Best PlacesBell Acres, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bell Acres, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bell Acres ranks 567th of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 Bell Acres
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.
Bell Acres' strengths and weaknesses
Where Bell Acres ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$165,540 median, better than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 97% of towns
Where Bell Acres ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cheap childcare$991 a month, better than only 25% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bell Acres
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bell Acres home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $165,540, 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 Bell Acres' effective rate of 1.57%, 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 Bell Acres
Bell Acres runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bell Acres.
Who works in Bell Acres, and how
Work in Bell Acres centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Bell Acres
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bell Acres.
What the weather is like in Bell Acres, month by month
Bell Acres sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 52° | 41° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 68° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Bell Acres
Pittsburgh International sits about 8 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 Bell Acres
Schools across Bell Acres average a B, better than 79% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Franklin El SchA+ · 88% proficient
- Edgeworth El SchA+ · 85% proficient
- Highland El SchD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Quaker Valley MsA+ · 75% proficient
- Marshall MsA+ · 72% proficient
- Ingomar MsA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- North Allegheny HsA+ · 88% proficient
- Quaker Valley HsA+ · 85% proficient
- Ambridge Area HsC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bell Acres school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bell Acres 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 Bell Acres against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bell Acres
Is Bell Acres a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bell Acres ranks 567th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, what local pay buys, and high incomes, 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 Bell Acres expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $433,381. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $165,540 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Bell Acres safe?
Yes, Bell Acres is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $142 per resident a year.
Compare Bell Acres with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bell Acres. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bell Acres 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.
Bell Acres detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bell Acres: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bell Acres: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bell Acres: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bell Acres: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bell Acres 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.