Best PlacesBucks County, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Bucks County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bucks County ranks 78th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $126,064, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are the weather, noise, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Bucks County
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 Bucks County
The parts of Bucks County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
New Hope
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Warminster, Southampton & Newtown
More households have young kids, though homes cost more.
Quakertown, Perkasie & Doylestown
Schools score higher and it is quieter.
Morrisville
Scores close to Quakertown, Perkasie & Doylestown, except that crime runs higher here.
Warrington & Chalfont
Prices have run up less.
Bensalem & Feasterville-Trevose
Transit reaches more jobs, though fewer residents vote.
Levittown & Bristol
Tree cover is thinner and health care is harder to reach.
Scores across Bucks County run from about the 16th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Bucks County's strengths and weaknesses
Bucks County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Few empty homes is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Big-city access and high incomes follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. The weather, noise, and childcare costs hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Bucks County ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 99% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 99% of counties
- Household income$126,064 median, better than 98% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of counties
Where Bucks County ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 8% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 9% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,200 a month, better than only 9% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Bucks County
A household needs to earn about $132,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bucks County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $126,064; 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 Bucks County's effective rate of 1.24%, 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 Bucks County
Bucks County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bucks County.
Who works in Bucks County, and how
Work in Bucks County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Bucks County
Bucks County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of counties and more parkland per resident than 83% of counties. The coast is about 58 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bucks County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bucks County growing, and who is moving in?
Bucks County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Philadelphia, PA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bucks County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bucks County, month by month
Bucks County sees roughly 62 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 Bucks County
The nearest airport, Trenton Mercer, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 28 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bucks County
Schools across Bucks County average a B+, better than 90% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Afton El SchA+ · 98% proficient
- Edgewood El SchA+ · 98% proficient
- Sellersville El SchA+ · 95% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southern Lehigh MsA+ · 75% proficient
- Pennridge North MsA+ · 70% proficient
- New Hope-solebury MsA+ · 69% proficient
Top high schools
- Palisades HsA+ · 90% proficient
- New Hope-solebury HsA+ · 88% proficient
- Quakertown Community HsA+ · 85% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bucks County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bucks County 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 Bucks County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Bucks County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Bucks County
Is Bucks County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bucks County ranks 78th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on few empty homes, big-city access, and high incomes, 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 Bucks County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $476,552. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $126,064 median income, cost of living beats 97% of counties.
Is Bucks County safe?
Yes, Bucks County is safer than 84% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $218 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bucks County?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 26. That works out to about 62 pleasant days a year, more than 8% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bucks County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are New Hope, Warminster, Southampton & Newtown, and Quakertown, Perkasie & Doylestown. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Bucks County good for families?
Schools beat 90% of counties, crime safety beats 84%, and childcare runs $1,200 a month.
Is Bucks County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 63% of counties. About 20% of workers already work from home.
Compare Bucks County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bucks County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bucks County 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.
Bucks County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bucks County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bucks County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bucks County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bucks County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bucks County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.