Best PlacesBethlehem, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bethlehem, 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.
Bethlehem ranks 118th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on the weather and internet speeds. It does better on cell coverage, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Bethlehem
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 Bethlehem
The parts of Bethlehem, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
middletown
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and prices have run up less.
South Side & Sayre Park
Streets are more walkable, though fewer households have young kids.
West Bethlehem
Health care is harder to reach and fewer adults hold degrees.
Bethlehem shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 11% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Bethlehem's strengths and weaknesses
Bethlehem lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage, few empty homes, and health care access carry most of that.
The one real hole is the weather, near the bottom of the country. Internet speeds and state infrastructure also cost it ground. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Bethlehem ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 91% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 84% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of cities
Where Bethlehem ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 58 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 21% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Bethlehem
A household needs to earn about $92,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bethlehem home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $90,666; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Bethlehem'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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bethlehem
Bethlehem'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 Bethlehem.
Who works in Bethlehem, and how
Work in Bethlehem centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Bethlehem
Bethlehem has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of cities and more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bethlehem and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bethlehem, month by month
Bethlehem sees roughly 58 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 40° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Bethlehem
The nearest airport, Lehigh Valley International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bethlehem
Schools across Bethlehem average a B−, better than 56% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Springfield El SchA+ · 90% proficient
- Hanover El SchA+ · 82% proficient
- Miller Heights El SchA+ · 77% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southern Lehigh Intermediate SchA+ · 90% proficient
- Nazareth Area Intermediate SchA · 65% proficient
- Saucon Valley MsA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Palisades HsA+ · 90% proficient
- Southern Lehigh ShsA · 79% proficient
- Nazareth Area HsA · 74% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bethlehem school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bethlehem 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 Bethlehem against the other 444 cities.
Who Bethlehem suits
Common questions about living in Bethlehem
Is Bethlehem a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bethlehem ranks 118th of 445 cities. It scores highest on cell coverage, few empty homes, and health care access, and lowest on the weather and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bethlehem expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $324,457. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $90,666 median income, cost of living beats 69% of cities.
Is Bethlehem safe?
Yes, Bethlehem is safer than 69% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $285 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bethlehem?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 22. That works out to about 58 pleasant days a year, more than 2% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bethlehem?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are middletown, South Side & Sayre Park, and West Bethlehem. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Bethlehem good for families?
Schools beat 56% of cities, crime safety beats 69%, and childcare runs $900 a month.
Is Bethlehem good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 69% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 3% of cities. About 17% of workers already work from home.
Compare Bethlehem with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bethlehem. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bethlehem 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.
Bethlehem detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bethlehem: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bethlehem: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bethlehem: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bethlehem: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bethlehem 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.