Best PlacesFayette County, PA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Fayette County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Fayette County ranks 1,660th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on a weak job market and state infrastructure. It does better on low disaster risk, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Fayette County
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.
The best areas in Fayette County
The parts of Fayette County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Uniontown
Fewer homes sit empty, advertised internet is faster, and local pay stretches further.
Perryopolis
More households have young kids and crime runs lower.
Connellsville
Tree cover is thicker.
La Belle
Prices have run up less, though streets are more car-dependent.
Dunbar & South Connellsville
Incomes run lower.
Masontown, Smithfield & Point Marion
It is quieter.
Belle Vernon & Brownsville
Scores close to Masontown, Smithfield & Point Marion, except that more adults hold degrees here.
Scores across Fayette County run from about the 6th to the 89th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Fayette County's strengths and weaknesses
Fayette County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk, fast internet, and tree cover carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. A weak job market, state infrastructure, and property taxes hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Fayette County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 85% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 82% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 78% of counties
Where Fayette County ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 23% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 26% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Fayette County
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fayette County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,990, 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 Fayette County's effective rate of 1.13%, 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 Fayette County
Fayette County 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 Fayette County.
Who works in Fayette County, and how
Work in Fayette County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Fayette County
Fayette County has less parkland per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Fayette County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Fayette County growing, and who is moving in?
Fayette County has lost about 8% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Pittsburgh, PA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Fayette County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Fayette County, month by month
Fayette County sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 33° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 42° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Fayette County
The nearest airport, Morgantown Municipal/Walter L Bill Hart Field, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Pittsburgh International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fayette County
Schools across Fayette County average a B, better than 74% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Wharton SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Mendon El SchA+ · 80% proficient
- Rockwood Area El SchA+ · 80% proficient
Top middle schools
- Yough Intrmd/ms SchB · 45% proficient
- Southmoreland MsB · 45% proficient
- Belle Vernon Area MsB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Southmoreland ShsA+ · 80% proficient
- Yough ShsA+ · 80% proficient
- Laurel Highlands ShsA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fayette County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fayette County 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 Fayette County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Fayette County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Fayette County
Is Fayette County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fayette County ranks 1,660th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, fast internet, and tree cover, and lowest on a weak job market and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fayette County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $147,158. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $60,990 median income, cost of living beats 26% of counties.
Is Fayette County safe?
Fayette County is safer than 52% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $294 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fayette County?
July highs average about 87 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 24. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 35% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fayette County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Uniontown, Perryopolis, and Connellsville. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Fayette County good for families?
Schools beat 74% of counties, crime safety beats 52%, and childcare runs $828 a month.
Is Fayette County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 26% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 85% of counties. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Fayette County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fayette County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fayette County 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.
Fayette County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fayette County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fayette County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fayette County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fayette County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fayette County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.