Best Places18457, PA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 18457, 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

18457 ranks 6,675th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.

#6,675
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 18457

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 18457 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.

18457's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Tree cover
Top 5%Health care access
Top 10%Good schools
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 18457 with other zip codes.

Where 18457 ranks high

  • Tree shadeBetter than 98% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • School gradeA−, better than 92% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than 92% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than 90% of zip codes

Where 18457 ranks low

  • Short commute46.7 minutes each way, better than only 1% of zip codes
  • Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
  • Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than only 15% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 18457

A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 18457 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,604, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$78,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,826
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $288,406 home

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,470
Property tax$260
Homeowners insurance$96

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 18457's effective rate of 1.08%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.


Who lives in 18457

18457 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
60
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
39%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 187%
18 to 3414%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6420%
65 and older38%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 18457.


Who works in 18457, and how

Work in 18457 centers on transportation & warehousing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
11%
below the national average
Unemployment
0.6%
below the national average
Job growth
−5.2%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Transportation & warehousing20%
Health care & social14%
Construction13%
Education11%
Wholesale trade8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 87%
  • Work from home 11%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 18457

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 18457.


What the weather is like in 18457, month by month

18457 sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 17. 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
January35°26°17°
April58°45°34°
July83°71°59°
October63°51°41°

Flying in and out of 18457

The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 71 miles away.

Nearest airport
AVP
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, about 36 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
189th-busiest in the US, 26 nonstop destinations
Average drive
51 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 18457

Schools across 18457 average an A−, better than 92% 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 18457 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


18457 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 18457 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 18457

Is 18457 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 18457 ranks 6,675th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on tree cover, health care access, and good schools, and lowest on long commutes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 18457 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $288,406. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $96,604 median income, cost of living beats 85% of zip codes.

Is 18457 safe?

Yes, 18457 is safer than 90% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $158 per resident a year.


Compare 18457 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 18457. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 18457 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.

18457 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 18457: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 18457: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 18457: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 18457: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

18457 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.