Best PlacesCarroll Valley, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carroll Valley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Carroll Valley ranks 3,198th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carroll Valley
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 Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carroll Valley ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 89% of towns
Where Carroll Valley ranks low
- Short commute39.7 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carroll Valley
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carroll Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,266, 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 Valley's effective rate of 1.03%, 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 Valley
Carroll Valley's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Carroll Valley.
Who works in Carroll Valley, and how
Work in Carroll Valley centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Carroll Valley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carroll Valley.
What the weather is like in Carroll Valley, month by month
Carroll Valley sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 29° | 23° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Carroll Valley
The nearest airport, Hagerstown Regional/Richard A Henson Field, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carroll Valley
Schools across Carroll Valley average a B+, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fairfield Area El SchA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fairfield Area MsB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Fairfield Area HsA− · 65% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carroll Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carroll Valley 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 Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carroll Valley
Is Carroll Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carroll Valley ranks 3,198th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, civic engagement, and health care access, and lowest on long commutes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carroll Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $312,756. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $98,266 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Carroll Valley safe?
Yes, Carroll Valley is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $85 per resident a year.
Compare Carroll Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carroll Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carroll Valley 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 Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carroll Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carroll Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carroll Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carroll Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carroll Valley 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.