Best PlacesCambria County, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cambria County, 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.
Cambria County ranks 1,284th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on state infrastructure and property taxes. It does better on low disaster risk, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Cambria 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 Cambria County
The parts of Cambria 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.
Johnstown
Schools score higher, fewer homes sit empty, and commutes are shorter.
Ebensburg, Loretto & Patton
It is quieter and crime runs lower.
Portage, Cresson & Lilly
Fewer households have young kids.
South Fork
Tree cover is thicker, though streets are more car-dependent.
Northern Cambria & Nanty-Glo
Health care is harder to reach.
Westmont, Elim & Southmont
Biking is better.
Cambria County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Cambria County's strengths and weaknesses
Cambria County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk is the standout, in the top 2% of counties. A stable housing market and heat safety follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. State infrastructure, property taxes, and noise hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Cambria County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- School gradeB, better than 81% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of counties
Where Cambria County ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 16% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cambria County
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cambria County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,225, 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 Cambria County's effective rate of 1.28%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cambria County
Cambria County runs older than the country, 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 Cambria County.
Who works in Cambria County, and how
Work in Cambria County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Cambria County
Cambria County has more parkland per resident than 84% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Cambria County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cambria County growing, and who is moving in?
Cambria County has lost about 5% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Pittsburgh, PA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cambria County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cambria County, month by month
Cambria County sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 27° | 20° |
| April | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Cambria County
The nearest airport, John Murtha Johnstown/Cambria County, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cambria County
Schools across Cambria County average a B, better than 81% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Windber El SchA+ · 85% proficient
- Richland El SchA+ · 85% proficient
- Conemaugh Twp Area El SchA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Windber Area MsB+ · 50% proficient
- Central Cambria MsB− · 41% proficient
- Penn Cambria MsB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Windber Area HsA+ · 90% proficient
- Central Cambria HsA · 73% proficient
- Richland HsA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cambria County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cambria 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 Cambria County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Cambria County suits
Common questions about living in Cambria County
Is Cambria County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cambria County ranks 1,284th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, a stable housing market, and heat safety, and lowest on state infrastructure and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cambria County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $138,564. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $63,225 median income, cost of living beats 39% of counties.
Is Cambria County safe?
Cambria County is safer than 54% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $295 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cambria County?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 35 with lows near 20. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Cambria County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Johnstown, Ebensburg, Loretto & Patton, and Portage, Cresson & Lilly. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Cambria County good for families?
Schools beat 81% of counties, crime safety beats 54%, and childcare runs $613 a month.
Is Cambria County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 39% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 37% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Cambria County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cambria County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cambria 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.
Cambria County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cambria County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cambria County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cambria County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cambria County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cambria 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.