Best PlacesBellefonte, DE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bellefonte, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bellefonte ranks 7,443rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bellefonte
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.
Bellefonte's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bellefonte ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 98% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
Where Bellefonte ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 60 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,109 a month, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bellefonte
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bellefonte home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,694, 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 Bellefonte's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Bellefonte
Bellefonte's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Bellefonte.
Who works in Bellefonte, and how
Work in Bellefonte centers on retail trade and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Bellefonte
The coast is about 30 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Bellefonte, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bellefonte, month by month
Bellefonte sees roughly 60 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Bellefonte
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 16 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bellefonte
Schools across Bellefonte average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mount Pleasant Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dupont (pierre S.) Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount Pleasant High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bellefonte school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bellefonte 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 Bellefonte against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bellefonte
Is Bellefonte a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bellefonte ranks 7,443rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and state infrastructure, 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 Bellefonte expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $289,500. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $90,694 median income, cost of living beats 76% of towns.
Is Bellefonte safe?
Bellefonte is safer than 29% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $344 per resident a year.
Compare Bellefonte with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bellefonte. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bellefonte 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.
Bellefonte detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bellefonte: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bellefonte: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bellefonte: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bellefonte: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bellefonte 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.