Best Places17356, PA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 17356, 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

17356 ranks 5,313th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on few empty homes, and property taxes are the weak spot.

#5,313
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 17356

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 17356 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.

17356's strengths and weaknesses

Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 17356 with other zip codes.

Where 17356 ranks high

  • Low vacancyBetter than 90% of zip codes
  • School gradeA−, better than 88% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than 88% of zip codes
  • Big-city accessBetter than 88% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than 86% of zip codes

Where 17356 ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 16% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 18% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than only 29% of zip codes
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 30% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 17356

A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 17356 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,917, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$70,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,638
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $248,033 home
Median rent
$1,247
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,265
Property tax$291
Homeowners insurance$83

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 17356's effective rate of 1.41%, 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 17356

17356's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
42
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
18%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.6
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1821%
18 to 3421%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6420%
65 and older18%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 17356.


Who works in 17356, and how

Work in 17356 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
10%
below the national average
Unemployment
3.5%
below the national average
Job growth
−3.4%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing17%
Health care & social16%
Retail trade11%
Education9%
Construction8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 88%
  • Work from home 10%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 3%

Life in 17356

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 17356.

Places to eat and drink
69
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 29.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 44% of zip codes
Coffee shops
10
about 4.3 per 10,000 residents, more than 63% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 17356, month by month

17356 sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 21. 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°32°21°
April67°53°39°
July89°76°64°
October70°57°45°

Flying in and out of 17356

The nearest airport, Harrisburg International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 51 miles away.

Nearest airport
MDT
Harrisburg International, about 22 miles
Airport size
Small hub
112th-busiest in the US, 41 nonstop destinations
Average drive
31 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 17356

Schools across 17356 average an A−, better than 88% 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 17356 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


17356 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 17356 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 17356 suits

Families

Schools beat 88% of zip codes and crime safety beats 88%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 73% of zip codes, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 10% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 17356

Is 17356 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 17356 ranks 5,313th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on few empty homes, good schools, and low crime, and lowest on property taxes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 17356 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $248,033. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $88,917 median income, cost of living beats 73% of zip codes.

Is 17356 safe?

Yes, 17356 is safer than 88% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $175 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 17356?

July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 21. That works out to about 66 pleasant days a year, more than 18% of zip codes.

Is 17356 good for families?

Schools beat 88% of zip codes, crime safety beats 88%, and childcare runs $921 a month.


Compare 17356 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 17356. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 17356 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.

17356 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 17356: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 17356: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 17356: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 17356: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

17356 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.