreciate the housing costs from CA, although the PA taxes are not the best in the nation, either. Still, a great choice for a move....

You didn't mention how long it has been since you have been to the city but Harrisburg has already gone through a major "renovation". You would probably be pleasantly surprised.