Best Places17404, PA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 17404, 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

17404 ranks 6,268th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.

#6,268
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 17404

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 17404 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.

17404's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Cell coverage
Top 10%Walkability
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 17404 with other zip codes.

Where 17404 ranks high

  • Cell coverageBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than 91% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 88% of zip codes
  • Big-city accessBetter than 87% of zip codes
  • TransitBetter than 86% of zip codes

Where 17404 ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 7% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of zip codes
  • State infrastructureBetter than only 18% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 24% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than only 29% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 17404

A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 17404 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,218, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$65,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,510
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $218,605 home
Median rent
$1,181
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,115
Property tax$323
Homeowners insurance$73

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 17404's effective rate of 1.77%, 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 17404

17404's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
41
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
17%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1824%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6420%
65 and older17%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 17404.


Who works in 17404, and how

Work in 17404 centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
13%
about the national average
Unemployment
5.0%
about the national average
Job growth
+2.1%
/y 2019-2023, near the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social18%
Manufacturing16%
Retail trade9%
Transportation & warehousing8%
Education8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 81%
  • Work from home 13%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 6%

Life in 17404

17404 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 90% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 17404 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
182
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 48.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 67% of zip codes
Coffee shops
11
about 2.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 53% of zip codes
Parkland
395 acres
about 10.5 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 90% of zip codes
Open past 10pm
~37
food and drink venues open late, about 10.0 per 10,000 residents, more than 68% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 17404, month by month

17404 sees roughly 64 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 17404

The nearest airport, Harrisburg International, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 56 miles away.

Nearest airport
MDT
Harrisburg International, about 14 miles
Airport size
Small hub
112th-busiest in the US, 41 nonstop destinations
Average drive
20 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 17404

Schools across 17404 average a B−, better than 57% 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 17404 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


17404 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 17404 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 17404 suits

Families

Schools beat 57% of zip codes and crime safety beats 64%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of zip codes, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% 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 17404

Is 17404 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 17404 ranks 6,268th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on cell coverage, walkability, and few empty homes, and lowest on property taxes and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 17404 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $218,605. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $90,218 median income, cost of living beats 77% of zip codes.

Is 17404 safe?

Yes, 17404 is safer than 64% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $257 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 17404?

July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 21. That works out to about 64 pleasant days a year, more than 13% of zip codes.

Is 17404 good for families?

Schools beat 57% of zip codes, crime safety beats 64%, and childcare runs $921 a month.


Compare 17404 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 17404. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 17404 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.

17404 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 17404: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 17404: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 17404: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 17404: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

17404 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.