Best PlacesCoal Township, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Coal Township, 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.
Coal Township ranks 27,777th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Coal Township
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.
Coal Township's strengths and weaknesses
Where Coal Township ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Coal Township ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 14% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 18% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 67 pleasant days a year, better than only 19% of towns
- Household income$55,205 median, better than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Coal Township
A household needs to earn about $28,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Coal Township home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,205, 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 Coal Township's effective rate of 1.11%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Coal Township
Coal Township runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Coal Township.
Who works in Coal Township, and how
Work in Coal Township centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Coal Township
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Coal Township.
What the weather is like in Coal Township, month by month
Coal Township sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 30° | 21° |
| April | 65° | 51° | 38° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 63° |
| October | 68° | 54° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Coal Township
The nearest airport, Harrisburg International, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Coal Township
Schools across Coal Township average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shamokin Area El SchA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Shamokin Area HsF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Coal Township school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Coal Township 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 Coal Township against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Coal Township
Is Coal Township a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Coal Township ranks 27,777th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, cell coverage, and big-city access, and lowest on civic engagement and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Coal Township expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $103,530. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $55,205 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Coal Township safe?
Coal Township is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $271 per resident a year.
Compare Coal Township with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Coal Township. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Coal Township 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.
Coal Township detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Coal Township: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Coal Township: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Coal Township: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Coal Township: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Coal Township 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.