Best PlacesAmberson, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Amberson, 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.
Amberson ranks 38,398th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Amberson
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.
Amberson's strengths and weaknesses
Where Amberson ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 77% of towns
- School gradeB, better than 71% of towns
Where Amberson ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- Short commute39.5 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 7% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Amberson
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Amberson home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,421, 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 Amberson's effective rate of 0.55%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Amberson
Amberson 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 Amberson.
Who works in Amberson, and how
Work in Amberson centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Amberson
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Amberson.
What the weather is like in Amberson, month by month
Amberson sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Amberson
The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Amberson
Schools across Amberson average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Blain El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Fannett-metal El SchA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Perry MsA− · 55% proficient
- Fannett-metal MsC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- West Perry ShsA · 75% proficient
- Fannett-metal ShsA− · 60% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Amberson school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Amberson 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 Amberson against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Amberson
Is Amberson a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Amberson ranks 38,398th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, big-city access, and low disaster risk, and lowest on internet speeds and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Amberson expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $242,600. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $63,421 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Amberson safe?
Amberson is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $253 per resident a year.
Compare Amberson with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Amberson. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Amberson 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.
Amberson detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Amberson: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Amberson: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Amberson: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Amberson: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Amberson 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.