Best PlacesDickson City, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dickson City, 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.
Dickson City ranks 27,950th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dickson City
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.
Dickson City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dickson City ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
Where Dickson City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dickson City
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dickson City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,093, 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 Dickson City's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 Dickson City
Dickson City 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 Dickson City.
Who works in Dickson City, and how
Work in Dickson City 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 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Dickson City
Dickson City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Dickson City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dickson City, month by month
Dickson City sees roughly 69 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 Dickson City
The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Newark Liberty International, about 93 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dickson City
Schools across Dickson City average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mid Valley El CtrB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Mid Valley Secondary CenterC · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dickson City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dickson City 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 Dickson City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dickson City
Is Dickson City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dickson City ranks 27,950th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, fast internet, and biking, and lowest on noise and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dickson City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $185,873. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $63,093 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Dickson City safe?
Dickson City is safer than 27% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $397 per resident a year.
Compare Dickson City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dickson City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dickson City 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.
Dickson City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dickson City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dickson City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dickson City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dickson City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dickson City 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.