Could I survive with $40,000 in Harrisburg? (Chester, Colonial Park: apartment complex, to rent, safe area)

[JackBauer24]

I applied for an internal position at work and if I were to get this position, I would be making close to $40,000 a year. Would I be ok living in Harrisburg with that salary? After a couple of years I will be making close to $48,000 and my position tops out at $60,000 but that will take a while, so I will be in the $40,000 range at first.

About me:
- Single (but wanting to date)
- No kids
- No pets
- I love concerts and sports. What is the nightlife like?


I would be looking to rent an apartment (this would not be a long term situation, perhaps a few years). Can anyone recommend any good apartments for under $1,000? Washer and dryer in the apartment is a must. I would be working in the downtown Harrisburg area. I looked at some on rent.com and they seem a bit pricy. $1,000+ for a one bedroom seems kind of much.

Thanks for the help in advance!

[Flamingo13]

You sure move around a lot!

[JackBauer24]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

You sure move around a lot!

Lol.

Actually, I have not moved at all in the last three years (if you are referring to my previous posts). I have just been applying for a lot of jobs lately and trying to find some information about the cities I apply for.

[thunderkat59]

Easily

[BPt111]

Harrisburg is dangerous almost bad as Chester

[JRittle123]

I'm a native central-PA'an but I've since moved to Seattle WA. There is an apartment complex in Colonial Park just minutes drive from downtown. It's called Catalina Apartments. I lived there for about a year. Safe area, cheap, W/D included in most apartments, and in an area with some nice amenities. Nightlife is decent but very typical of a small city. All of the bars and clubs run along 2nd street so bar hopping is easy. Just park your car and you can just walk everywhere on the same street. Although there is a garage, I never once had to pay for parking downtown. There are plenty of places on the street to park for free. City-Island is where all the sports are and they have baseball games often in the summer.

As for concerts, anything big coming through the area is almost always going to be at the Hershey Stadium about 15-20 min east via Rte 322.

Harrisburg is dirt cheap, at least compared to where I live now. With that amount of money, you'd be set for life depending on your lifestyle. If I could move back, I would. The weather sucks in the PNW.

[Paperson717]

The poster above pretty much nailed it so I'm just adding to it.

Harrisburg is a nice place to live. I moved here from a small town and initially had reservations but I've been here for 5 years now and am happy to call this place home. It's laid back and people here are generally very nice. Traffic isn't bad at all so you can live outside if downtown and still have an easy commute. If your looking at west shore, I would recommend Madison at Society Hill, but there are a lot if good apartment complexes on both shores.

Cost of living really isn't bad so 40k for a single person should be fine. I started here at 33k with an $850 rent and was fine.

Lots of smaller concerts in the city, but you can always go to Hershey for larger events.

HBG is also close to Philly, Baltimore, DC, and NYC, so you can always go away for a weekend.