Best PlacesEmmaus, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Emmaus, 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.
Emmaus ranks 4,468th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Emmaus
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.
Emmaus' strengths and weaknesses
Where Emmaus ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 97% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
Where Emmaus ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 27% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Emmaus
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Emmaus home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $93,942, 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 Emmaus' effective rate of 1.57%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Emmaus
Emmaus runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Emmaus.
Who works in Emmaus, and how
Work in Emmaus centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Emmaus
Emmaus has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Emmaus and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Emmaus, month by month
Emmaus sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 40° |
| July | 89° | 77° | 65° |
| October | 69° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Emmaus
The nearest airport, Lehigh Valley International, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Philadelphia International, about 48 miles away.
The best schools in and around Emmaus
Schools across Emmaus average an A−, better than 83% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shoemaker El SchA · 67% proficient
- Lincoln El SchA · 65% proficient
- Macungie El SchA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southern Lehigh Intermediate SchA+ · 90% proficient
- Eyer MsA · 59% proficient
- Lower Macungie MsB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Southern Lehigh ShsA · 79% proficient
- Emmaus HsB+ · 58% proficient
- William Allen HsC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Emmaus school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Emmaus 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 Emmaus against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Emmaus
Is Emmaus a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Emmaus ranks 4,468th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, transit, and big-city access, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Emmaus expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $313,051. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $93,942 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Emmaus safe?
Yes, Emmaus is safer than 83% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $185 per resident a year.
Compare Emmaus with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Emmaus. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Emmaus 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.
Emmaus detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Emmaus: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Emmaus: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Emmaus: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Emmaus: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Emmaus 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.