Best PlacesDuke Center, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Duke Center, 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.
Duke Center ranks 26,571st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Duke Center
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.
Duke Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Duke Center ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 85% of towns
Where Duke Center ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Household income$53,125 median, better than only 16% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 18% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Duke Center
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Duke Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $53,125, 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 Duke Center's effective rate of 1.08%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Duke Center
Duke Center 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 Duke Center.
Who works in Duke Center, and how
Work in Duke Center centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Duke Center
Duke Center has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Duke Center and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Duke Center, month by month
Duke Center sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 25° | 17° |
| April | 59° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 69° | 56° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Duke Center
The nearest airport, Bradford Regional, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 136 miles away.
The best schools in and around Duke Center
Schools across Duke Center average an A−, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Otto-eldred El SchA− · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Otto-eldred JshsB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Duke Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Duke Center 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 Duke Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Duke Center
Is Duke Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Duke Center ranks 26,571st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, quiet, and heat safety, and lowest on a weak job market and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Duke Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $107,800. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $53,125 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Duke Center safe?
Yes, Duke Center is safer than 61% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $226 per resident a year.
Compare Duke Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Duke Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Duke Center 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.
Duke Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Duke Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Duke Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Duke Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Duke Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Duke Center 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.