Best PlacesArmstrong County, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Armstrong County, 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.
Armstrong County ranks 1,035th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Armstrong County
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 Armstrong County
The parts of Armstrong County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Kittanning & Ford City
Streets are more walkable, biking is better, and fewer homes sit empty.
Apollo
Tree cover is thicker, though fewer households have young kids.
Leechburg & Freeport
It is noisier and crime runs higher.
Scores across Armstrong County run from about the 18th to the 80th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Armstrong County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Armstrong County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 85% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of counties
Where Armstrong County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of counties
- Short commute28.6 minutes each way, better than only 22% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Armstrong County
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Armstrong County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,835, 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 Armstrong County's effective rate of 1.39%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Armstrong County
Armstrong County 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 Armstrong County.
Who works in Armstrong County, and how
Work in Armstrong County 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 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Armstrong County
Armstrong County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 73% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Armstrong County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Armstrong County growing, and who is moving in?
Armstrong County has lost about 6% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Pittsburgh, PA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Armstrong County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Armstrong County, month by month
Armstrong County sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 29° | 20° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 39° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 61° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Armstrong County
The nearest airport, Arnold Palmer Regional, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 42 miles away.
The best schools in and around Armstrong County
Schools across Armstrong County average a B+, better than 85% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Knoch Intermediate El SchA+ · 90% proficient
- South Buffalo El SchA · 70% proficient
- Kiski Area North Primary SchA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Hills Intermediate SchA · 60% proficient
- Freeport Area MsA− · 56% proficient
- Leechburg Area MsB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Freeport Area ShsA+ · 80% proficient
- Knoch HsA · 70% proficient
- Apollo-ridge HsA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Armstrong County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Armstrong County 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 Armstrong County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Armstrong County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Armstrong County
Is Armstrong County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Armstrong County ranks 1,035th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, fast internet, and heat safety, and lowest on property taxes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Armstrong County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,374. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $67,835 median income, cost of living beats 49% of counties.
Is Armstrong County safe?
Yes, Armstrong County is safer than 84% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $219 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Armstrong County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 20. That works out to about 79 pleasant days a year, more than 38% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Armstrong County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Kittanning & Ford City, Apollo, and Leechburg & Freeport. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Armstrong County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Armstrong County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Armstrong County 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.
Armstrong County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Armstrong County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Armstrong County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Armstrong County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Armstrong County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Armstrong County 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.