Best PlacesAltoona, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Altoona metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Csoldner187, CC BY-SA 3.0, via wiki
Altoona ranks 221st of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and a weak job market. It does better on a stable housing market, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Altoona 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 Altoona
The towns and districts of the Altoona 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.
Martinsburg
It is quieter, more households have young kids, and fewer homes sit empty.
Hollidaysburg & Roaring Spring
Crime runs lower, though streets are more car-dependent.
Williamsburg
Incomes run higher and schools score higher.
Duncansville, Claysburg & East Freedom
Tree cover is thicker and more residents vote.
Tyrone & Bellwood
Scores close to Duncansville, Claysburg & East Freedom, except that advertised internet is slower here.
Downtown Altoona
Scores close to Tyrone & Bellwood, except that commutes are shorter here.
Altoona shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 6% of the country and others in the top 9%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Altoona's strengths and weaknesses
Altoona lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. A stable housing market is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Low disaster risk and walkability follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Noise, a weak job market, and state infrastructure hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Altoona ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 85% of metro areas
- Short commute20.5 minutes each way, better than 80% of metro areas
- School gradeB, better than 78% of metro areas
Where Altoona ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 9% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than only 14% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than only 15% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 15% of metro areas
- Household income$67,760 median, better than only 16% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Altoona
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Altoona home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,760, 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 Altoona's effective rate of 1.07%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Altoona
Altoona 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 Altoona.
Who works in Altoona, and how
Work in Altoona centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Altoona
Altoona has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas. That concentrates in some parts of Altoona and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Altoona growing, and who is moving in?
Altoona has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Johnstown, PA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Altoona go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Altoona, month by month
Altoona sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 86° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 55° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Altoona
The nearest airport, Altoona/Blair County, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Altoona
Schools across Altoona average a B, better than 78% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Tyrone Area El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Irving El SchA · 68% proficient
- Frankstown El SchA · 64% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hollidaysburg Area JhsB+ · 51% proficient
- Tyrone Area MsB · 45% proficient
- Bellwood Antis MsB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Bellwood-antis HsA+ · 80% proficient
- Hollidaysburg Area ShsA− · 64% proficient
- Altoona Area HsB · 49% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Altoona school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Altoona 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 Altoona against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Altoona suits
Common questions about living in Altoona
Is Altoona a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Altoona ranks 221st of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low disaster risk, and walkability, and lowest on noise and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Altoona expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $164,814. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $67,760 median income, cost of living beats 15% of metro areas.
Is Altoona safe?
Altoona is safer than 52% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $293 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Altoona?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 39 with lows near 21. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 35% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Altoona?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Martinsburg, Hollidaysburg & Roaring Spring, and Williamsburg. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Altoona good for families?
Schools beat 78% of metro areas, crime safety beats 52%, and childcare runs $757 a month.
Is Altoona good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 15% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 28% of metro areas. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Altoona with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Altoona. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Altoona 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.
Altoona detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Altoona: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Altoona: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Altoona: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Altoona: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Altoona 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.