Best PlacesBirchwood Lakes, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Birchwood Lakes, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Birchwood Lakes ranks 15,082nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Birchwood Lakes
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.
Birchwood Lakes' strengths and weaknesses
Where Birchwood Lakes ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of towns
Where Birchwood Lakes ranks low
- Short commute41.9 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 67 pleasant days a year, better than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Birchwood Lakes
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Birchwood Lakes home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,210, 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 Birchwood Lakes' effective rate of 1.10%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Birchwood Lakes
Birchwood Lakes runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Birchwood Lakes.
Who works in Birchwood Lakes, and how
Work in Birchwood Lakes centers on retail trade and finance & insurance. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Birchwood Lakes
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Birchwood Lakes.
What the weather is like in Birchwood Lakes, month by month
Birchwood Lakes sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 20° |
| April | 64° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 87° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Birchwood Lakes
The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Birchwood Lakes
Schools across Birchwood Lakes average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Dingman-delaware MsB · 44% proficient
Top high schools
- Delaware Valley HsA · 79% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Birchwood Lakes school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Birchwood Lakes 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 Birchwood Lakes against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Birchwood Lakes
Is Birchwood Lakes a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Birchwood Lakes ranks 15,082nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, tree cover, and clean air, and lowest on long commutes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Birchwood Lakes expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $218,493. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $94,210 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Birchwood Lakes safe?
Yes, Birchwood Lakes is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $218 per resident a year.
Compare Birchwood Lakes with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Birchwood Lakes. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Birchwood Lakes 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.
Birchwood Lakes detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Birchwood Lakes: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Birchwood Lakes: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Birchwood Lakes: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Birchwood Lakes: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Birchwood Lakes 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.