Best PlacesCarlos, MD Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carlos, 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.
Carlos ranks 20,683rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carlos
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.
Carlos' strengths and weaknesses
Where Carlos ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Short commute20.8 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 84% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 78% of towns
Where Carlos ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 8% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carlos
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carlos home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,949, 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 Carlos' effective rate of 1.01%, 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 Carlos
Carlos 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 Carlos.
Who works in Carlos, and how
Work in Carlos centers on public administration and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Carlos
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carlos.
What the weather is like in Carlos, month by month
Carlos sees roughly 71 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 33° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 54° | 43° |
| July | 88° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Carlos
The nearest airport, John Murtha Johnstown/Cambria County, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 90 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carlos
Schools across Carlos average a C+, better than 44% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Frost ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Route 40 ElementaryD+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mount Savage MiddleC · 31% proficient
- Northern Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Northern Garrett High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Mountain Ridge High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carlos school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carlos 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 Carlos against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carlos
Is Carlos a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carlos ranks 20,683rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, low disaster risk, and short commutes, and lowest on taxes and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carlos expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,819. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $86,949 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Carlos safe?
Carlos is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $334 per resident a year.
Compare Carlos with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carlos. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carlos 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.
Carlos detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carlos: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carlos: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carlos: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carlos: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carlos 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.