Best Places18944, PA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 18944, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

18944 ranks 881st of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.

#881
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 18944

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 18944 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.

18944's strengths and weaknesses

#881Best US zip overall
Top 5%Good schools
Top 5%Health care access
Top 5%Few empty homes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 18944 with other zip codes.

Where 18944 ranks high

  • School gradeA, better than 97% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • Big-city accessBetter than 95% of zip codes
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of zip codes

Where 18944 ranks low

  • State infrastructureBetter than only 18% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$1,200 a month, better than only 20% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 24% of zip codes
  • Short commute30.9 minutes each way, better than only 24% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 70 pleasant days a year, better than only 24% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 18944

A household needs to earn about $124,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 18944 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $134,785, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$124,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,887
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $453,531 home
Median rent
$1,901
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,312
Property tax$423
Homeowners insurance$151

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 18944's effective rate of 1.12%, 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 10 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 18944

18944's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
43
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
18%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.7
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1819%
18 to 3422%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6421%
65 and older18%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 18944.


Who works in 18944, and how

Work in 18944 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
19%
above the national average
Unemployment
4.1%
below the national average
Job growth
+4.5%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing14%
Health care & social13%
Retail trade12%
Professional & technical11%
Education10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 77%
  • Work from home 19%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in 18944

18944 has more parkland per resident than 72% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 18944 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
70
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 27.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 40% of zip codes
Coffee shops
5
about 1.9 per 10,000 residents, more than 47% of zip codes
Parkland
108 acres
about 4.2 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 72% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 18944, month by month

18944 sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, 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
January39°31°24°
April63°52°42°
July87°76°66°
October67°56°46°

Flying in and out of 18944

The nearest airport, Lehigh Valley International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 35 miles away.

Nearest airport
ABE
Lehigh Valley International, about 22 miles
Airport size
Nonhub
145th-busiest in the US, 34 nonstop destinations
Average drive
31 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 18944

Schools across 18944 average an A, better than 97% 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 18944 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


18944 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 18944 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 18944 suits

Families

Schools beat 97% of zip codes and crime safety beats 92%.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 94% of zip codes and 19% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 95%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 18944

Is 18944 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 18944 ranks 881st of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on good schools, health care access, and few empty homes, and lowest on state infrastructure and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 18944 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $453,531. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $134,785 median income, cost of living beats 94% of zip codes.

Is 18944 safe?

Yes, 18944 is safer than 92% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $159 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 18944?

July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 24. That works out to about 70 pleasant days a year, more than 24% of zip codes.

Is 18944 good for families?

Schools beat 97% of zip codes, crime safety beats 92%, and childcare runs $1,200 a month.


Compare 18944 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 18944. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 18944 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.

18944 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 18944: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 18944: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 18944: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 18944: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

18944 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.