Best Places18851, PA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 18851, 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

18851 ranks 17,457th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.

#17,457
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 18851

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 18851 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.

18851's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Heat safety
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 18851 with other zip codes.

Where 18851 ranks high

  • Heat safetyBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than 88% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than 87% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than 85% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than 83% of zip codes

Where 18851 ranks low

  • Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of zip codes
  • Internet speedBetter than only 6% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than only 9% of zip codes
  • Short commute33.5 minutes each way, better than only 15% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 18851

A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 18851 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,425, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$62,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,447
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $235,883 home
Median rent
$968
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,203
Property tax$166
Homeowners insurance$79

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 18851's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 9 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 18851

18851 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
48
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
29%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1822%
18 to 3415%
35 to 4917%
50 to 6418%
65 and older28%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 18851.


Who works in 18851, and how

Work in 18851 centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
12%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.1%
below the national average
Job growth
−8.1%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social32%
Manufacturing15%
Construction13%
Education8%
Retail trade8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 86%
  • Work from home 12%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 2%

Life in 18851

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 18851.


What the weather is like in 18851, month by month

18851 sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 33, 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
January33°25°17°
April58°45°34°
July82°70°60°
October62°51°42°

Flying in and out of 18851

The nearest airport, Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 135 miles away.

Nearest airport
BGM
Greater Binghamton/Edwin A Link Field, about 22 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
362nd-busiest in the US, 2 nonstop destinations
Average drive
31 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 18851

Schools across 18851 average an A−, better than 82% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 18851 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


18851 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 18851 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 18851

Is 18851 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 18851 ranks 17,457th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on heat safety, low crime, and quiet, and lowest on cell coverage and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 18851 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $235,883. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $71,425 median income, cost of living beats 39% of zip codes.

Is 18851 safe?

Yes, 18851 is safer than 88% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $164 per resident a year.


Compare 18851 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 18851. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 18851 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.

18851 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 18851: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 18851: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 18851: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 18851: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

18851 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.