Best PlacesDrifting, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Drifting, 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.
Drifting ranks 15,724th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Drifting
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.
Drifting's strengths and weaknesses
Where Drifting ranks high
- School gradeA, better than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 83% of towns
Where Drifting ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Short commute39.7 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Drifting
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Drifting home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,500, 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 Drifting's effective rate of 1.16%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Drifting
Drifting runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Drifting.
Who works in Drifting, and how
Work in Drifting centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Drifting
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Drifting.
What the weather is like in Drifting, month by month
Drifting sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 37, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 37° | 27° | 19° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 60° |
| October | 66° | 52° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Drifting
The nearest airport, State College Regional, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Drifting
Schools across Drifting average an A, better than 96% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- West Branch Area El SchA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Branch MsA− · 55% proficient
Top high schools
- West Branch Area HsA+ · 95% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Drifting school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Drifting 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 Drifting against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Drifting
Is Drifting a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Drifting ranks 15,724th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on good schools, low disaster risk, and a stable housing market, and lowest on a weak job market and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Drifting expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $224,200. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $91,500 median income, cost of living beats 81% of towns.
Is Drifting safe?
Yes, Drifting is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $174 per resident a year.
Compare Drifting with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Drifting. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Drifting 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.
Drifting detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Drifting: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Drifting: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Drifting: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Drifting: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Drifting 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.