Best PlacesCarroll, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carroll, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Carroll ranks 23,852nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Carroll
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.
Carroll's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carroll ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 81% of towns
Where Carroll ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 11% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carroll
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carroll home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,419, 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 Carroll's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 Carroll
Carroll runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Carroll.
Who works in Carroll, and how
Work in Carroll centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Carroll
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carroll.
What the weather is like in Carroll, month by month
Carroll sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 89° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 68° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Carroll
The nearest airport, State College Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 131 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carroll
Schools across Carroll average a B+, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Avis El SchA+ · 75% proficient
- Penns Valley Area El And Intrmd SchA · 70% proficient
- Montgomery El SchA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mifflinburg Area MsA · 60% proficient
- Jersey Shore MsB · 44% proficient
- Central Mountain MsC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Mountain HsA · 77% proficient
- Jersey Shore Area ShsA− · 67% proficient
- Penns Valley Area JshsB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carroll school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carroll 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 Carroll against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carroll
Is Carroll a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carroll ranks 23,852nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, low disaster risk, and heat safety, and lowest on internet speeds and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carroll expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,377. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $74,419 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Carroll safe?
Yes, Carroll is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $178 per resident a year.
Compare Carroll with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carroll. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carroll 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.
Carroll detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carroll: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carroll: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carroll: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carroll: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carroll 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.