Best PlacesClarks Summit, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clarks Summit, 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.
Clarks Summit ranks 2,153rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Clarks Summit
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.
Clarks Summit's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clarks Summit ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 92% of towns
Where Clarks Summit ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 72 pleasant days a year, better than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Clarks Summit
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clarks Summit home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $100,699, 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 Clarks Summit's effective rate of 1.40%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Clarks Summit
Clarks Summit runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clarks Summit.
Who works in Clarks Summit, and how
Work in Clarks Summit 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 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Clarks Summit
Clarks Summit has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of towns and more parkland per resident than 83% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Clarks Summit and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Clarks Summit, month by month
Clarks Summit sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Clarks Summit
The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 97 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clarks Summit
Schools across Clarks Summit average an A, better than 93% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Waverly SchA+ · 75% proficient
- South Abington SchA · 70% proficient
- Clarks Summit El SchA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Abington Heights MsA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Abington Heights HsA+ · 83% proficient
- Lakeland JshsB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clarks Summit school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clarks Summit 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 Clarks Summit against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Clarks Summit suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 90% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Clarks Summit
Is Clarks Summit a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clarks Summit ranks 2,153rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and good schools, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clarks Summit expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $318,277. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $100,699 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Clarks Summit safe?
Yes, Clarks Summit is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $180 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Clarks Summit?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 38 with lows near 21. That works out to about 72 pleasant days a year, more than 31% of towns.
Is Clarks Summit good for families?
Schools beat 93% of towns, crime safety beats 82%, and childcare runs $916 a month.
Compare Clarks Summit with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clarks Summit. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clarks Summit 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.
Clarks Summit detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clarks Summit: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clarks Summit: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clarks Summit: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clarks Summit: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clarks Summit 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.