24M Looking to move to the Harrisburg metro area in the future. How is the area for me?

Submitted by washurhands123 t3_z78pvs in Pennsylvania

I am from North Jersey 24M, and I currently live in the Bay Area of California, which I lived since 2020, but I really miss the East Coast. And I am hoping I can land something remote so I can move to PA.

I did ask on another website about which metro area to move to. I had southeastern PA in mind, but it seems like Harrisburg area seems to be better for me. Pittburgh area may be good for me and I may have to consider that area since my workplace only allows hybrid and they have an office in Wexford, PA. The only thing I am worried about is that the Harrisburg area sprawl is not as big as what I am used to (I viewed the area on Google Maps)

One thing I like about Harrisburg metro area is that it has more forest cover than southeastern PA and scenery is a big must for me. I want to be able to have scenic roads and not just a bunch of boring roads in the Bay Area with a lack of scenery.

Here are things I am looking for:

  1. Must be 2 hours away (and NOT less than) from my part of Morris County. I have used Google Maps to calculate driving times from my hometown

  2. Must have towns that give off a western/central Morris County vibe (you would know the vibe if you grew up in NJ yourself).

  3. Must have wifi in a semi-rural area, since I would work remote.

  4. Must have phone service

  5. Must not be the only person of color in a semi-rural area.

  6. Somewhere less than an average annual 25 inches of snow. 25 inches of snow is the annual amount for my hometown in NJ and it would be great to have slightly less.

  7. Natural disasters must not be bad enough to destroy my house, so no wet land or bodies of water extremely close to my house and no visible tornado funnels.

  8. Live somewhere where I either have no neighbors or neighbors far apart from each other, and would like to live somewhere where neighbors are separated by nature, not a fence. I do not want trees extremely to my house since trees can fall on my house or have roots growing underground destroying pipes.

  9. Need access to suburbs, chain stores, but a little mix of mom and pop places. For "eating out", I prefer mom and pop places

  10. Metro area with higher numbers of young people and opportunities to make friends. When I grew up in NJ, I felt like NJ was loaded with elderly people all over the place (mostly eastern Morris County) and I feel like NJ is a retiree state. Here in the Bay Area, I noticed there are more young people all over the place. I do understand that living somewhere "semi rural" may impact things and I do understand that PA will not have an amazing demographic like any populated part of California.

  11. Need to have plenty of LGBT men around. Finding LGBT men on dating apps was plentiful in NJ and even in the Bay Area. Obviously being in a semi-rural may restrict my access to them. Not looking for an LGBT "scene", but just LGBT men who just happen to live in the area.

  12. Looking to pay rent at first, then eventually buy a home: $1100 a month for rent maximum for my own place (small apartment or house) with no roommates. Is under $1000 even possible in PA? Also, I need parking and laundry in my apartment.

  13. Looking to buy a house in the future that would be $250,000 maximum, which is absolutely stunning for someone from NJ and has lived in CA. Looking for just a simple one story house with a garage, nothing too big or too small. I want some backyard space, but I do not want to live in a traditional suburb, so I don't have to mow a ton of grass, I want to use the soil and grow my own vegetables (great for times like inflation and great for survival skills).

  14. I want to live in a metro area where there is low crime (except for the city itself) just like my life in suburban NJ. This is one of my main concerns. In the Bay Area, there is too much crime every day, too many crazy/mentally ill people everywhere (just like what you see on Youtube), too many street people who dress like criminals, etc. Every municipality in the Bay Area is a big city rather than a suburban type of atmosphere you get on the East Coast. I do not like the Bay Area layout where everything is a city.

  15. Need to live where Amazon and various things can get delivered to me.

  16. Would-be-nice-to-have, but not a must, I would like to have bike trails or separate roads/trails for bikes, e-bikes, e-scooters or other micromobility vehicles.

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Comments

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IamSauerKraut t1_iy60a9l wrote

Sir, this is the Wendy's drive-thru. Most of what you are ordering cannot be found here as a Happy Meal. That would be from somewhere else.

25

Dredly t1_iy63985 wrote

Is that all you want lol

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you need to just go visit it for a week to find a location you would like to stay. your requirements are all over the place "I want rural, but urban, with a small feel like Morris County, but also be racially diverse, I want cheap, but no roomates, I want WiFi... I assume you mean high speed internet, and I want it to be a metro area with not boring roads...

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you really just need to go and visit some areas before trying to settle down.

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Muscadine76 t1_iy66rdb wrote

This is a lot of conflicting asks. In any semi-rural area of PA there are going to be few people of color and few LGBTQ people, and fewer young people. Hi speed internet will be slower and less reliable. Chain stores will be a significant drive.

All that being said I think Lancaster might be worth a look, maybe moreso than Harrisburg.

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kiddestructo t1_iy5szbj wrote

Seems like you have this figured out, friend. Stay the course.

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Themayorofawesome t1_iy7z41l wrote

Damn dude you’re quite needy, you’re not going to find most of that in the Harrisburg area let alone most of PA. Pittsburgh is nowhere near Morris County my man, so stick with the east.

Quite honestly you’re better off looking at the Hudson Valley of New York, it’s more like NNJ than anything you will find in Central PA.

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PainBri315 t1_iy5wwb9 wrote

Well if you want to live in a city where there’s low crime then Harrisburg is not for you. I’m from nyc & have lived in various shelters and was in foster care in not so great areas and also lived in San Bernardino in cali and transplanted here for a job. I lived in camp hill first where there’s lots of old people then moved into Harrisburg a year after that & it was the worst thing I ever did. I used to tell myself I lived in Harlem & the Bronx & Brooklyn so I didn’t care where I was as long as I was able to save $$ but the people in Harrisburg really don’t care who or where they shoot at. The people in gangs here are so small minded there’s been a lot of causal ties lately & a lot more shootings. My husband got robbed at gunpoint right next to our apartment complex and supposedly that area was a good area & was even ranked safe on google. Harrisburg metro isn’t as bike friendly, but if you go to front street or city island there’s places you can ride but even then those places get congested when the weather permits it. The only place you’ll get for under 1k a month is gona be a shit hole in a bad neighborhood unless you live far out in the country or more up north along the river. I moved further out and found a decent place for under 1k but it’s in farm country which isn’t so bad . No one rides bikes out here cause of the windy roads and people getting hit. Harrisburg overall has a decent bar scene but hidden in most of them are racists. I’ve been to a few bars down in the capitol area & didn’t really feel welcome even though I was with friends. It’s also not a good idea to be getting deliveries in Harrisburg if you live in an apartment cause every day my neighbors app (on my ring app) is going off with daily package thefts. I’ve had fios & now Xfinity out here & the wifi isn’t that great, neither is my att service even though I pay for 5G

My husband is from Pittsburgh & hes white and tells me all the time he never wants to take me over there cause of how racist everyone is, my ex boss was also from Pittsburgh and he’s also white & he told me that yea there’s a lot of racists out there. I was considering switching to the pitcairn railyard out there but decided against it.

Overall Harrisburg is pretty small with a high crime rate. After you get through the initial “awe” of living in a new place, Harrisburg is going to get old quick. I will admit, I do like driving a lot and the foliage out here reminds me of upstate NY. Sorry if this went on too long but this is what I’ve experienced being out here for 5 years!

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Critical_Band5649 t1_iy814dv wrote

I live "way out in the country" in peco and rent isn't under $1000 out here anymore either. And there is absolutely no fiber speed internet once you leave civilization. I looked at a place for rent last year that was only serviced by Verizon with a max speed of 1.5mbps.

Harrisburg city is pretty small and it quickly dissolves back into Pennsyltucky after leaving it.

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PregnantSuperman t1_iy668ta wrote

I live outside the city but have friends and coworkers who live in the city and love it and feel tons of pride and love for their neighborhood community. I think it really depends on where you are, with the caveat being that the nice neighborhoods are gonna cost more.

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dalex89 t1_iy7kv7e wrote

You can have all of this, in Harrisburg, PA!

Edit: Oh wait

Metro area with higher numbers of young people and opportunities to make friends.

Harrisburg with a lack of Universities in the immediate area and a high retiree count would make the Harrisburg area older on average.

Somewhere less than an average annual 25 inches of snow.

Usually less, but very possibly more.

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ecat_04 t1_iy836wj wrote

ok but if you want a place exactly like your home town why not just live in your home town

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onequestion1168 t1_iy8r70n wrote

harrisburg is one of the most boring places on earth

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the_dorf t1_iy62xf2 wrote

I travel to Allentown a lot and live very near Harrisburg (10 minutes). On a good day, I can get there in 1:45; so your 2 hour requirement from Morris is very tight for the Harrisburg metro area. The Allentown/Lehigh Valley can accommodate it no problem and some parts of Reading and Lebanon can be tricky, but mostly doable. The less than 25" of snow annually means you have to be south of Blue Mountain and the forest cover is all along the ridge. You would have to do research, but if you live near a creek/river, it's likely on a flood plain (and will require flood insurance), other than that, natural disasters are rare. I deliver for FedEx Ground and all us delivery people will go wherever.

I like the idea near Blue Marsh Lake area NW of Reading (as an example). There's a bunch of rural area, but the availability of a rental for around $1k/month is going to be tough. You would be close to all the chains of the suburbs. While Reading city is so-so, outside of it, the crime drops considerably (almost non-existent). There are fun bike trails around (I run).

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Sour_papaya t1_iy8tmbq wrote

HBG metro area fails on at least half of your wishlist. And it’s boring as hell anyway. I’d keep looking.

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ftwin t1_iy6ceum wrote

Harrisburg sucks, please avoid it

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AW-43 t1_iy6fha1 wrote

Weather is a lot rougher in the winter near Pittsburgh if that’s a concern. I was in Johnstown last Tuesday, and there was 4” of snow on the ground from the previous week that hadn’t melted at all.

Sprawl isn’t as big, but traffic is only bad on 30 going through York in Central Pa.

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