Best Places16921, PA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 16921, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

16921 ranks 24,008th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.

#24,008
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 16921

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 16921 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

16921's strengths and weaknesses

Top 5%Tree cover
Top 10%Low disaster risk
Top 10%Quiet
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 16921 with other zip codes.

Where 16921 ranks high

  • Tree shadeBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than 90% of zip codes
  • Heat safetyBetter than 88% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of zip codes

Where 16921 ranks low

  • Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • Household income$54,458 median, better than only 16% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 18% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 16921

A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 16921 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,458, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$52,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,203
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $193,819 home
Median rent
$816
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$988
Property tax$150
Homeowners insurance$65

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 16921's effective rate of 0.93%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 16921

16921 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
54
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
29%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.2
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1815%
18 to 3412%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6425%
65 and older29%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 16921.


Who works in 16921, and how

Work in 16921 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
11%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.2%
below the national average
Job growth
−6.2%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing19%
Health care & social14%
Retail trade11%
Hospitality & food10%
Construction8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 85%
  • Work from home 11%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in 16921

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 16921.


What the weather is like in 16921, month by month

16921 sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January34°25°18°
April58°45°34°
July81°70°58°
October63°52°42°

Flying in and out of 16921

The nearest airport, Elmira/Corning Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 163 miles away.

Nearest airport
ELM
Elmira/Corning Regional, about 45 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
225th-busiest in the US, 7 nonstop destinations
Average drive
65 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 16921

Schools across 16921 average a B−, better than 60% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 16921 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


16921 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 16921 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 16921

Is 16921 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 16921 ranks 24,008th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on tree cover, low disaster risk, and quiet, and lowest on cell coverage and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 16921 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $193,819. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $54,458 median income, cost of living beats 19% of zip codes.

Is 16921 safe?

16921 is safer than 28% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $346 per resident a year.


Compare 16921 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 16921. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 16921 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

16921 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 16921: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 16921: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 16921: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 16921: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

16921 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.