Best PlacesAllentown, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Allentown, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Allentown ranks 33,184th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Allentown
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.
Allentown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Allentown ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of towns
Where Allentown ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,088 a month, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Allentown
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Allentown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,024, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Allentown's effective rate of 2.77%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Allentown
Allentown runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Allentown.
Who works in Allentown, and how
Work in Allentown centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Allentown
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Allentown.
What the weather is like in Allentown, month by month
Allentown sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 34° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Allentown
The nearest airport, Bradford Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 157 miles away.
The best schools in and around Allentown
Schools across Allentown average an A−, better than 88% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bolivar-richburg Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Wellsville Elementary SchoolA− · 57% proficient
Top high schools
- Wellsville Secondary SchoolA− · 59% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Allentown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Allentown 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 Allentown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Allentown
Is Allentown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Allentown ranks 33,184th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, transit, and quiet, and lowest on property taxes and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Allentown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $95,306. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $58,024 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Allentown safe?
Allentown is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $345 per resident a year.
Compare Allentown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Allentown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Allentown 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.
Allentown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Allentown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Allentown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Allentown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Allentown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Allentown detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.