Best PlacesChest Springs, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chest Springs, 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.
Chest Springs ranks 10,872nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and state infrastructure ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Chest Springs
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.
Chest Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Chest Springs ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- School gradeB+, better than 78% of towns
Where Chest Springs ranks low
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 21% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 22% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 23% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chest Springs
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chest Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,357, 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 Chest Springs' effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Chest Springs
Chest Springs runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Chest Springs.
Who works in Chest Springs, and how
Work in Chest Springs centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Chest Springs
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Chest Springs.
What the weather is like in Chest Springs, month by month
Chest Springs sees roughly 88 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 Chest Springs
The nearest airport, John Murtha Johnstown/Cambria County, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 85 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chest Springs
Schools across Chest Springs average a B+, better than 78% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cambria Heights El SchA− · 55% proficient
- Penn Cambria Intrmd SchB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Penn Cambria MsB− · 41% proficient
- Cambria Heights MsB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Cambria Heights ShsA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chest Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chest Springs 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 Chest Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chest Springs
Is Chest Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chest Springs ranks 10,872nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, population health, and low disaster risk, and lowest on state infrastructure and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chest Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $253,664. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $88,357 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Chest Springs safe?
Yes, Chest Springs is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $225 per resident a year.
Compare Chest Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chest Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chest Springs 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.
Chest Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chest Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chest Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chest Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chest Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chest Springs 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.