Best PlacesAllentown, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Allentown metro, 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.
Photo by Tim Kiser ( w:User:Malepheasant ), CC BY-SA 2.5, via commons
Allentown ranks 90th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on big-city access and walkability. The weaker spots are the weather, property taxes, and long commutes.
The best neighborhoods in the Allentown metro
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.
The best areas in Allentown
The towns and districts of the Allentown metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Macungie, Breinigsville & Emmaus
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Whitehall, Schnecksville & Coplay
Schools score higher, though streets are more car-dependent.
Bath
Crime runs lower, though biking is worse.
Hellertown
Tree cover is thicker, though fewer households have young kids.
Hackettstown, Nazareth & Bangor
It is quieter, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Easton & Phillipsburg
Prices have run up less.
Bethlehem
Commutes are shorter.
Lehighton, Palmerton & Slatington
Homes cost less, though more homes sit empty.
Downtown Allentown
Fewer residents vote and health care is harder to reach.
Allentown shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Allentown's strengths and weaknesses
Allentown ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Big-city access is the standout, in the top 3% of metro areas. Walkability and few empty homes follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, property taxes, and long commutes hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Allentown ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 82% of metro areas
Where Allentown ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- Short commute27.5 minutes each way, better than only 10% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- QuietBetter than only 14% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Allentown
A household needs to earn about $88,000 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 $91,505, 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 1.58%, 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.
Who lives in Allentown
Allentown runs older than the country.
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 health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Allentown
Allentown has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of metro areas and more parkland per resident than 86% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Allentown and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Allentown growing, and who is moving in?
Allentown has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from New York, NY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Allentown go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Allentown, month by month
Allentown sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 40° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Allentown
The nearest airport, Lehigh Valley International, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Allentown
Schools across Allentown average a B−, better than 73% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Kernsville SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Ironton SchA+ · 95% proficient
- Towamensing El SchA+ · 95% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southern Lehigh Intermediate SchA+ · 90% proficient
- Southern Lehigh MsA+ · 75% proficient
- Springhouse MsA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Parkland HsA+ · 92% proficient
- Palisades HsA+ · 90% proficient
- Southern Lehigh ShsA · 79% 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 386 metro areas.
Who Allentown suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of metro areas and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Allentown
Is Allentown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Allentown ranks 90th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on big-city access, walkability, and few empty homes, and lowest on the weather and property taxes. 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 $304,026. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $91,505 median income, cost of living beats 74% of metro areas.
Is Allentown safe?
Yes, Allentown is safer than 72% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $246 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Allentown?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 22. That works out to about 62 pleasant days a year, more than 7% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Allentown?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Macungie, Breinigsville & Emmaus, Whitehall, Schnecksville & Coplay, and Bath. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Allentown good for families?
Schools beat 73% of metro areas, crime safety beats 72%, and childcare runs $926 a month.
Is Allentown good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 23% of metro areas. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Allentown with other metro areas
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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.