Best Places17212, PA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 17212, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

17212 ranks 14,526th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.

#14,526
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 17212

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 17212 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.

17212's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Tree cover
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 17212 with other zip codes.

Where 17212 ranks high

  • Tree shadeBetter than 92% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than 88% of zip codes
  • School gradeA−, better than 83% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 82% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$663 a month, better than 79% of zip codes

Where 17212 ranks low

  • WalkabilityBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of zip codes
  • Short commute33.0 minutes each way, better than only 16% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 18% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 17212

A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 17212 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,003, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$64,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,495
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $242,955 home
Median rent
$948
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,239
Property tax$175
Homeowners insurance$81

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 17212's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 10 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 17212

17212 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
51
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
25%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1819%
18 to 3415%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6422%
65 and older25%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 17212.


Who works in 17212, and how

Work in 17212 centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
9%
below the national average
Unemployment
3.7%
below the national average
Job growth
+3.6%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing20%
Construction11%
Health care & social10%
Education8%
Transportation & warehousing8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 88%
  • Work from home 9%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 3%

Life in 17212

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 17212.


What the weather is like in 17212, month by month

17212 sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January43°34°25°
April68°55°43°
July90°79°68°
October71°59°48°

Flying in and out of 17212

The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 68 miles away.

Nearest airport
HGR
Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, about 20 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
282nd-busiest in the US, 5 nonstop destinations
Average drive
28 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 17212

Schools across 17212 average an A−, better than 83% 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 17212 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


17212 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 17212 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 17212

Is 17212 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 17212 ranks 14,526th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on tree cover, quiet, and good schools, and lowest on walkability and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 17212 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $242,955. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $72,003 median income, cost of living beats 56% of zip codes.

Is 17212 safe?

17212 is safer than 44% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $318 per resident a year.


Compare 17212 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 17212. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 17212 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.

17212 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 17212: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 17212: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 17212: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 17212: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

17212 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.