Best PlacesChurchtown, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Churchtown, 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.
Churchtown ranks 8,489th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Churchtown
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.
Churchtown's strengths and weaknesses
Where Churchtown ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$126,553 median, better than 94% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of towns
Where Churchtown ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,106 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Churchtown
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Churchtown home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $126,553, 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 Churchtown's effective rate of 1.41%, 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 Churchtown
Churchtown 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 Churchtown.
Who works in Churchtown, and how
Work in Churchtown centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Churchtown
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Churchtown.
What the weather is like in Churchtown, month by month
Churchtown sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 39, 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 | 39° | 32° | 26° |
| April | 62° | 53° | 44° |
| July | 84° | 76° | 68° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Churchtown
The nearest airport, Lancaster, is about 18 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 43 miles away.
The best schools in and around Churchtown
Schools across Churchtown average a B+, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Blue Ball El SchB+ · 54% proficient
Top middle schools
- Garden Spot MsB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Garden Spot ShsB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Churchtown school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Churchtown 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 Churchtown against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Churchtown
Is Churchtown a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Churchtown ranks 8,489th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, big-city access, and fast internet, and lowest on education levels and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Churchtown expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $352,087. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $126,553 median income, cost of living beats 94% of towns.
Is Churchtown safe?
Churchtown is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $285 per resident a year.
Compare Churchtown with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Churchtown. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Churchtown 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.
Churchtown detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Churchtown: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Churchtown: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Churchtown: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Churchtown: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Churchtown 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.