Progress is a neighborhood of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, home of the largest annual indoor agriculture expo (the PA State Farm Show).
Pronounced "PRO-gress," the city is populated by 9,765 people and covers roughly 2.8 square miles. Places to rent are plentiful whether you're looking for a duplex for rent of one of the many rental apartments. You'll find an assortment in this area that sits inside of the Harrisburg-Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical area.
Moving to Progress
The median home price is more expensive than a little over half of the neighborhoods in PA. Yet rents in Progress are reasonable. The average price is lower than 40 percent of Pennsylvania residential areas. This means that you should expect to find decent rental apts in Progress, as long as you're willing to be patient in the process of finding an apartment.
City apartments have a pretty wide range in price fairly consistent with the national average, and offer you up to three bedrooms or more, should you choose to pay more. That tends to be the general range for places to live in Progress, as the population follows the trends of suburban populations.
The Market for Rentals in Progress
As a neighborhood, Progress consists of a substantial number of single family homes and apartment complexes. Most of the homes are occupied by a mixture of both owners and renters. You'll find that the buildings are well established and slightly older as most were built prior to 1970. Vacancies hover at a relatively normal range of 9.7 percent.
Progress borders the city of Harrisburg on its east side. Although the housing statistics for Progress are often lumped in with the entire city of Harrisburg, the feel is quite different when you cross the city line. Harrisburg might be the capital city of Pennsylvania, but differs in overall amenities that a renter might want in their living.
Progress, on the other hand, has apartment complexes to suit any renter's tastes and price range, while retaining some proximity to services, restaurants and conveniences. When you compare Progress to the city of Harrisburg, you'll find buildings to be newer and more modern, whereas Harrisburg's stock is considered to be older and historic as most were built prior to 1940.
There are a number of small apartment buildings available to those who want to work directly with the building owners. There are tradeoffs when single family housing stock is a little older. You may find that the pricing is conducive to your budget, but you also run the risk of having a greater number of repair requests. This is important to keep in mind if you choose to rely on your rental space to do business.
Credit checks are going to be pretty common, as will be your need to show up on lease signing day with your first month's rent, last month's rent, and security deposit. Expect also to pay for the cost of your credit check with your application fee.
Progress Neighborhoods
Progress is a neighborhood itself and is built on the basis of the high points of Harrisburg. You will find that the public transportation system runs through Progress and into Harrisburg; however, the times are sporadic, and routes are somewhat limited. If you don't want to drive to work, you'll need to make sure that your apartment is near one of the bus stops on the main streets.
North Progress: This part of Progress has both small and medium sized homes, many of which are owner occupied. Renters will find their choice of apartment living in both complexes and houses for rent. There are a decent mix of restaurants which will require a car to visit.
South Progress: This area of Progress has primarily small homes that are occupied mainly by owners. Rental opportunities will be hard to find, but are available to those willing to inquire outside of normal channels.
Living in Progress
For the 2.8 square miles that Progress does cover, there are small town attractions geared toward families, including Twin Ponds for ice skating and ice cream parlors in the summer. Of course, Progress is a stone's throw away to attractions in Hershey, PA, such as Chocolate World and Hershey Park. For those that need a historical fix, drop into neighboring Harrisburg and visit the State Museum and the State Capitol.
