Best PlacesClifton Heights, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clifton Heights, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Clifton Heights ranks 19,143rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Clifton Heights
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.
Clifton Heights' strengths and weaknesses
Where Clifton Heights ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
Where Clifton Heights ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Clifton Heights
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clifton Heights home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,304, 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 Clifton Heights' effective rate of 2.28%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Clifton Heights
Clifton Heights runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clifton Heights.
Who works in Clifton Heights, and how
Work in Clifton Heights centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Clifton Heights
Clifton Heights has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of towns and more parkland per resident than 83% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Clifton Heights and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Clifton Heights, month by month
Clifton Heights sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 68° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Clifton Heights
Philadelphia International sits about 5 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 Clifton Heights
Schools across Clifton Heights average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Amosland El SchA · 70% proficient
- Garrettford El SchA · 65% proficient
- Primos El SchA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ridley MsC+ · 36% proficient
- Drexel Hill MsC · 35% proficient
- Penn Wood MsD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Upper Darby ShsB+ · 53% proficient
- Ridley HsB− · 43% proficient
- Penn Wood HsF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clifton Heights school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clifton Heights 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 Clifton Heights against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Clifton Heights
Is Clifton Heights a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clifton Heights ranks 19,143rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clifton Heights expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $218,235. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $77,304 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Clifton Heights safe?
Clifton Heights is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $418 per resident a year.
Compare Clifton Heights with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clifton Heights. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clifton Heights 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.
Clifton Heights detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clifton Heights: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clifton Heights: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clifton Heights: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clifton Heights: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clifton Heights 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.