Best PlacesDonegal Springs, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Donegal Springs, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Donegal Springs ranks 4,588th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Donegal Springs
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 Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Donegal Springs ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 98% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
Where Donegal Springs ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 56 pleasant days a year, better than only 3% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,106 a month, better than only 16% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Donegal Springs
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Donegal Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $98,480, 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 Springs' effective rate of 1.40%, 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 Donegal Springs
Donegal Springs 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 Springs.
Who works in Donegal Springs, and how
Work in Donegal Springs centers on health care & social and other services. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Donegal Springs
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Donegal Springs.
What the weather is like in Donegal Springs, month by month
Donegal Springs sees roughly 56 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 67° | 54° | 41° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 67° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Donegal Springs
The nearest airport, Lancaster, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Donegal Springs
Schools across Donegal Springs average a B, better than 71% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Landisville Pri CtrA · 63% proficient
- Donegal Intermediate SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manheim Central MsB · 44% proficient
- Donegal JhsB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Donegal HsB · 47% proficient
- Manheim Central ShsB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Donegal Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Donegal Springs 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 Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Donegal Springs
Is Donegal Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Donegal Springs ranks 4,588th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, civic engagement, and few empty homes, and lowest on the weather and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Donegal Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $341,189. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $98,480 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Donegal Springs safe?
Yes, Donegal Springs is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $165 per resident a year.
Compare Donegal Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Donegal Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Donegal Springs 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 Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Donegal Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Donegal Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Donegal Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Donegal Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Donegal Springs 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.