Best PlacesCheyney, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cheyney, 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.
Cheyney ranks 62nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cheyney
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.
Cheyney's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cheyney ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of towns
- Household income$156,665 median, better than 98% of towns
Where Cheyney ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,089 a month, better than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cheyney
A household needs to earn about $214,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cheyney home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $156,665, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Cheyney's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 Cheyney
Cheyney runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cheyney.
Who works in Cheyney, and how
Work in Cheyney centers on health care & social and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 30%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cheyney
The coast is about 45 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Cheyney, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cheyney, month by month
Cheyney sees roughly 108 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 25° |
| April | 64° | 52° | 43° |
| July | 85° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Cheyney
Philadelphia International sits about 15 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 14.8 million passengers in 2025, with 179 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cheyney
Schools across Cheyney average an A+, better than 99% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Penn Wood El SchA+ · 98% proficient
- Westtown-thornbury El SchA+ · 90% proficient
Top middle schools
- Stetson MsA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- West Chester Bayard Rustin HsA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cheyney school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cheyney 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 Cheyney against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cheyney
Is Cheyney a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cheyney ranks 62nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, heat safety, and population health, and lowest on a weak job market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cheyney expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $799,233. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $156,665 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Cheyney safe?
Yes, Cheyney is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $157 per resident a year.
Compare Cheyney with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cheyney. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cheyney 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.
Cheyney detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cheyney: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cheyney: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cheyney: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cheyney: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cheyney 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.