Best PlacesBeaver County, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Beaver 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.
Beaver County ranks 862nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on property taxes and a weak job market. It does better on low disaster risk, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Beaver 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 Beaver County
The parts of Beaver 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.
Beaver & Ohioville
More households have young kids, schools score higher, and incomes run higher.
Hookstown, Midland & Georgetown
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
Ellwood City
Prices have run up less, though streets are more car-dependent.
Freedom & Conway
Crime runs lower and fewer homes sit empty.
Monaca & Rochester
Biking is better.
Beaver Falls
Aliquippa, Ambridge & Economy
Local pay stretches less far.
New Brighton
Fewer residents vote and fewer adults hold degrees.
Beaver County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Beaver County's strengths and weaknesses
Beaver County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk, transit, and big-city access carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Property taxes, a weak job market, and noise hold the score down. Cost swings more from one part of Beaver County to another than it does between Beaver County and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Beaver County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- TransitBetter than 90% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 82% of counties
Where Beaver County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 13% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Beaver County
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Beaver County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,875, 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 Beaver County's effective rate of 1.41%, 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 Beaver County
Beaver 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 Beaver County.
Who works in Beaver County, and how
Work in Beaver County 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 81%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Beaver County
Beaver County has less late-night activity than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Beaver County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Beaver County growing, and who is moving in?
Beaver County has lost about 2% 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 Beaver County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Beaver County, month by month
Beaver County sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 62° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 85° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Beaver County
Pittsburgh International sits about 14 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.8 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Beaver County
Schools across Beaver County average a B, better than 78% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Wilson El SchA+ · 98% proficient
- South Side El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Fairview El SchA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Beaver Local Middle SchoolA+ · 69% proficient
- Riverside MsA · 59% proficient
- Moon Area Lower MsA− · 56% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Valley HsA+ · 83% proficient
- West Allegheny ShsA+ · 82% proficient
- Beaver Area ShsA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Beaver County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Beaver 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 Beaver County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Beaver County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Beaver County
Is Beaver County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Beaver County ranks 862nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on property taxes 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 Beaver County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $191,450. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $76,875 median income, cost of living beats 65% of counties.
Is Beaver County safe?
Yes, Beaver County is safer than 70% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $263 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Beaver County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 25. That works out to about 74 pleasant days a year, more than 29% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Beaver County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Beaver & Ohioville, Hookstown, Midland & Georgetown, and Ellwood City. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Beaver County good for families?
Schools beat 78% of counties, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $868 a month.
Is Beaver County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 65% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 60% of counties. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Beaver County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Beaver County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Beaver 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.
Beaver County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Beaver County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Beaver County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Beaver County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Beaver County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Beaver 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.