Best PlacesBensalem, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bensalem, 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.
Bensalem ranks 1,191st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The weather pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on big-city access.
The best neighborhoods in Bensalem
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 Bensalem
The parts of Bensalem, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
County Downe & Brookwood Estates
Neshaminy Valley
Bucks County Estates & Clusters
Cornwells Heights
Andalusia
Nottingham
Stanwood
Scores across Bensalem run from about the 16th to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Bensalem's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bensalem ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 80% of cities
- TransitBetter than 75% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 74% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 70% of cities
Where Bensalem ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 57 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 11% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 30% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Bensalem
A household needs to earn about $105,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bensalem home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $92,947, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Bensalem's effective rate of 1.35%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bensalem
Bensalem's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bensalem.
Who works in Bensalem, and how
Work in Bensalem 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 80%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Bensalem
Bensalem has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of cities and more parkland per resident than 95% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bensalem and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bensalem, month by month
Bensalem sees roughly 57 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 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° | 36° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 43° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 69° |
| October | 72° | 60° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Bensalem
The nearest airport, Trenton Mercer, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 23 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bensalem
Schools across Bensalem average a C+, better than 35% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Russell C Struble El SchB · 49% proficient
- Cornwells El SchB− · 41% proficient
- Belmont Hills El SchC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cecelia Snyder MsC− · 29% proficient
- Robert K Shafer MsC− · 29% proficient
- Amy At MartinD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Arts Academy At Benjamin RushA− · 65% proficient
- Bensalem Twp HsB− · 44% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bensalem school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bensalem 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 Bensalem against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Bensalem suits
Common questions about living in Bensalem
Is Bensalem a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bensalem ranks 1,191st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on big-city access, few empty homes, and transit, and lowest on the weather and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bensalem expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $373,539. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $92,947 median income, cost of living beats 50% of cities.
Is Bensalem safe?
Bensalem is safer than 49% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bensalem?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 26. That works out to about 57 pleasant days a year, more than 3% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bensalem?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are County Downe & Brookwood Estates, Neshaminy Valley, and Bucks County Estates & Clusters. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Bensalem with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bensalem. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bensalem 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.
Bensalem detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bensalem: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bensalem: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bensalem: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bensalem: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bensalem 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.