Best PlacesElephant, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elephant, 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.
Elephant ranks 602nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elephant
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.
Elephant's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elephant ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 98% of towns
Where Elephant ranks low
- Short commute43.2 minutes each way, better than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,200 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elephant
A household needs to earn about $187,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elephant home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $159,662, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Elephant's effective rate of 1.08%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Elephant
Elephant runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Elephant.
Who works in Elephant, and how
Work in Elephant centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Elephant
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Elephant.
What the weather is like in Elephant, month by month
Elephant sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 39, 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 | 39° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 66° |
| October | 67° | 56° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Elephant
The nearest airport, Lehigh Valley International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 39 miles away.
The best schools in and around Elephant
Schools across Elephant average an A+, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bedminster El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Deibler El SchA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pennridge North MsA+ · 70% proficient
Top high schools
- Pennridge HsA · 78% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elephant school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elephant 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 Elephant against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elephant
Is Elephant a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elephant ranks 602nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, an educated workforce, and civic engagement, and lowest on long commutes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elephant expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $689,534. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $159,662 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Elephant safe?
Yes, Elephant is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $202 per resident a year.
Compare Elephant with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elephant. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elephant 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.
Elephant detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elephant: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elephant: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elephant: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elephant: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elephant 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.