Best PlacesDonation, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Donation, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Donation ranks 17,960th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Donation
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.
Donation's strengths and weaknesses
Where Donation ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 80% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 75% of towns
Where Donation ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Donation
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Donation home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,962, 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 Donation's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Donation
Donation runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Donation.
Who works in Donation, and how
Work in Donation centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Donation
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Donation.
What the weather is like in Donation, month by month
Donation sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 31° | 25° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Donation
The nearest airport, State College Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Washington Dulles International, about 114 miles away.
The best schools in and around Donation
Schools across Donation average a B, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Juniata Valley El SchB · 50% proficient
- Standing Stone El SchB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Huntingdon Area MsB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Huntingdon Area ShsA− · 65% proficient
- Juniata Valley JshsC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Donation school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Donation 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 Donation against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Donation
Is Donation a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Donation ranks 17,960th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, low disaster risk, and low crime, and lowest on cell coverage and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Donation expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $229,298. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $76,962 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Donation safe?
Yes, Donation is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $183 per resident a year.
Compare Donation with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Donation. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Donation 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.
Donation detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Donation: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Donation: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Donation: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Donation: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Donation 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.