Best PlacesDonegal, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Donegal, 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.
Donegal ranks 41,616th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Donegal
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.
Donegal's strengths and weaknesses
Where Donegal ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 75% of towns
Where Donegal ranks low
- Short commute47.6 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 17% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Donegal
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Donegal home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,746, 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 Donegal's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Donegal
Donegal 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 Donegal.
Who works in Donegal, and how
Work in Donegal centers on construction and other services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Donegal
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Donegal.
What the weather is like in Donegal, month by month
Donegal sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Donegal
The nearest airport, Arnold Palmer Regional, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 52 miles away.
The best schools in and around Donegal
Schools across Donegal average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Donegal El SchB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mount Pleasant Area JhsC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount Pleasant Area HsB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Donegal school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Donegal 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 Donegal against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Donegal
Is Donegal a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Donegal ranks 41,616th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, civic engagement, and cell coverage, and lowest on long commutes 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 Donegal expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $170,900. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $56,746 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Donegal safe?
Donegal is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $407 per resident a year.
Compare Donegal with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Donegal. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Donegal 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.
Donegal detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Donegal: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Donegal: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Donegal: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Donegal: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Donegal 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.