Best PlacesDorrance, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dorrance, 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.
Dorrance ranks 9,794th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dorrance
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.
Dorrance's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dorrance ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 83% of towns
Where Dorrance ranks low
- Short commute34.3 minutes each way, better than only 16% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 20% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dorrance
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dorrance home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $90,156, 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 Dorrance's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Dorrance
Dorrance 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 Dorrance.
Who works in Dorrance, and how
Work in Dorrance centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, 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 Dorrance
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dorrance.
What the weather is like in Dorrance, month by month
Dorrance sees roughly 74 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 Dorrance
The nearest airport, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dorrance
Schools across Dorrance average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rice El SchA− · 60% proficient
- Drums El/msB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Greater Nanticoke Area Ed CtrD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Crestwood Secondary CampusA− · 59% proficient
- Greater Nanticoke Area ShsC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dorrance school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dorrance 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 Dorrance against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dorrance
Is Dorrance a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dorrance ranks 9,794th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, big-city access, and health care access, and lowest on long commutes and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dorrance expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $306,926. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $90,156 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Dorrance safe?
Yes, Dorrance is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $193 per resident a year.
Compare Dorrance with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dorrance. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dorrance 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.
Dorrance detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dorrance: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dorrance: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dorrance: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dorrance: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dorrance 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.