Pennsylvania: You Can Live on Less Than $2,000 a Month in These Cities

The cost of living can be astronomical in certain areas of the country, including in Pennsylvania. That's especially true if you want to buy a house or rent a nice place. So, is there anywhere in America that you can comfortably live on $2,000 a month anymore? Apparently, and thankfully, the answer is yes in Pennsylvania. There's a new study out that highlights the best areas of the country where you can get by on less than $2,000 a month. So, let's get into it.

The research is from GoBankingRates.com. They looked at East Coast cities affordability, livability and other factors. Their study is actually on the best cities to retire on $2,000 or less per month. But, if you are still working, it applies, too. Then, they dwindled it down to nine cities. To do this, "GOBankingRates drew data from Zillow for rental prices; Sperling's Best for a cost of living index for every city on the list; from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2021 Consumer Expenditure Survey to find the annual expenditure amount for both grocery and healthcare costs for people aged 65; and AreaVibes to find cities with a livability score of 60 or higher." So, they did their research.

Before we get to Pennsylvania, let's look at the No. 1 city in America, not just the East Coast, to live on less than $2,000 a month, via a separate study also done by GoBankingRates. It's Lake Charles, Louisiana. There, GOBankingRates calculates that the monthly expenditures are $1,566.43, the 2022 average one-bedroom Rent is $696.33, the livability is 70, the monthly grocery cost is $407.13 and the monthly healthcare cost is $462.97.

Now, let's get to Pennsylvania. We actually have a whopping eight cities on this list. Good for us. The No. 1 city is Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with an average February 2023 rent of $745 and monthly expenditures of $1,701.11. Other Pennsylvania cities that made the top cut include Johnstown, New Castle, Butler, Washington, Greensburg, Altoona and Erie. Find the full list of top East Coast cities where you can live for under $2,000 a month here.