Best Places17302, PA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 17302, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

17302 ranks 6,937th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.

#6,937
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 17302

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 17302 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.

17302's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Low crime
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 17302 with other zip codes.

Where 17302 ranks high

  • Crime safetyBetter than 97% of zip codes
  • Local economyBetter than 89% of zip codes
  • Big-city accessBetter than 89% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than 84% of zip codes
  • School gradeA−, better than 84% of zip codes

Where 17302 ranks low

  • Short commute41.2 minutes each way, better than only 3% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than only 10% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than only 15% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 17302

A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 17302 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,803, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$74,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,730
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $255,120 home
Median rent
$1,255
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,301
Property tax$344
Homeowners insurance$85

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 17302's effective rate of 1.62%, 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 8 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 17302

17302 runs older than the country.

Median age
46
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
22%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1818%
18 to 3421%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6419%
65 and older22%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 17302.


Who works in 17302, and how

Work in 17302 centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
10%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.8%
below the national average
Job growth
+7.1%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social14%
Manufacturing14%
Construction13%
Other services10%
Retail trade6%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 88%
  • Work from home 10%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 17302

The coast is about 46 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across 17302, which the map shows.

To the coast
46 min
drive to the nearest ocean beaches

What the weather is like in 17302, month by month

17302 sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January43°33°24°
April67°54°41°
July89°78°67°
October70°58°46°

Flying in and out of 17302

The nearest airport, Lancaster, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 46 miles away.

Nearest airport
LNS
Lancaster, about 23 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
3 nonstop destinations
Average drive
32 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 17302

Schools across 17302 average an A−, better than 84% 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 17302 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


17302 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 17302 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 17302

Is 17302 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 17302 ranks 6,937th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on low crime, a strong job market, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 17302 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $255,120. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $96,803 median income, cost of living beats 79% of zip codes.

Is 17302 safe?

Yes, 17302 is safer than 97% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $127 per resident a year.


Compare 17302 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 17302. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 17302 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.

17302 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 17302: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 17302: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 17302: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 17302: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

17302 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.